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April 28, 2010
State Must Prove Defendant's Knowledge of Driver's License Suspension
April 13, 2010
Sentencing Commission Votes to Eliminate Recent Criminal History Points
October 15, 2009
Consent to search inside of vehicle does not extend to locked containers
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Making phone calls to get drugs for personal use not a felony
October 07, 2009
Duval County schools agree to reduce number of students getting arrested
State Must Prove Defendant's Knowledge of Driver's License Suspension
April 28, 2010
Topic: Criminal
The 4th DCA ruled in Tuner aka Wilson v. State that a court must acquit a defendant on the charge of driving while license suspended where the state does not present evidence that defendant knew license had been suspended. The court ruled that the evidence must be direct and not circumstantial. In this case, the court did not find that evidence a license had been suspended for failure to pay traffic fines and the subsequent notices of suspension were mailed to the driver was enough to show the essential element of knowledge. The court ruled that the State was not entitled to a rebuttable presumption of knowledge where the reason for the suspension was administrative: the defendant's failure to pay his traffic fines.
Further, the court quite correctly denied the State's argument that knowledge of the suspension could be inferred from the fact that the Defendant fled from the police. The Defendant testified that he fled because of duress. Ironically, the jury rejected this argument at trial and found the Defendant guilty of the fleeing charge.
This case is important because it reaffirms the fact that the State must prove knowledge of a suspension. We handle dozens of driving while license suspended cases a year in Jacksonville and the surrounding area. We have had several clients who countered that they did not know that their license was suspended. Our Florida criminal defense team's lawyers has helped many of those clients get their license back and resolved the court case with the client's licenses remaining intact.
If you face a driving while license suspended or revoked charge in Jacksonville, Gainesville, Orange Park, Ponte Vedra, or St. Augustine, contact the criminal driving defense attorneys at Arnold & New. Our criminal defense lawyers are experienced and work hard to get our clients the best possible result. Ask us about our experience and results today!
