Didn't know license was suspended, found out in another state

[vjean]

I was rear-ended and the police were called, Illinois. My FL license came back suspended. I had no clue. The officer wrote me an arrest form but did not take me to jail, and told me to clear it up w/ FL and present that in court, Illinois. I cleared it up the next day (my new insurance company didn't notify the state of FL about my new policy). I talked to a friend State Trooper here in IL and he said that the officer should have written me a ticket for " driver w/o a valid license" bc it was an out-of-state license that was suspended, not an IL license. My attorney said that it doesn't matter what state the license is from, the judge will look at it as suspended. So I'm confused about how the officer handled the situation, bc of what the State trooper friend told me. And I'm confused if my attorney is right or wrong.

Please help

[Mr. Knowitall]

I don't see why it would be inappropriate to ticket you for driving with a suspended license, given that you were in fact driving with a suspended license. It may be that the "driving with a suspended license" statute is written such that it only applies to drivers required to be licensed under Illinois law; but we don't know what specific statutes are involved in your case. Perhaps your lawyer can explain things to you a bit more clearly, if you ask.

[Litigator]

All I can tell you if it was "suspended in error", (and it sounds like this may have been the case due to a bureaucratic snafu) a dismissal may very well be appropriate even though there was a technical suspension--you will have the burden of demonstrating this though. As an example, if a family member got a ticket in your name and you did not show up for court your license would probably end up suspended through no fault of your own and I think it clear you would get a dismissal on that basis.

On the other hand, if you did not know your license was suspended but it was suspended for a valid reason then there's not much to argue about--your best bet in that situation is to do what you can do to get what caused the suspension cleared up and that will at least gain you points with the judge on that score and might possibly lead to a dismissal depending on how the judge wants to view the situation.