Hey everyone, I am looking for the opinions of any attorneys or people in law enforcement on this one.
I close relative of mine was convicted of a DUI last summer. Part of her sentence was obviously a license suspension for 1-5 years and in Ohio, she is required to have yellow license plates that distinguish her from everyone else as a convict of DUI. Among other things, she has an interlock device on the vehicle (prohibiting it from being operated by anyone intoxicated) and of course a suspended drivers license. Eventually she was granted restricted driving privileges for the following: Occupation, medical, 1 hr on sat for errands, kid's school functions, church, court and AA meetings. This is all stated on an official document from the court which she keeps in her car. This document also states that she must have written proof of her work schedule with hours with her as well.
Anyways about two weeks ago she was pulled over by the police around 10am while driving to a co-worker's house to deliver material for a work meeting taking place that night, because of the yellow tags and when they ran her license it of course came back suspended. She had all the required information except a schedule showing her hours, because like many people she works for a salary with commissions. She works in surgery and each day her schedule changes based on the surgery schedule.
This was not enough to convince the police that she was within her driving privileges and they wrote her a ticket for DUS and impounded her car. The next day at the arraignment her PO, who wrote the driving privileges told the judge that she was definitely not outside of her privileges but the judge insisted that court proceedings must be followed since the officer wrote the ticket.
Her attorney filed a motion to release the car and it is at her house now, but has been immobilized with a club by the police. Her pre-trial date is near the end of April, which is more than a month away. Without a car she has no transportation to work. The prosecutor has refused to drop the charges and is proceeding, given the statements from her PO and the evidence.
At trial, she is prepared to have representation from her employer as well as her PO and the head of the probation department to defend her case. There are records of the meeting as well as statements and phone records to prove she was in fact delivering material required for a meeting with doctors that evening. During the traffic stop her co-worker even met her on the side of the road to get the material (while the cop was writing the citation) because they impounded her car.
So far this has cost close to $500 and she was fully within her privileges. What is the likely outcome of her trial?
Obviously if she is convicted of DUS it will violate her probation and she will be sentenced to 6mos - year in prison. (ie. lost job, home, etc.)
Thanks for any insight
I close relative of mine was convicted of a DUI last summer. Part of her sentence was obviously a license suspension for 1-5 years and in Ohio, she is required to have yellow license plates that distinguish her from everyone else as a convict of DUI. Among other things, she has an interlock device on the vehicle (prohibiting it from being operated by anyone intoxicated) and of course a suspended drivers license. Eventually she was granted restricted driving privileges for the following: Occupation, medical, 1 hr on sat for errands, kid's school functions, church, court and AA meetings. This is all stated on an official document from the court which she keeps in her car. This document also states that she must have written proof of her work schedule with hours with her as well.
Anyways about two weeks ago she was pulled over by the police around 10am while driving to a co-worker's house to deliver material for a work meeting taking place that night, because of the yellow tags and when they ran her license it of course came back suspended. She had all the required information except a schedule showing her hours, because like many people she works for a salary with commissions. She works in surgery and each day her schedule changes based on the surgery schedule.
This was not enough to convince the police that she was within her driving privileges and they wrote her a ticket for DUS and impounded her car. The next day at the arraignment her PO, who wrote the driving privileges told the judge that she was definitely not outside of her privileges but the judge insisted that court proceedings must be followed since the officer wrote the ticket.
Her attorney filed a motion to release the car and it is at her house now, but has been immobilized with a club by the police. Her pre-trial date is near the end of April, which is more than a month away. Without a car she has no transportation to work. The prosecutor has refused to drop the charges and is proceeding, given the statements from her PO and the evidence.
At trial, she is prepared to have representation from her employer as well as her PO and the head of the probation department to defend her case. There are records of the meeting as well as statements and phone records to prove she was in fact delivering material required for a meeting with doctors that evening. During the traffic stop her co-worker even met her on the side of the road to get the material (while the cop was writing the citation) because they impounded her car.
So far this has cost close to $500 and she was fully within her privileges. What is the likely outcome of her trial?
Obviously if she is convicted of DUS it will violate her probation and she will be sentenced to 6mos - year in prison. (ie. lost job, home, etc.)
Thanks for any insight
