Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

In part 1 of this article, we began our examination of the ignition interlock requirement for those who win a Michigan Drivers' License Restoration Appeal. In this second part, we'll examine the 1-year requirement for the ignition interlock device, and what happens if a person has a positive, or multiple positive alcohol tests while under the "supervision" of the device.

Beyond the requirement that a person install an ignition interlock unit in whatever vehicle they drive, they must keep that unit in the vehicle for a minimum of 1 year. At the end of that year, they may file for another Hearing before the Secretary of State's DAAD, and seek permission to have the unit removed. This is a departure from before when, after a year had passed, a person could simply remove the unit.

Technically speaking, a person could file for a Hearing to just remove the ignition interlock, but at the time a person becomes eligible to file an Appeal to remove the unit, they also become eligible to Appeal for full Restoration of driving privileges. It goes without saying, then, that everyone files for full Restoration AND to have the interlock unit removed.

This second Appeal is no different than the first, and requires an updated Substance Abuse Evaluation, new Letters of Support, and a whole, full-blown Hearing.

If, however, a person has what's called a "major violation" while on the interlock, (meaning a rolling violation where the driver does not, within 5 minutes, provide a sample with a BAC of under .04, or the driver has 3 or more minor violations within a "monitoring period) then the interlock company sends notice to the DAAD and the person is bought in for a "show cause" Hearing, at which time the Secretary of State positions itself to Revoke their License all over again, unless the person can "show cause" why that should not happen. As noted before, the DAAD isn't very sympathetic to explanations about positive breath test results.

As I have noted in various other articles I have written, after over 20 years of doing this, I've pretty much seen it all. A few years back I had a case where my Client, who was on a Restricted License with an interlock device, got into an argument with his girlfriend. It must have been a real humdinger, because she went to a nearby party store, bought a beer, chugged it down, and then sat in his car and tried to start it with fresh alcohol on her breath. The machine, of course, went crazy.

Continue reading "License Restoration in Michigan - the Ignition Interlock Requirement - Part 2" »

In this blog, it has been my goal to cover every aspect of Driver's License Restoration. I have approached this by writing 2 kinds of articles: The more general, or "overview" type, and those that cover a particular aspect of the License Restoration process in great detail. This article will likely fall into that first category, being more general in nature.

Most of the time I spend with License Restoration Clients involves preparing them for the Substance Abuse Evaluation, which takes about 3 hours in my Office at the time of our first meeting, and then preparing them for the actual Hearing. In truth, very little of my time is spent on what happens after we win our License Appeal and the person gets back on the road.

I don't really consider this any kind of oversight. My job is to win License Appeals, and I guarantee any Client that I will do just that, or their next round is FREE. Once a License Appeal has been won, the Secretary of State, for all of its shortcomings, is pretty good at explaining the steps involved in getting behind the wheel again.

There have, however, been a few changes in recent years regarding what can and must be done once a person has won a Driver's License Restoration case, and many of these involve the rules regarding the ignition interlock device that must be installed by any Michigan resident who wins a Driver's License Restoration Appeal.

Chief amongst those changes has been the rule, or rules, concerning the ignition interlock.

Most everyone knows that if they win their Appeal, they'll be required to install something in their car. Beyond that however, most people are unsure of what, for how long, and under what condition they must use it.

The ignition interlock unit is a kind of breath-tester that requires the person to give a breath sample before the car will even start. Beyond that, the machine goes "off" from time to time and requires the driver to continue to give breath samples as the vehicle is being operated.

A condition of any License Ordered as a result of a License Appeal is that the person ONLY drives a vehicle equipped with the device. To be clear, NONE of this applies to out-of-state cases where a person is seeking a "Clearance." Instead, it only, but always, applies to any case where a Michigan resident is seeking some kind of Restoration of his or her Michigan driving privileges.

Continue reading "License Restoration in Michigan - the Ignition Interlock Requirement - Part 1" »

My Practice as a Driver's License Restoration Lawyer in Michigan is resoundingly successful in terms of the percentage of cases I win. While I'm not trying to sound boastful, I win well over 90-some percent of the cases I file. Much of this has to do with screening potential Clients and making sure they meet the State criteria in order to win their Appeal. In other words, it means not taking on Clients who aren't yet "ready," in every sense of the word, to prove their case by the required "Clear and Convincing Evidence."

Over the years, I have won a lot of cases. And in every one of those cases, the Client has been awarded, at first, a Restricted License. This article will focus on how and why a person who files a License Appeal can pretty much forget about getting a Full, Unrestricted License right out of the gate.

Perhaps one of the most common questions I'm asked, as I take on a Client for a License Appeal, is something to the effect of "What's the chance of my getting a Full License?"

My answer is always the same: Essentially zero.

There's a reason for this. When a Restricted License is granted, the Secretary of State must require that the person install an ignition interlock (breath-tester) in any vehicle they will be driving. This gives the Secretary of State an opportunity to monitor a person as they get back on the road, and really amounts to a probationary half-step in the process of eventually returning a Full License. It's kind of like being kept on a "short leash."

When a Full, Unrestricted License is granted, there is no legal way to order an ignition interlock. In a very real way, the granting of a Full License requires the Secretary of State to completely "sign off" on a person as being a totally safe bet to remain abstinent from alcohol. I've never met the Hearing Officer who doesn't want at least a little ongoing proof before that happens. And a year on a Restricted License, while being monitored with a breath-test unit, is exactly how they can get that.

Accordingly, a person filing a License Appeal must be ready to accept that this is the case, because, as the saying goes, "that's just the way it is."

Continue reading "Winning a License Restoration Appeal in Michigan Means a Restricted License First" »