Criminal charges, regardless of the level of severity, can be damaging to a person's personal and professional life, as well as stressful. It is far more likely that a Portland resident will face a misdemeanor-level charge than a felony-level. However, for many people, misdemeanors can cause many of the same problems a felony would cause. One of the most common causes of a misdemeanor charge is a driving-related offense.
On a recent Thursday evening, an accident occurred when a pickup truck hit a car head-on after it crossed the center line. The pickup truck was carrying three passengers and crossed the center line because the driver fell asleep. One of the passengers suffered serious injuries while the other two passengers and the driver of the car suffered injuries that were not life-threatening. The driver of the truck was driving with a suspended license when the accident occurred. As a result, he now faces the misdemeanor charge of driving while suspended.
This is a common example of the kind of misdemeanor charge many Portland residents will face over the course of their lives. Other examples include reckless driving or driving without a license. Although these charges may seem relatively minor, they are actually quite serious, especially if the behavior causes an accident as in the story above.
If a person commits the offense of driving while his or her license is suspended or revoked, the offense could be characterized as a violation or as a crime. A criminal charge will involve the time, expense and stress of a criminal trial, and the penalties include jail time of up to one year and fines of over $6,000. A conviction for the charge could also cause the registrations of vehicles owned by the defendant to be suspended or the vehicle could be impounded. These penalties could result in job loss or severe hardships to one's family due to loss of transportation. For these reasons, it is imperative for the defendant to work with an attorney to mitigate the damage of the charge.
Source: Statesman Journal, "Two vehicles crash after Salem driver falls asleep, police say," Dan Bender, June 20, 2014
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