| “People don’t go
to jail for driving under suspension”. There are several different charges
that can be filed by the police. Depending on the type of charge that is filed, as much as
180 days in jail is possible. Some charges have mandatory jail penalties. Three days in
jail can be mandatory even on a first offense. Frequently people charged with driving
under suspension are on probation. In such a case, the person could face jail on the new
case as well as imposition of a suspended sentence on an old probation case.
“These cases aren’t brain surgery. I am smart enough to
handle this myself”. Even if you are smart, that doesn’t mean that you
know all the twists and turns of the law. People who try to defend themselves often end up
with some bad surprises even if they manage to stay out of jail,. It is not the
prosecutor’s job to tell you everything that can happen to you. Some penalties are
imposed by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles after the case is over. For example, noncompliance
and/or points suspensions by the BMV. Those suspensions have additional mandatory license
suspensions and trigger a mandatory SR22 requirement that normally requires high risk
insurance. The extra insurance may cost you more that hiring a lawyer to keep you out of
trouble.
“If you didn’t give the BMV your new address, it
doesn’t matter whether you received the notice of suspension.”
Prosecutors are fond of saying this and many think that this is all that matters. While
the above statement might be technically true under certain circumstances, the issue often
isn’t as simple as it sounds. The bureau has a duty to mail notices to the
person’s last known address. If this isn’t done, the suspension is invalid.
Often the bureau has a current address and doesn’t use it. For example, frequently
the police will ask for a current address at the time a traffic ticket is issued. The
bureau is supposed to use this address. Failure to do so may be a defense to a driving
under suspension case.
|
“I am not guilty if I
didn’t know I was under suspension” Driving under suspension and no
operator’s license cases are what is known in the law as “strict liability”
offenses. That means that you don’t have to know you are under suspension to be
convicted. An analogy can be made to speeding cases. The government doesn’t have to
prove that a person charged with speeding knew he or she was speeding. Driving under
suspension is similar. Knowledge of the suspension is not required.
“Driving under suspension cases can’t be won."
For better or for worse, the legislature has made the law in this area unnecessarily
complex. As a result, there are often technical defenses that can be used that might not
be obvious to the average person. For example, a person may be charged with driving under
one type of suspension when they are actually under another type of suspension or they
might be charged with driving under suspension when they are actually guilty of no
operator’s license. Such a person may very well be not guilty as charged even thought
he or she did not have the right to drive. |
