For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 5

License and Eid Pleas: A Reprieve
from Incarceration for Driving
Under Suspension Offenses
U
nder 75 Pa.C.S. § 1543(b)(1.1)(i), a person commits
a summary offense of Driving Under a Suspended
License ( " DUS " ) if they drive while their license
has a DUI-related suspension and they refuse blood
or breath testing, have above a .02% blood alcohol
content, or have a Schedule I or non-prescribed
Schedule II or III substance in their system. Importantly,
this subsection provided for imprisonment of " not less
than 90 days. " In Commonwealth v. Eid,1
the Supreme
Court struck down the incarceration penalty in Section
1543(b)(1.1)(i) as unconstitutionally vague for lack of a
specified maximum penalty.
Khalid Eid was found parked the wrong way on a
one-way street after having collided with two parked
vehicles.2
He exhibited classic signs of intoxication
and refused blood and breath testing at the hospital.
After a summary trial and de novo hearing, Eid was
convicted of DUS and sentenced to 90 days to 6
months of incarceration with consecutive probation.3
Eid appealed, asserting in part that the maximum
incarceration for this summary offense was 90 days
as it did not specify a maximum. The Commonwealth
responded that the maximum punishment should be
6 months based on general principles and statutes
limiting other summary traffic offenses to this term of
incarceration.4
James Baker
Initially, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld
the DUS conviction despite the defendant's refusal
to consent to a blood test. The Court had already
extended Birchfield v. North Dakota5
, the suppression
case holding that a warrantless blood test violated
the Fourth Amendment, to prohibit DUS convictions
based only on the refusal to submit to a blood test in
Commonwealth v. Monarch.6
However, Eid also signed
a DL-26 form refusing to submit to a breath test, which
did not raise constitutional concerns and could serve as
a basis for the conviction.
The Supreme Court then turned to the sentencing
issue and rejected the Commonwealth's attempt to
impute a 6-month maximum term of incarceration
from Section 6503(a) of the Motor Vehicle Code ( " Title
75 " ), which provided a maximum penalty for multiple
violations of Section 1543(a) and not Section 1543(b).7
The Court also refused to presume the General Assembly
intended a 6-month maximum simply because the
offense was graded as a " summary " and that is the
maximum permissible penalty before a defendant is
constitutionally entitled to a jury trial.8
Instead, the Court held that it could not set a
maximum punishment where the statutory authority
was silent, and the failure to establish a ceiling
Vol. 6, Issue 3 l For The Defense 5

For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3

Contents
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 1
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 2
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - Contents
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 4
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 5
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 6
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 7
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 8
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 9
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 10
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 11
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 12
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 13
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 14
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 15
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 16
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 17
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 18
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 19
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 20
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 21
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 22
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 23
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 24
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 25
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 26
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 27
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 28
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 29
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 30
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 31
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 32
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 33
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 34
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 35
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 36
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 37
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For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 40
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 41
For the Defense - Vol. 6 Issue 3 - 42
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