DRIVING ON SUSPENDED LICENSE DEFENSES

You are not defenseless against a driving while license suspended charge in Washington. I recently met someone who was pulled over for a traffic violation. During the stop, the police officer discovered that the driver’s license was suspended. I asked this person if he planned on fighting it. He wanted to fight the speeding ticket, but when it came to the driving on a suspended license charge, he was going to just accept it. He said, “What can I do? My license was suspended.” It may come as surprise to you, but with driving while license suspended (DWLS), like most other crimes, there are a number of defenses a criminal defense lawyer can raise to beat the charge.

As I have said in many postings and articles already, in every criminal case, the criminal defense lawyer must examine every aspect of the stop and police actions. If the prosecution cannot show that the police were justified in stopping you or that your stop was not unreasonably prolonged, the evidence against you will be excluded and the charge will likely be dropped. Also, just like in any criminal case, statements you make to the police can be excluded from evidence if the police did not follow the rules and give you Miranda warnings before questioning you.

Can the prosecutor prove that the person whose license is suspended and you are the same person? The courts have already ruled that having the same name as someone in a Department of Licensing suspension record is not enough to prove that your license was suspended beyond a reasonable doubt. They must have more to prove this. Driving on suspended licenses cases do occasionally go to trial. The prosecutor must prove that your license was in fact suspended at the time the police stopped you. How do they do this? They must introduce a certified copy of your driving record into evidence. Criminal defense trial lawyers know how to challenge the admissibility of evidence at trial. If the prosecutor cannot lay the proper foundation before introducing the driving record, it will not be admitted into evidence and the prosecutor will not be able to prove that your license was suspended.

The prosecutor must also prove that the Department of Licensing gave you notice that your license was suspended. The Department of Licensing is required to send an entire packet to your “address of record.” If this packet is missing certain forms, the notice is considered to be insufficient for you to be convicted of driving while license suspended.

Can the prosecutor prove that the Department of Licensing sent you notice to your address of record? The address of record is the address you gave the Department of Licensing when you first got your Washington State driver’s license or the address you last gave them by filling out the proper forms. If the prosecutor cannot prove this, they cannot convict you of driving while license suspended. For many license suspensions, not only does the Department of Licensing need to send you written notice informing you that your driver’s license has been suspended, but they also must inform you that you have the right to a hearing. If you were not properly informed of your right to a hearing or a right to appeal the license suspension AND how to appeal a license suspension, you were not given proper notice and the prosecutor cannot convict you of DWLS.

As I have said in other postings, a gross misdemeanor is punishable up to 1 year in jail. DWLS is the most serious licensing offense there is in Washington State and, 1st or 2nd degree DWLS are gross misdemeanors as opposed to simple misdemeanors, which are only punishable up to 90 days in jail. It’s a DWLS in the 1st degree if you’re license was suspended in under the Habitual Traffic Offender Act. It’s 2nd degree DWLS if you were ineligible for reinstatement when you were stopped. Most people who are charged with DWLS are charged with 3rd degree DWLS, meaning they were eligible for reinstatement, but they just haven’t reinstated their license yet. DWLS in the most serious licensing offense we have, contact a criminal defense lawyer to help you if you are charged with this crime.