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Bench Warrant for 20 Years After First-Time DUI, Downey
In 2002, our client was convicted of a first-time DUI in the Downey Superior Court. At that time, he was 23 years old. He was represented by the public defender and entered into a no contest plea to a violation of Vehicle Code § 23152(b) at the arraignment, the first court appearance.
Our client was terrified of going to jail and accepted a plea bargain with no jail, but with an obligation to enroll in and complete the 39-hour (3 month) AB 541 alcohol awareness program and pay a court fine of $390, plus penalties and assessments (for a total of $1509.00). The client enrolled in the AB 541 program, but was expelled from the program because he stopped paying the class fees. The client also never paid the court fee or fine.
Because our client never finished the AB 541 program, the judge issued a bench warrant in 2003 for our client. Our client also could not reinstate his driver’s license.
For the next 20 years, until 2023, he never had a driver’s license and he had an outstanding bench warrant. Until one day when an officer pulled him over in San Pedro for driving without his headlights on.
The client then called up Greg Hill and told Greg about the situation. Greg had represented his son in two cases and so the client trusted Greg.
The client explained that he just thought the warrant would expire after a few years and was shocked to find out the warrant was still outstanding. The client also planned on just driving without a license for the rest of his life.
Greg explained that warrants do not expire (except Ramey warrants) because if warrants did expire after a few years, people would be motivated to try to ignore the warrant for that time period, which would reward disrespect for the judicial system.
Greg also explained that there was a mandatory ten-day minimum jail term for driving on a suspended license when the suspension is due to a DUI, as was our client’s license. Since our client had driven for over two decades on a suspended license, Greg told the client that the ten-day minimum jail term probably would not apply and the client would face up to 180 days in county jail.
The client then hired Greg Hill & Associates to help him get his license back. Greg explained that he would go to the Downey Superior Court and recommended that in order to make the judge feel obligated to recall the bench warrant and reissue a referral for our client to the AB 541 program, Greg should appear with a check for the full amount of court fees owed.
The client agreed with this and Greg appeared in the Downey Superior Court with the full court fees owed and the judge in fact did recall the bench warrant and reissued a referral for the client to re-enroll in the AB 541 program.
She did not reinstate our client on probation (he still had two more years left of the three years, as probation was revoked when the bench warrant was issued in 2003). Instead, she sentenced our client to 180 days in county jail, suspended for four months to allow our client to enroll in and complete the AB 541 program. She commented that if the client finished the AB 541 program in four months, she would then reinstate the client on probation and terminate it the same day.
Our client then enrolled in the AB 541 program the same day as the bench warrant was recalled.
The client would then be legally qualified for expungement if he completed the AB 541 program, was reinstated on probation and probation was terminated.
