California Criminal Lawyer Blog

I just received a response to a California Public Records Act request I filed about THREE MONTHS ago....

According to the documents, it seems that San Diego DMV Manager Brian Dawson is unhappy that his hearing officers (aka "HO's" for fun), aren't summarily suspending all people who challenge the DMV evidence in DUI administrative hearings, as he apparently would like to happen. In fact, it looks like there have been just too many "set asides" for his liking.

Of course, we in the criminal defense community know that most of the HO's do, in fact, summarily suspend licenses, even when the weight of the evidence is against the Department. So, the fact that brian Dawson sent a memo out to the HO's that the few who actually did issue what we call "set aside's" were derelict in their duties, is astounding and frightening.

Mr. Dawson sent out a "confidential" email to his HO's telling them he was unhappy with the state of the set asides. That's what just came over my desk.

Is Mr. Dawson trying to "rig" the DMV hearings? I think the answer is a resounding "Yes." In fact, in a subsequent memo to the HO's, he even suggests that the Whistleblower statute might apply to anyone who ID's the person who originally leaked this info to defense attorneys.

However, the email is not "confidential." It is subject to disclosure per Gov. Code sec. 6254 et seq., the California Public Records Act. Just because Mr. Dawson puts "confidential" on a memo, doesn't make is legally so. I've gotten thousands of internal emails from the City Attorneys, DA's and crime lab people explaining how they were withholding evidence. In fact, that's how I got this one.

What's been a craw in the side, however, is that in San Diego, alone, we could save possibly $650,000 to $1 million per year if we just did away with the DUI admin per se hearings and let the courts handle it in conjunction with the criminal matters. Times that by all of the DMV offices throughout the state that conduct admin per se hearings, and the state might be able to, say, pay for exterminating rats in school. The DMV, as it relates to aministrative per se hearings in DUI cases, is unnecessary.

I'm looking into whether or not the legal office has taken any action against those rogue DMV HO's who actually reject the Department's evidence and send the driver away with an intact license.......

Maybe I'll write a letter to Arnold and ask him to save us some money.....