Mass. Appeals Court Upholds Lifetime DUI Revocation
In the case of Kelly v. Board of Appeal on Motor Vehicle Liability Policies and Bonds & the Registry of Motor Vehicles, 2010 WL 290502, January 27, 2010, No. 09-P-305, the Massachusetts Appeals court upheld the lifetime DUI revocation of Kelly's Massachusetts Driver's License.
Kelly had 5 DUI convictions. However, at his trial for the 5th DUI offense, the court only found him "guilty to so much of the complaint as alleges a 1st [OUI] offense." In his appeal, Kelly claimed that that the lifetime 5th offense DUI suspension of his driver's license by the Registry of Motor Vehicles was improper because the judge found him guilty of a first offense DUI, not a fifth offense as charged.
The Mass. Appeals Court summarily dismissed Kelly’s argument. The court agreed with the reasons cited by the superior court judge who upheld the lifetime loss of license. The law on 5th offenders states clearly that if a person has been convicted of or assigned to an alcohol or drug treatment program 5 or more times, “such person's license or right to operate a motor vehicle shall be revoked for the life of such person…” Thus, whether or not the court treated the DUI as a first or 5th offense does not matter at all. If the official records of the Registry show 4 prior offenses, the DUI defendant’s license will automatically be revoked for life. It may, however, be possible to obtain a hardship license.
In lifetime DUI license revocation cases, no hardship license application should be made unless and until the applicant has serve at least 5 years of the lifetime revocation.
Is this a 5th lifetime DUI that earns you a revocation forever? Is there a look-back period? if it is a lifetime look-back, it seems pretty extreme if it is a 5th with no look-back period to recognize that people make mistakes, can go prolonged periods of time with abstinence, yet fall of the wagon.
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-Justin J. McShane, Esquire, Harrisburg DUI Lawyer
Justin:
The only hope for someone with a valid 5th offense DUI is to appeal to the Board of Appeal for a 12 hour hardship license. However, the Board’s ability to issue a hardship license for someone with a lifetime revocation is questionable and the Registry of Motor Vehicles objects to it. See Brenlin v. Board of Appeal. In summary, the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles has a zero tolerance approach for 5th offenders and the Board of Appeal is also very unsympathetic.
Massachusetts used to have a 6 year lookback. This was replaced by a 10 year lookback. With the enactment of Melanie’s Law in October of 2005, there is now a lifetime lookback.
Here's the link for the above-mentioned Breslin case:
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=ma&vol=appslip/17441&invol=1