BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
alinhardt@keysnews.com

A Monroe County circuit court judge said Wednesday he lacked the authority to overrule a new state policy by granting a drunken driving suspect a temporary driver license, but urged attorneys to quickly pursue a greater “due process” issue with the policy.

Judge David Audlin told defense attorney Sam Kaufman that state law did not empower him to temporarily grant one of his clients charged with driving under the influence a “hardship” driver license to drive to work, school or other necessary tasks.

Since July 1, if a law enforcement officer does not show up for a defendant’s license hearing, the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DMV) tells him or her to take their case to court instead of automatically granting a temporary permit, as was the previous policy for decades.

Kaufman contends that denying his client a hearing in which law enforcement must present evidence in his case violates the client’s constitutional right to due process. He filed an emergency motion last week challenging the policy on behalf of two clients, Louis Licitra of Key West and Jenny Tyler-Marquis of Casselberry, both of whom were arrested in Key West.

The first step was asking Audlin for emergency relief on Licitra’s behalf, but Audlin noted that law did not give him the authority to stop or suspend DMV proceedings.

“Basically, I was asking for [the court] to allow my client to keep his driver license pending his DUI legal case,” Kaufman said. “I was asking for temporary relief today, but the larger issue is going to heard next month.”

Kaufman and other defense attorneys, notably Miami lawyer Richard Hersch, are challenging the state and want the courts to overturn the policy change.

DMV attorney Damaris Reynolds wrote in her response to Kaufman’s motion that the state is trying to keep drivers safe.

“It is the expressed intent of the Florida Legislature that persons … who pose a danger to the public safety should not be permitted to drive during their appeal,” Reynolds wrote. “The purpose and intent of the administrative suspension statute is to protect the public who use the state’s roads and highways.”

She further noted that “driving is a privilege, not a right,” and that revoking a driver license in some cases is a “legitimate legislative goal.”

Nonetheless, Audlin said “it appears there is merit” to Kaufman’s due process argument, and he placed attorneys on a “faster briefing schedule” in an effort to have the larger issue heard by Sept. 29.

Tags: administrative hearing, dhsmv, driver license suspension, DUI, miami dui, Miami DUI Lawyer

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 at 11:55 am and is filed under Driving Under the Influence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.