I watched a disaster today in Carroll County District Court. A Pennsylvania resident with a PA driver’s license got a DUI and blew a .10. Instead of requesting a Hearing and getting a 6 month restricted license that would allow her to drive to her Maryland job, her lawyer told her to get the Interlock installed. NO! Under our regulations, that I believe are unconstitutional, YOU MUST HAVE A MARYLAND DRIVER’S LICENSE TO BE ON THE INTERLOCK PROGRAM. The woman in this case put it on her car and is driving in MD. The judge announced to her and her lawyer that she has been suspended by the MVA for 6 months according to her driving record The glazed look in their eyes was sickening to see. I told the lawyer to wait for me in the hallway so I could try to help.
Because she blew between a .08 and .14 she could get and would have been given a work permit to come from PA to MD. The work permit is forany state and we have many Pennsylvania and Virginia residents working in Maryland. You have to request the Hearing within 30 days or you are done for, they do not grant belated Hearings because you or your lawyer screw up. Since she had the Interlock on, I gave the lawyer the name and number of the MVA’s Assistant Attorney General whose office is at the MVA. He is an incredibly reasonable man and has agreed with me on issues where his client, the MVA, has not. In also gave him the name of the Deputy Director of the Interlock Division with whom I deal with when there is a problem. I suggested that he ask that the MVA grant a belated Hearing as long as she keeps the Interlock on her car while the Hearing is pending. This way the “public safety” is preserved. If not he has to go to Court and file a suit to compel them to unsuspend her license as it is a denial of a zillion clauses in the United States and State of Maryland Constitutions to deny an out-of-state licensee access to the Interlock Program which denial precludes them from employment and treatment in Maryland.
I have been waiting for the right case to bring this suit. This lawyer may have no choice because if she retained him within 30 days of her being charged, it is his fault she cannot drive and will lose her really good job. She cannot even drive to her probation in the county where she works. It is horrible. The lawyer is a really good guy but did not know the law. That is why you are going to have to be careful when you read the term “Specialist” in a mailing or advertisement. There are NO regulations for using that term. I don’t know if he advertises himself as a Specialist, but I hope he finds a way to fix this mess or this woman will be unemployed.