A circuit court judge in the upper peninsula has ordered the Michigan Secretary of State to refrain from suspending the license of a Michigan driver, even though that driver was convicted of operating while intoxicated, because an appeal has been filed. “We filed an appeal along with a motion to stay the license sanction pending the outcome of the appeal,” said Michigan OWI expert Mike Nichols. “The client was convicted following a jury trial, during which we believe the trial court made several mistakes,” Nichols added.
Mr. Nichols made a motion at sentencing for the trial court to stay or “hold off” on abstracting or “transmitting” the OWI conviction to the Secretary of State. The court clerk has 5 days after a conviction to abstract the record. The judge agreed to wait. “The key was to file the appeal immediately so that we could get it in before the 5th day. Then, we cited to the appeals court a little-known provision in the law that allows for the appeals court to order the Secretary of State not to impose the license sanction until the appeal is decided,” said Nichols. “The reason is that it takes long enough for an appeal to be heard that the license sanction will already have been served before the appellate court rules on the merits of the appeal. If the wrongfully-convicted-citizen wins at appeal, justice delayed is truly justice denied,” Nichols said. The appeal is pending. |