Most of us understand that pleading guilty to a DUI will likely have some effect on your driving privilege.  But what is not common knowledge is that people can lose their license for crimes other than DUI’s.  It is imperative that your Criminal Defense Attorney explain to you ALL the consequences of your Guilty or No Contest Plea in court.

Since the suspensions are not ordered by the court or the Judge, most people don’t know about their driver license being suspended until they receive a letter from the DMV.  By that point, you’ve already been sentenced and its too late to really do anything about it.

One recent example involved a young man who reached out to me because he had received a letter suspending his license after he plead guilty to Vandalism.  Apparently, what he didn’t know was that any guilty plea to a vandalism charge in california will result in a one year revocation of your driving privilege from the DMV.  No restricted license, no “to and from work,” no excuses.  Its a harsh consequence that had this young man losing his job.  He was convicted of “keying “a 6 inch mark on the side of a man’s car who he found at his girlfriends house. 

Another crime that carries a 1 year suspension of your driving privilege is “Hit and Run Driving,” a violation of Vehicle Code 20002.  If you plead guilty or no contest to a misdemeanor charge of hit and run, your license will be revoked for a year by the DMV.  The key to handling these Hit and Run Charges is to attempt to secure a “Civil Compromise” and have the court dismiss the charges.   A civil compromise is essentially an agreement between the victim and the defendant that he has been fully compensated for his damages and does not wish the defendant to be prosecuted further.  If the Judge allows the civil compromise, then the charges are dismissed.  The L.A. District Attorneys’ Office opposes civil compromises as a policy but if the Judge allows the compromise, the case will nevertheless go away.   Hiring a criminal defense attorney with a lot of experience in these charges is key to saving your license.

Finally, if you are convicted of using your car to assault someone (Penal Code Section 245) you will lose your license forever.  If you use your vehicle to ram into another vehicle or even drive into someone’s vicinity (even if you did not hit them) you could be charged with assault with a deadly weapon, the weapon being your vehicle.  This charge carries the death penalty of driver licenses, with the DMV imposing the ultimate punishment. 

Some years ago, I had a client who was a truck driver whose truck was cut off by another truck.  The truck that cut him off then had some pebbles fall out of its bed and smash my client’s windshield.  My client followed the truck and attempted to get the vehicle to pull over to no avail.  Finally, he lost his cool and got next to the other truck and tried to pull him over.  He was arrested for assault with his truck and arrested.  We were able to get the charges dropped and he was given his license back but not after a long fight. 

The moral of the story is to be fully aware of all the consequences of what you are agreeing to.  Most people are so happy that they will not do jail time that they don’t fully acknowledge what else can happen to them.  Hire an experienced criminal defense attorney whom you trust and make sure you know what you are agreeing to.  

Best Regards,

Anthony A. Arzili