Have you entered a plea to driving while license suspended or revoked pursuant to Florida Statute 322.34 and found out later that your driver’s license would be suspended for five years? You may be eligible to withdraw your plea pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.172.

If the court did not inform you that you could lose your driver’s license as a result of your plea you are entitled to have the court withdrawal your plea and vacate your sentence. As a result, the DHSMV will have to set aside the habitual traffic offender extended suspension of your driver’s license that may have occurred under Florida Statute 322.264.

This issue was recently addressed by the Third District Court of Appeals in the case of State of Florida v. Jonathan Aiden. The Third District Court of Appeal ultimately held:

“The record in Aiden’s case is devoid of any showing that the trial court so advised Aiden during the 2010 plea colloquy, as required by the rule in effect at the time of Aiden’s plea. This supports Aiden’s claim on appeal that he was not properly advised by the trial court that one of the consequences of his plea might be ineligibility for a driver’s license. For this reason, the trial court correctly granted Aiden’s motion to withdraw his 2010 plea and vacated that conviction.”

Ultimately, if you have pled to an offense that requires that your driver’s license be suspended as a result of the plea, such as possession of cannabis or another controlled dangerous substance, cocaine, heroin, Xanax, or oxycodone, you may be eligible to have said plea withdrawn if you were not advised your driver’s license would be suspended.