driving after a cancelled license
My neighbor had a DUI 4 yrs ago and her license was canceled until this. They also denied her driving privledges for work hours. Last week she was stopped in anoka county for driving without a license. She was apparently on probation for 'same or similar' as well (unsupervised) which is up in a couple months as well. when she was stopped, they booked her (didn't read her rights, do they have to do this still?) and then released her without bail. She returns for court in April sometime. Now she is petrified that this would be considered a 'same or similar' offense and she will be arrested at court to finish her probation period. Is driving without a license considered a same or similar offense? that doesn't seem right to me...it seems they wouldn't have released her when they booked her. She also thinks it will automatically cancel her lic. for another yr. If so, isn't there some way she can drive for work at least? if she cant work (no buses here) they will lose their house. She volunteers at the school, at the church, and is a productive community member. She quit drinking long ago which seems like that should be the real concern here. Does she need to worry about being arrested? thank you so much for any help..
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: driving after a cancelled license
Based on the information you provided, it is a little hard to understand what her original DWI charge was and why her license would have been canceled this long. However, if it was a more serious DWI charge, her license may have been canceled as Inimical to Public Safety. If that's the case, then there are a few possible consequences.
First, depending on the county this happened in and the prosecutor handling the case, it very well could be charged as a violation of her probation. Also, a general condition of a DWI probation is that the person can only drive with a valid license. This may also trigger a violation. Now, just because it may be treated as a violation of her probation, does not necessarily mean that she will automatically be sent to jail to serve some or all of her sentence that was originally imposed. A number of different factors can come into play, beginning with the reason your neighbor was initially stopped by law enforcement.
Second, if your neighbor's driver's license was canceled as Inimical to Public Safety, this could trigger a longer license cancellation period, as well as more onerous requirements for eventually obtaining driving privileges.
If your neighbor would like to further discuss any of these issues, please feel free to have her contact me.
Re: driving after a cancelled license
Most judges would likely consider "Driving after Cancellation" crime to be a violation of a condition of probation for a DWI convcition. Though these are tough cases, there things that can be done to help.
FFI: http://www.liberty-lawyer.com/dwiduidrivingrelated.html
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