Sharifov & Associates, PLLC
Attorneys & Counselors At Law
Domestic violence and Covid-19 pandemic
May 25, 2020Driving with Suspended Registration
September 1, 2017
Suspended driver’s license or driving privilege means it will be taken away for a period of time before it is returned. The period of suspension depends on several factors, including your prior driving history as well as the grounds for initial suspension. You may also be required to pay a suspension termination fee. This suspension period can be definite (which has a beginning and end date) or indefinite, which does not end until you take the required action.
Common scenario:
The driver gets a traffic ticket that she/he forgot to respond to on time.
The driver does not receive mail from DMV where he/she reside or simply does not open them, or just ignores/forgets these letters. DMV will inform such driver that since the driver failed to respond to a traffic ticket, her/his driver’s license or privilege will be suspended. The driver continues to disregard it and eventually forgets about it. Please note that it is not a defense to state that “DMV probably sent these letters to my old address, where I no longer reside, and do not get mail from there, and I did not know it was suspended”. By law, each driver must inform DMV about his/her change of address within 10 days. The element of the offense here is ”knew” or “should have known”. Therefore, if the driver had complied with the law and updated his/her address on file with the DMV, such letters would have been received. (DMV usually sends several letters informing drivers about license suspension). It is important that DMV always has an updated driver’s mailing address on file. Many suspended license offenses can be avoided if such important letters from DMV are received and complied with by drivers.
Once a driver fails to respond to such letters informing her/him that their driver’s license or privilege will be suspended, in fact, the license gets suspended, which prohibits the driver from operating a motor vehicle. The driver forgets about it and continues to drive. Then the driver gets pulled over for an unrelated violation and a police officer, upon checking the status of the license/privilege, issues a criminal charge – Unclassified Misdemeanor (a crime)– Aggravated Unlicensed Operation in the 3rd degree – (aka driving with a suspended license) — VTL 511.1. Depending on the number and dates of outstanding suspensions, such a charge can be VTL 511.2 or even 511.3 as a felony.
Some people have a mistaken belief that NYS DMV cannot suspend their driver’s license if they do not have a license in the State of New York. In fact, DMV can suspend driving privileges for out-of-state drivers as well as driving privileges for unlicensed people for failure to pay/answer tickets. Any person who ever receives a personal traffic ticket in NYS will have their own driving record abstract on file with NYS DMV, regardless of having no driver’s license at all or having an out-of-state driver’s license.
Police Officer will (in most cases) issue summonses to the driver to appear in a criminal court of the county (or village/town – if village/town police) where the driver was operating a motor vehicle. Police have the authority to arrest a driver, take him/her into custody, and hold the driver until the driver sees a judge at arraignment, which may be the next day. There are many instances where it happens, with more detained cases being in NYC than in Nassau or Suffolk counties.
Upon receiving such criminal summonses – VTL 511, drivers rush to DMV to pay/resolve outstanding suspension/tickets. However, they do it after the fact. In addition to doing this, they also must appear in a criminal court (or village/town court) to answer a newly received criminal charge of driving with a suspended license. Often, there will be other traffic tickets issued in addition to VTL 511. Please note that it is not a defense to say, “But I went to DMV and paid the ticket after the Officer told me that my license is suspended, why do I need to come to criminal court?” The driver must appear in Criminal court since on the date when this driver was pulled over and issued summonses, his/her driver’s license was suspended, and the fact that it was cleared AFTER the fact does not exonerate the driver. It is a factor to consider in negotiating a resolution of the criminal matter. Before a resolution or reduction of a criminal charge can be negotiated, the attorney for the driver must make sure that the driver’s license was, in fact, suspended. Otherwise, it should be completely dismissed.
We offer free consultation on how we can get rid of criminal charges in court, despite the fact that the driver was in fact driving with a suspended license on the date in question.