This article will be a close-up look at a revoked license charge (Driving While License Revoked, or DWLR, for short) in Michigan. It is intentionally separate from the last installment on this blog examining suspended license charges. Although the offenses of driving while license suspended license and driving while license revoked are both covered under the same law, there is one key difference that, just by itself, merits giving each its own, separate treatment.<\/p>\n
A revoked license charge can have serious consequences for a person’s eligibility to get his or her license back.That difference is essentially that, unlike suspensions, the majority of license revocations are the result of multiple DUI convictions. Getting caught driving after having one\u2019s license yanked for 2 or more DUI\u2019s is always worse than if one\u2019s license was merely suspended for something non-alcohol related. Since that\u2019s the most common basis for a DWLR charge, we\u2019ll omit any discussion of revocations for things like driving and causing a death, or a serous injury.<\/p>\n
To be sure, those kinds of cases do arise often enough. My team and I have handled plenty of revoked license charges for people who lost the ability to drive for reasons other than multiple DUI convictions. However, for every 1 of those, we probably see 100 DWLR cases for having racked up multiple DUI\u2019s. Accordingly, what we\u2019ll cover here applies generally to all revoked license case, although our main focus will primarily be on those who can\u2019t drive because of 2 or more DUI convictions.<\/p>\n
As pointed out in that previous article about suspended license cases \u2013 there are basically 2 reasons why people lose their driving privileges:<\/p>\n
The simple fact is that anyone who can\u2019t legally drive because he or she got caught driving drunk (and in revoked license cases, that almost always means it\u2019s happened multiple times) is seen as both a risk on the road AND someone who doesn\u2019t obey the law. Neither is good, and together, they\u2019re even worse.<\/p>\n
This stands in stark contrast to those cases where a person can legitimately claim they weren\u2019t aware their license had been suspended.<\/p>\n
Of course, a defense of being unaware won\u2019t hold any water for someone has been revoked as the result of 2 or more DUI convictions.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t some set-up to scare the reader. My team and I can manage the legal fallout from a revoked license charge; we\u2019ve done it thousands and thousands of times. However, the simple fact is that going to court for getting caught driving after having had one\u2019s license revoked for too many DUI convictions is serious, and certainly much more so than for having simply forgotten to renew it, or something benign, like that.<\/p>\n
One of the most important aspects of the way my team and I handle these cases comes from our specific practice concentration in DUI and driver\u2019s license restoration cases. We deal with the driver\u2019s license rules all day, every day. Our firm handles over 200 license appeal matters every year, and every bit as many DUI\u2019s and suspended and revoked license cases, as well.<\/p>\n
It is important to understand that a revoked license charge, just like a DUI case, involves both the criminal law that will be handled in court, and the adminstrative driver\u2019s license rules and penalties that are applied separately, by the Michigan Secretary of State. Of course, what happens in court determines exactly what, if any, such penalty will be applied to a person\u2019s driving record.<\/p>\n
That, in turn, will directly impact his or her future ability to move forward with any kind of license appeal to regain driving privileges.<\/p>\n
Although handling a revoked license charge can get very complicated, here\u2019s what matters in this discussion: If a person whose license has been revoked after multiple DUI\u2019s has ANYTHING go on his or her driving record, it will cause it to be re-revoked all over again for the same length of time as the original revocation. This means either another 1 or 5 years, and that effectively kills any chance to file a license appeal in the near future.<\/p>\n
On top of that, it just never helps a license appeal when someone has been caught driving while in revoked status. One of the most overlooked parts of the main rule governing driver\u2019s license restoration cases requires the person to prove, by what is defined as \u201cclear and convincing evidence,\u201d that he or she has \u201cthe ability and motivation to drive safely, and within the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t take a genius to figure out that having anything on his or her record as a result of driving with a revoked license is really the EXACT OPPOSITE of driving \u201cwithin the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
This makes it ultra important for us to find a way to avoid having anything go on our client\u2019s driving record. That makes sense, but the finer point is often missed.<\/p>\n
We have handled countless license appeals for people whose eligibility to file a formal driver\u2019s license restoration appeal had been delayed because of driving while in revoked license status. Many of them had previously hired some lawyer, who, without fully understanding the nuances of the law, accepted what sounded like a really great plea bargain that still resulted in the client being re-revoked.<\/p>\n
Here again, we have to look to the rather simple explanation for how this works: If a person whose license is revoked gets caught driving (and we\u2019ll see an example of what \u201ccaught\u201d means shortly) at any time, then the Michigan Secretary of State MUST impose what is called a \u201cmandatory additional\u201d revocation. Let\u2019s look at a few hypothetical examples to make this clear:<\/p>\n
Assume that Sober Sam racked up 2 DUI\u2019s and had his license revoked with no ability to appeal for at least 1 year. His last conviction was 4 years ago. Accordingly, he has been eligible to file a license appeal for some time, but he just hasn\u2019t gotten around to it.<\/p>\n
One day, he gets pulled over for speeding on his way to work. He is arrested and cited for DWLR (Driving While License Revoked). His lawyer convinces the prosecutor that Sam deserves a break, so instead of the DWLR charge, Sam gets a plea bargain to what\u2019s commonly called \u201cNo Ops,\u201d meaning not having had a valid operators license on his person. This avoids a conviction for DWLR, and both Sam and his lawyer think this will protect him from getting that \u201cmandatory additional\u201d revocation imposed by the Secretary of State.<\/p>\n
The Judge also feels bad for Sam, so instead of probation, the court simply imposes $300 in fines and costs, and then closes the case.<\/p>\n
A few weeks later, Sam gets notified by the Secretary of State that as a result of his \u201cNo Ops\u201d conviction, his license will be revoked for another year (because he was originally revoked for 1 year as a result of racking up 2 DUI\u2019s within 7 years) from the date the Secretary of State received the abstract of his \u201cNo Ops\u201d conviction from the court.<\/p>\n
That penalty is required by law.<\/p>\n
Neither Sam, his lawyer, the prosecutor, nor the Judge understood that if ANYTHING wound up on his driving record that shows he was driving, Sam would automatically get that \u201cmandatory like additional\u201d revocation.<\/p>\n
Consider this version:<\/strong><\/p>\n 2.) While stopped at a red light, on his way to work (this actually happened to a client of ours), Sam gets rear-ended. The officer felt bad for him, and didn\u2019t cite him for anything at all; he just let him go.<\/p>\n A few weeks later, Sam gets a notice in the mail that because the Secretary of State received an accident (crash) report that shows he was driving, the \u201cmandatory additional\u201d revocation is being imposed.<\/p>\n This is why I keep emphasizing that if ANYTHING goes on a person\u2019s driving record that shows he or she was driving during a period of revocation, then a \u201cmandatory additional\u201d period of revocation will be imposed.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s our final example:<\/strong><\/p>\n 3.) Assume that Bad Luck Brenda had racked up 3 DUI\u2019s within 10 years, with her last being 3 years ago. Her revocation would have been for a minimum of 5 years, meaning that she\u2019d otherwise be eligible to file a license restoration case in another 2 years.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, one day, on her way to work, Brenda gets pulled over for running a red light, and the officer discovers that she\u2019s revoked. No matter what offense she\u2019s charged with, if the end result in court is that ANYTHING goes on Brenda\u2019s driving record, she, too will get the \u201cmandatory additional\u201d revocation. In her case, that will be another 5 years.<\/p>\n This means that Brenda\u2019s former eligibility date in 2 years will be pushed up 3 more years, because she\u2019ll have 5 years added to her revocation period from the date of her conviction for whatever new offense is tacked on her driving record.<\/p>\n The only way to avoid this is would be to work out some kind of deal that would prevent anything from going on her driving record.<\/p>\n There are several ways we do that, and they\u2019d take up too much space to even summarize here. The bottom line, though, is that keeping the client\u2019s record clean is not only the best possible result, it\u2019s the ONLY result that won\u2019t screw him or her over.<\/p>\n Sometimes, we have to help educate the prosecutors and Judges about all this, because the simple fact is that they don\u2019t know the Secretary of State administrative rules about driver\u2019s license penalties \u2013 primarily because they don\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n A good way to understand this is to think about property taxes \u2013 a city or township assessor may have to know how to value a home, or a building, but that\u2019s it. A municipal property tax authority doesn\u2019t have to know the first thing about federal income taxes, or allowable deductions.<\/p>\n On the flip side, an IRS agent doesn\u2019t have to know the first thing about municipal property tax assessments, either.<\/p>\n Now for a little shameless self-promotion: Nobody knows the license stuff better than me and my team. This is what our firm does every single day. Our firm will do everything legally possible to bring about the best result in every revoked license charge we defend. As one of our mottos goes, no lawyer can do more, and we will never do less.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you are looking for a lawyer for a revoked license charge, a DUI, or anything related to your driver\u2019s license, be a wise consumer and read around. Pay close attention to how various lawyers break all this down, and how they explain their different approaches to it.<\/p>\n Our driver\u2019s license restoration practice is statewide, so we can help no matter where you live.<\/p>\n By contrast, we handle DUI and revoked license charges in the Greater-Detroit area, meaning anywhere in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb or the surrounding counties, so if you have a case here, make sure you give us a ring.<\/p>\n This blog is a great place to start. It is fully searchable and updated weekly with a new, original article. Beyond a dedicated license restoration section, there is an entire other section devoted to DWLS and DWLR cases. There is nothing like it anywhere, but don\u2019t take my word for it \u2013 check for yourself.<\/p>\n When you\u2019ve done enough reading, start calling around. You can certainly learn a lot by speaking with a live person, and that\u2019s exactly what you\u2019ll get when you call our office. All of our consultations are free, confidential, and done over the phone, right when you call.<\/p>\n My team<\/a> and I are very friendly people who will be glad to answer your questions<\/a> and explain things. We believe a persone should check around with different lawyers, so when we talk, we\u2019ll invite you to call us back, even if it\u2019s to compare notes with anything some other lawyer has told you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This article will be a close-up look at a revoked license charge (Driving While License Revoked, or DWLR, for short) in Michigan. It is intentionally separate from the last installment on this blog examining suspended license charges. 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