THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 25, 1995 TAG: 9503250360
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ROANOKE LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
Virginia Attorney General Jim Gilmore has taken issue with a judge who ordered police in his three-county jurisdiction to stop taking the driver's licenses of people arrested on drunken-driving charges.
Prince Edward County General District Judge William Hay ruled March 8 that the state's new seven-day license revocation is unconstitutional. He said the regulation violates the defendant's due process rights because police take the license at the point of arrest without a judicial hearing.
Gilmore said Friday he has asked the Circuit Court of Prince Edward County to set aside Hay's ruling so police in Prince Edward, Lunenburg and Charlotte counties can resume enforcement of the law, which went into effect Jan. 1.
``The safety of our citizens on Virginia's highways is of paramount importance,'' Gilmore said in a statement. ``To immediately remove from the highways those people who choose to drive while impaired by alcohol is a mandated administrative response to ensure public safety.''
More than 4,900 DUI suspects in Virginia have had their licenses suspended since Jan. 1, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
``Thirty-seven states have similar administrative license revocation laws, most of which have been challenged in courts and virtually all of which were ruled to be valid,'' Gilmore said.
The Virginia law orders police to automatically revoke driver's licenses when drivers have a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 percent or higher, or who refuse to take a breath test to determine blood-alcohol content. Drivers can appear in traffic court the day after the arrest and ask a judge to return a license.
KEYWORDS: DRUNKEN DRIVING DRIVER'S LICENSE by CNB