This is an area of law that is frequently overlooked and not taken seriously by many people. Here I will give you a crash course on the pitfalls and surprises that are associated with this driving offense.
First question we need to answer is how your license gets suspended? That’s pretty self explanatory, but here are some examples on how and when your driver’s license gets suspended.

- Failure to pay traffic infractions
If you don’t pay/elect school/elect a hearing for your speeding ticket or other violation within 30 days, the Court can D6 (suspend) your driver’s license.

- Failure to pay Child Support Obligation/Failure to Obey Court Order
If you are under Court order to pay child support and you fail to pay, the Court can D6 your driver’s license.
If the driver enters into an agreement or settlement regarding their driving privilege, if this agreement is breached, the Court can suspend your driver’s license.

- D.U.I. or Drug Offense suspension
If you are convicted of D.U.I. or any type of drug offense, your driver’s license can be suspended by the Court.
If caught driving on any of these offenses, jail is the standard offer by Florida prosecutors.

Second question is how do you know your license is suspended? If your license is in the process of being suspended for any of the aforementioned reasons, the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles in Tallahassee will send you a notification of when your license will be suspended. This usually gets sent to the address listed on your Florida Driver’s License.
Third question is what exactly is Driving While License Suspended? Under Florida Statute 322.34(2), Driving While License Suspended WITH Knowledge, makes it a second degree misdemeanor to drive on a suspended license. The maximum penalty for this offense is up to 60 days in jail and or a fine up to $500.00.

There is a major difference between Driving While License Suspended (DWLS) WITH knowledge and DWLS WITHOUT knowledge. DWLS WITH knowledge is a criminal infraction for which you can be arrested and face criminal charges. DWLS WITHOUT knowledge is a civil infraction that can be paid at the clerk’s office like any other traffic violation.

However, both of these infractions, whether civil or criminal, carry the penalty of counting towards the status of being classified as a Habitual Traffic Offender. This is something that nobody wants to deal with. Under Florida law, if you plea to either the civil or criminal infraction of DWLS, it will count toward you being a Habitual Traffic Offender. After 3 of these pleas, you can be classified as a HTO and you can lose your license for 5 years! That’s not all either. If you have 2 DWLS With Knowledge, your third will be charged as a third degree felony with a maximum penalty of up to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.00.

Now you are probably thinking, “What can I do if I receive one of these infractions?” Well, our office can offer a number of solutions to whatever your situation may be. If you are able to reinstate your license at any time during your case, we can work out a deal where you can plea to the lesser offense of Possession of an Invalid Drivers License under Florida Statute 322.03 (NVDL). The advantage of this is two fold. First, you can save yourself possible probation and driver school and most importantly, NVDL does not count toward your HTO status. If reinstating your license is not an option, trial is always available. Were you the actual driver? Were you in control of the motor vehicle? Did you know your license was suspended? These are all defenses to the criminal offense of Driving While License Suspended with knowledge. We can also examine possible suppression issues with your stop. If you were illegally detained or pulled over, we can have the case thrown out on Constitutional grounds.

If you have any other questions or concerns please call our office. We have handled hundreds of these cases in the Orange, Osceola, and Seminole areas.

-Christopher Atcachunas, Esquire

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 1:29 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.