Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: suspended licenses

Since your fiance has a public defender, he should get his legal advice from her. Unlike attorneys who participate in LawGuru, she actually knows the details of his charges and of his record, and she also knows the judge. None of us can give him advice nearly as useful as hers.

And the key to keeping your fiance out of trouble in the future is to make sure he doesn't drive. Your vertigo did not make it OK for him to drive on a suspended license; the fact that you had to stop driving does not mean he could start.

Choosing to miss a court date in order to help your parents was not a smart thing for your fiance to do. Court dates are not social invitations which you can decline if you have other things to do. There are ways to have the date postponed and your fiance evidently didn't take advantage of them, so he had to appear regardless of his other commitments.

He also should have refused to test drive your daughter's new car. You could have asked someone else to do it if you couldn't evaluate the car yourself, but you shouldn't have asked your fiance and he should have said no when you did. A man who isn't allowed to drive isn't allowed to drive -- even when his fiancee asks him to.

Being caught four times driving on a suspended license could land your fiance in serious trouble. A single violation might be overlooked or at least treated as no big deal, but four violations show contempt for the legal system -- something judges don't like to see.

Your fiance needs to listen to his P.D., and you need to stop asking him to drive when you know he is forbidden to do so. The responsibility for these violations is his, but they all seem to have happened at your request. If he's unable to say no to you then you need to stop making requests which will involve breaking the law.

Good luck to both of you.