When does my license suspension start after a PA drunk driving (DUI-DAI) conviction?
Dec 19th, 2007 | By Michael L. Saile, Jr., Esq. | Category: Blogs, DUI-DWI-DAI (Drunk Driving)After you are convicted of a Pennsylvania DUI charge by either pleading guilty or being found guilty after a trial, many clients ask what happens to my PA driver’s license. Your lawyer should have explained the Pennsylvania DUI-DAI law to you, including the penalties. Your license suspension is set by statute depending on your blood alcohol level and whether it was your first, second, third or drunk driving offense. You can find a handy chart that lists suspension periods here.
Assuming that you know the length of time that your driver’s license suspension will be, the question is when you will lose your license. In Pennsylvania, your driver’s license is not usually suspended or taken away at your final DUI-DAI common pleas court hearing.
Pennsylvania procedure is that the sentencing judge will find you guilty and mark the docket with a guilty finding. Pennsylvania court judges do not have the power to adjust the length of your PA DUI-DAI suspension period. These periods are set by law.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDot) coordinates your PA DUI-DAI driver’s license suspension. After your conviction, the court will notify PennDot of your conviction. In about 2 weeks after your final court appearance you should be getting a letter in the mail from PennDot informing you that your Pennsylvania driver’s license will be suspended on a certain date.
At this point, it is your responsibility to physically turn in your driver’s license to a PennDot Driver’s Services Center. At the point that PennDot actually receives your physical driver’s license, that is when your suspension will begin. If you do not turn in your PA license, your suspension will not start.
If you have lost your PA driver’s license you can fill-out a PennDot form. This form notifies PennDot that you no longer have a physical license and that you cannot turn it in. You can find the PennDot form here: PennDot Form.pdf
The author of this Law Blog, Bucks County PA & Mercer County, NJ criminal attorney, Michael L. Saile, Jr., Esq. of Saile & Saile LLP, Attorneys-at-Law practices both New Jersey and Pennsylvania criminal, traffic violations, and DUI/DWI/DAI law. Check out our website for DUI penalties. We handle all NJ Municipal Court cases including DUI in the following NJ Municipal Courts: Hopewell Township, Ewing Township, Trenton, Lawrence Township, Hamilton, Pennington, and other Mercer County, Burlington County, and Camden County, NJ courts. We also handle lower bucks county DUI and traffic violation cases in the following towns: Bensalem, Southampton, Richboro, Newtown, Levittown, Langhorne, Doylestown, Warminster, Trevose, Feasterville, Warrington, Bristol, Fallsington, Yardley, New Hope, Holland, Washington Crossing, PA, and other Bucks County courts. We handle DUI cases in Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery County, PA. We are located just outside of Philadelphia in lower Bucks County.
In NJ, the municipal court judge orders the suspension to take place immediatley,but sometimes allows the convicted defendant an amount of time to be able to drive home, like an hour if you live within an hour from the court.
In my case, I am going to have my attorney ask for a stay on sentencing pending my appeal, which I belive has merit, as to due process, speedy trial barker argument, and failure to obey the chun order.
God, please give me a trial soon so I can move on with my life either way, win or lose.
To me, my case is no longer about innocence or guilt, it it about my right to a trial, a right the nj supreme court feared would be not granted me, so they wrote a clear order ordering i be afforded this right, and it still was not followed.
that is what my case is about, well, from that point, many many sub points are going to be brought up to the law division in my appeal essay.