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Friday, October 17, 2008

Daskalos Record Reveals Glitch

By T.J. Wilham
Journal Staff Writer
       Thousands of motorists' driving records contain more traffic-violation penalties than they should — an oversight that came to light thanks to millionaire speedster Jason Daskalos.
    The state Department of Taxation and Revenue recently completed its investigation into why Daskalos' traffic convictions were not appearing on his record.
    In doing so, officials discovered a flaw in their driving record reporting system that meant points were wrongly added to some motorists' driver's licenses.
    State officials said they believe the flawed system had been in place for more than a decade.
    "When we were looking into Mr. Daskalos' record, we discovered there was a bigger problem in the state," said Rick Homans, secretary of taxation and revenue secretary.
    Points are put on driving records each time a motorist is convicted of certain moving violations, such as speeding. Enough points can cause someone to lose his or her license and pay higher insurance rates.
    The investigation discovered that some motorists who received a deferred judgment outside Bernalillo County were getting points added to their licenses.
    Under a deferred judgment, motorists can have their tickets dismissed and avoid points as long as they complete terms set by the court, such as attending driving school.
    For decades, judges had been telling defendants that, if they pleaded guilty and successfully completed terms of a deferred judgment, points would not go on their driving record.
    Soon after Homans took office earlier this year, he started an investigation into Daskalos' driving record.
    The investigation found several convictions that should have been added to his official driving record over the years. Ultimately, Homans added four recent citations to his current driving record, giving him a total of eight points. A point stays on a person's record for 12 months, and it takes 12 points to have a license suspended.
    After Homans added the citations, Daskalos called MVD to question why one of those citations had been placed on his record when he had received a deferral.
    It turns out that some courts outside the county were sending deferred judgments to MVD before it was determined whether a motorist had completed the conditions, Homans said. Points were added anyway, regardless of the outcome.
    Paperwork indicated that the defendant was guilty and noted farther down that it was a deferral.
    So MVD clerks who saw a "guilty" box checked posted the conviction and any applicable points to the driver's record.
    The flaw didn't happen to Bernalillo County cases because Metropolitan Court sends its citations to MVD electronically.
    To further complicate matters, MVD officials found legislation that went into effect in 2007, saying that deferrals should be counted as convictions and points should, therefore, be added to driving records. But Homans determined that the intent of the law was to apply only to holders of commercial driver's licenses.
    Homans has since removed one of the citations from Daskalos' record after the developer provided paperwork proving that it was a deferral and that he had complied with conditions set by the court by attending driving school.
    To fix the problem, Homans said, he is going to enforce the intent of the law, not how it is written, change the paper system, and request to have the law fixed so that it properly indicates that only holders of commercial driver's licences can get points from deferrals.
    He has also set up a hot line for people to call if they think points were mistakenly added to their licenses.