Get Ready for A Slew of Driving With Suspended License Arrests
Our White Plains criminal defense lawyers are experienced in defending driving with suspended license charges and keep up to date on the latest developments of the law and the government’s increasing penalization of conduct that should not be criminal.
With a new law, the State of New York has taken one step closer to becoming no better than the English crown that our founding fathers rebelled against. We are now coming closer to a state that had the debtor’s prisons that were part of the reason that our founding fathers drafted the constitution in the first place. Our founding fathers would roll over in their graves if they knew we were coming to the point where the government would put people in jail for driving, when they owed money to the government. It is also astounding that the State of New York believes that it could take away a license that people have earned a property interest in and that these actions are consistent with the Constitutional Due Process requirements.
A new law allows the State of New York to suspend a drivers license if they owe taxes of $10,000 or more. Under the new law, a driver has 60 days after receiving a license suspension notice to make the payment. If the driver don’t make the payment, the New York state Department of Motor Vehicles will then send a second letter with an additional 15 days to make the payment. This new law puts people already in a tough spot between a rock and a hard place. They can’t drive, which will surely cause them to be unable to work and unable to pay their bills. If they do drive or if they don’t receive the notice they will be arrested for violating New York’s vehicle and traffic law 511, which makes it an unclassified misdemeanor.
So now, the citizens of New York, will face criminal charges for driving while owing taxes or in other words for driving while being poor. Now anyone who owes taxes and drives will be arrested, often held in jail overnight and hauled into the criminal court like a common criminal. The need for services of highly experienced New York City criminal defense lawyers has never been greater. While the government takes the view that driving is a privilege not a right, they overlook the fact that this is supposed to be a free country, with limited government, not a government with unlimited power to randomly curb the freedoms of its citizens.
The only remaining good clause in the law is that the person who receives the notice can apply for a restricted license through the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles which would allow them just to go to work and home. This will at least prevent criminal charges against the poor folks who have their licenses suspended.
From our downtown White Plains office, our criminal defense attorneys regularly handle driving with suspended license charges all over Westchester including Yonkers, Mt. Vernon, Port Chester, Rye, Scarsdale, Bronxville, Mamaroneck, Elmsford and Greenburgh. From our Manhattan and Queens offices, our criminal lawyers regularly appear in the New York City criminal courts on all types of matters.