What is the name of your state? New York
Somewhat drawn out story here, but I'll try to keep it short:
I am from Massachusetts and used to have a MA license, but moved to Port Chester, NY in 2001. I have a NY license, and as far as I know, no longer have a valid MA license (although not sure on this point). Since that time, I moved to Manhattan for a period, and now I travel for work so I live out of hotels. When I am not travelling (seldom) I get my mail back at my mother's address in Massachusetts. My license still has my Port Chester address listed.
I received a ticket way back in 2004 in Putnam County, NY which was documented as a 65 in a 55 mph. I informed the Officer at the time that my address was not correct because I travelled for work and that my MA address should be used. He made note of this. I returned the ticket with a not-guilty plea (my intent was to see if I could get it waived or reduced in court). I never received anything back from the court or from NY DMV in response to the ticket. I was stupid enough to believe that I stumbled on a processing error or a stroke of luck. I should have known that was the case, because the ticket was not just "magically dropped", as I found out last night.
I got pulled over last night doing 81 in a 65 (I have my doubts about the speed), but more importantly, when the officer came back to the car, he told me that I was driving with a suspended license. Apparently, NY had suspended my license back in October 2004. Since that time, I have received NO communication from NY at my address in MA (which again, I gave to the officer). I can only ASSUME that they mailed the notice of suspension, plus any collection efforts (Im sure they must have made some) to my old address. Needless to say, this was a shock to me. I had a rental that I could no longer drive, had to tow it to a location, then take a 2 hour taxi to my destination...all in the middle of the night. Now I am facing not one, but TWO speeding tickets (one old) as well as the Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a vehicle (3rd degree) charge which is a misdemeanor.
I have no prior record, and a fairly clean driving bill overall (a couple speeding tickets over 10 years of driving). I know I am going to end up paying out of my @$$ for this now...but I dont know what the best course of action is for me.
I plan to pay the old speeding ticket ASAP because I want that cleared and would like my license to be reinstated so I can work towards getting rid of my NY one and getting a new MA one. I am also leaning towards putting forth a guilty plea for the second speeding ticket (from last night) and paying that as well. That would leave an April 10 court date to address the unlicensed operation. I was thinking that if I show up at that time with both tickets paid, plus explain the confusion resulting from my address changes and job, that maybe I would get the leniant end of the charge. Id really prefer not to have a misdemeanor on my record, as it is spotless right now and would like to keep it that way.
Any help?
Somewhat drawn out story here, but I'll try to keep it short:
I am from Massachusetts and used to have a MA license, but moved to Port Chester, NY in 2001. I have a NY license, and as far as I know, no longer have a valid MA license (although not sure on this point). Since that time, I moved to Manhattan for a period, and now I travel for work so I live out of hotels. When I am not travelling (seldom) I get my mail back at my mother's address in Massachusetts. My license still has my Port Chester address listed.
I received a ticket way back in 2004 in Putnam County, NY which was documented as a 65 in a 55 mph. I informed the Officer at the time that my address was not correct because I travelled for work and that my MA address should be used. He made note of this. I returned the ticket with a not-guilty plea (my intent was to see if I could get it waived or reduced in court). I never received anything back from the court or from NY DMV in response to the ticket. I was stupid enough to believe that I stumbled on a processing error or a stroke of luck. I should have known that was the case, because the ticket was not just "magically dropped", as I found out last night.
I got pulled over last night doing 81 in a 65 (I have my doubts about the speed), but more importantly, when the officer came back to the car, he told me that I was driving with a suspended license. Apparently, NY had suspended my license back in October 2004. Since that time, I have received NO communication from NY at my address in MA (which again, I gave to the officer). I can only ASSUME that they mailed the notice of suspension, plus any collection efforts (Im sure they must have made some) to my old address. Needless to say, this was a shock to me. I had a rental that I could no longer drive, had to tow it to a location, then take a 2 hour taxi to my destination...all in the middle of the night. Now I am facing not one, but TWO speeding tickets (one old) as well as the Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a vehicle (3rd degree) charge which is a misdemeanor.
I have no prior record, and a fairly clean driving bill overall (a couple speeding tickets over 10 years of driving). I know I am going to end up paying out of my @$$ for this now...but I dont know what the best course of action is for me.
I plan to pay the old speeding ticket ASAP because I want that cleared and would like my license to be reinstated so I can work towards getting rid of my NY one and getting a new MA one. I am also leaning towards putting forth a guilty plea for the second speeding ticket (from last night) and paying that as well. That would leave an April 10 court date to address the unlicensed operation. I was thinking that if I show up at that time with both tickets paid, plus explain the confusion resulting from my address changes and job, that maybe I would get the leniant end of the charge. Id really prefer not to have a misdemeanor on my record, as it is spotless right now and would like to keep it that way.
Any help?