Driving on Suspended

[Dpritsch]

I have a question regarding a friend in Conway, AR. It sounds cliche, but it really is a friend although that isn't important. Here is my question. My buddy was pulled over for going 48 on an unposted street. The officer pulled him over and said that he pulled him over for doing 48 in a 30. Upon pulling him over the officer discovered that he had a suspended license and gave him driving on suspended as well as an 18 over the speed limit. As I said earlier there was no speed limit posted and this occured about 2 weeks ago. Well, yesterday a crew posted a speed limit sign on the same road that said 45. My friend was wondering if both charges would get droped since the whole reason he got pulled over was going 18 over, or if just the speeding ticket would get dropped or lowered. His reasoning was that the cop would have never known about the suspension if he hadn't been pulled over. I told him it that doesn't sound right. Anyone know what a likely outcome would be for contesting this?

[JETX]

Originally Posted by Dpritsch

My friend was wondering if both charges would get droped since the whole reason he got pulled over was going 18 over, or if just the speeding ticket would get dropped or lowered.

The DWLS will not be dropped. And also unlikely that the speeding will be dropped or lowered, as the subsequent speed change is NOT relevant to his citation.
The speed at the time was 30 mph... and he was exceeding the 'default' speed limit.

Anyone know what a likely outcome would be for contesting this?

Yep. Guilty on both counts.

[grasmicc]

Not necessarily. He needs to go in and argue that the initial stop was unlawful because the officer had to have known that the speed limit on the road was 45 at the time, and had to have known that he didn't have any grounds for the stop.

Then he needs to motion to suppress the evidence of DWSL under exclusionary rule due to being "fruit of poisoned tree".

No idea whether he'd win. With a good attorney he might be able to make this enough of a pain in the ass to convince the prosecutor to make a generous deal. Once you let the prosecutor know that you're going to force out of him, at minimum, a hearing and an appeal on the issue of the DWSL evidence, prosecutor might think twice about wasting that much time on it.