Opinion
Nos. 41198, 41200 and 41201
Decided February 28, 1968.
Criminal law — Motor vehicles — Driving while intoxicated — Reckless operation — Driving while driver's license suspended — Penalties — Suspension of driver's license.
APPEALS from the Court of Appeals for Hamilton County.
In May 1964, appellant was found guilty in Cincinnati Municipal Court of driving while intoxicated, reckless operation and driving while his driver's license was suspended. He was fined $200 and sentenced to six months in the workhouse. His driver's license was suspended for three years for each offense, a total of nine years.
The Common Pleas Court, in three separate appeals, affirmed the judgment of the Municipal Court and the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgments of the Common Pleas Court.
The causes are now before this court on motions to certify the record.
Mr. William A. McClain, city solicitor, Mr. Ralph E. Cors and Mr. William B. Singer, for appellee.
Mr. Morris G. Sullivan, for appellant.
The only question of merit raised by these appeals relates to the suspension of appellant's driver's license. Under Section 4507.16, Revised Code, relating to the suspension or revocation of drivers' licenses, a driver's license may be revoked or it may be suspended for a maximum of three years for driving while intoxicated. The suspension for reckless operation falls under Section 4507.34, Revised Code, which provides for a maximum one-year suspension. There is no provision for suspension for conviction while driving under suspension (Sections 4507.38 and 4507.99, Revised Code). Thus, the only offense of which appellant was convicted under which a three-year suspension could be imposed was for driving while intoxicated. Although the trial judge could have revoked appellant's driver's rights for driving while intoxicated, the maximum suspension that could be imposed for all three convictions was four years.
The motions to certify the record are allowed, the judgments of the Court of Appeals are affirmed, with the exception of those parts of the judgments as to license suspensions. The judgments of the Court of Appeals, with respect to license suspensions, are reversed and the causes are remanded to the Municipal Court for a reconsideration of the suspension or revocation of appellant's driver's license.
Judgments affirmed in part and reversed in part.
TAFT, C.J., ZIMMERMAN, MATTHIAS, O'NEILL, HERBERT, SCHNEIDER and BROWN, JJ., concur.