Recently, a young trade school graduate was trying to pass a person whose erratic driving almost sent him off the side of the road. Unfortunately, in passing the erratic driver, law enforcement clocked him at 94 mph before decelerating and pulled him over. He was charged with reckless driving in Roanoke County Circuit Court, a Class 1 misdemeanor in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Even more problematic, the young man had just obtained a degree that required him to maintain a commercial driver’s license (CDL) for his career.
The young man was worried about his future. He contacted us to represent him and hoped to put this behind him, especially since he had no prior criminal history. Cerid Lugar presented mitigation evidence that our client was not a serial speeder and needed a crime-free driving record for his career. We did note that the young man reacted too strongly to his circumstances, and we negotiated with the prosecution to have our client take a driver improvement course to learn safer habits for dealing with dangerous and erratic driving. Our client did have to spend four days in jail because his bond was revoked, but after three court dates, the charge was amended to a speeding ticket and he paid his fines. He is able to obtain and maintain a CDL for his new career without the burden of a criminal misdemeanor on his permanent record.