DMV CHIEF SAYS AGENCY HAS ABUSED PUBLIC

(03/28/2009)

West Virginia's motor vehicles chief Joe Miller said he is "appalled" at the DMV'S abuses toward the public. Miller told the Senate Judiciary Committee this week that he believes many of the allegations of abusive practices by his agency in drunken driving administrative cases. Miller has recently returned to the post. He says evidence suggests Department of Motor Vehicles lawyers have violated the rights of people accused of DUI while seeking to revoke or suspend their licenses. Miller told media he supports a proposal that would have county magistrates decide these administrative petitions at the same time they preside over the criminal charge. West Virginia separated the criminal and civil sides of DUI cases in 1981. A Lincoln County judge who heard a DUI administrative appeal last year cited evidence that the DMV trains its hearing examiners to consistently rule against defendants and allow contested evidence. "While the DMV's witnesses appeared to deflect such evidence as misunderstandings or mis-recollections, the exhibits received into the evidence of this proceeding clearly and unambiguously demonstrate the contrary," wrote Judge Jay Hoke. Evidence suggested that DMV lawyers pressured and even threatened examiners with firings if they failed to alter rulings that went against the agency. Miller said there are fundamental rights of fairness, which need to be restored, including due process.

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