Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
In part 1 of this article, we began our discussion of how to win a Michigan driver’s license restoration or clearance appeal case by looking at 2 of the biggest things that will cause it to lose: that a person still drinks alcohol, or that he or she even thinks they can ever drink again. As I pointed out, the key to winning a license appeal is proving that you have have been alcohol-free for a “sufficient” period of time, and that you are a safe bet to never drink again.
In many of my other articles, I examine the fundamental change in a person’s thinking when he or she gets sober. The takeaway from them is that when a person finally does see his or her drinking as a problem, realizes the only way forward is to quit for good, and then does just that, everything about his or her life changes. These changes are profound, and really become the foundation upon which sobriety is built.
In other words, being “sober” is not about laying off the drinking for a while, or cutting back, or even just stopping without a firm belief that one can never pick up again. Rather, it’s about really believing that one’s own drinking has gotten out of hand, and accepting that it’s time to quit for life. Nobody quits drinking because it’s working out so well. By the time a person finally decides to give up alcohol, it had usually stopped being fun a long time ago.
In order to win a driver’s license restoration or clearance case, a person must prove 2 things: first, that his or her alcohol problem is “under control,” meaning that he or she has been completely alcohol-free for a “sufficient” period of time (usually no less than 18 months, but longer is better). Second, he or she must prove that their alcohol problem is “likely to remain under control,” meaning that he or she has both the ability and commitment to never drink again.
We really don’t know when things will fully get back to normal, or, for that matter, what that new “normal” will look like. We do know, however, that the way cases are handled is going to be different after this, both in the long and short-term. Even walking into court is going to give some people pause as soon as they approach a door handle and have to touch it, or, once inside, have to use a “public” pen to sign a document.
It’s very important to realize that this is a fluid and evolving situation, and things are changing by the day. The Secretary of States’ interlock instructions, written years ago, advise against using ANY kind of hand sanitizer before starting or while operating the vehicle. Now, with the coronavirus situation, people are finding that it’s very hard to go shopping, even with gloves, and then get into their cars without feeling contaminated, so just about everyone is doing some hand-sanitizing before going anywhere.
In this second part of the article, we’re going to turn our attention to why a DWLR charge is worse than a DWLS charge, both in the courtroom, and, even more important, in the context of being able to get one’s license back later. As we’ll see, a revoked license charge can be a complete deal-killer for a Michigan driver’s license restoration case, and will render a person completely ineligible to even file an appeal for either another 1 or 5 years.
Unfortunately, my team and I have seen plenty of cases where a police officer has written a citation for “DWLS,” even though the person’s license was revoked at the time of the offense. It’s important to make clear that it doesn’t matter what’s written on the citation. Instead, what ultimately happens to a person will be based entirely upon whether his or her license was either suspended, or revoked, at the time of the incident.
Everyone who has given up drinking (and/or using drugs) understands, through hard-won experience, what recovery is all about. Although it sounds like a cliche, the truth is that it really is as much a journey as it is a destination. In order for a lawyer to really be able to prove these issues, and, in the case of our practice, guarantee to win every case we take, a comprehensive and fundamental understanding of recovery is necessary, and I’m not just talking “book knowledge,” either.
This applies to general field of “criminal law,” as well, with some “criminal lawyers” offering to handle every kind of charge, from driving with a suspended license (DWLS) cases, to rape and murder charges, all the way to post-conviction appeals. In the real world, the best lawyer to handle the appeal of a murder conviction is almost certainly not the best lawyer to have tried the underlying murder case itself, and he or she, in turn, wold be the wrong person to hire for a DUI case.
I referenced this in a recent article about how we control everything that happens in an out-of-state clearance case. In this piece, I want to tie that into to how it culminates in our first time win guarantee for both in-state restoration and clearance cases. Sometimes, we are contacted by someone who has already started a license appeal, and then decides to reach out for help. How we handle those inquires helps explain things.
I cannot say this enough: the whole point of a Michigan driver’s license reinstatement appeal is to prove to the Michigan Secretary of State that you have given up drinking for good. This requires showing 2 things: first, that you have been completely abstinent from alcohol for a “sufficient” period of time (in my office, we generally want our clients to have a minimum of 18 months of sobriety) and second, that you have the commitment and ability to never drink again. Key to this is that you’ve gotten sober for yourself, not just to get your license back.