{"id":285,"date":"2018-05-18T15:22:49","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T19:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tampacriminallawyer.net\/?p=285"},"modified":"2026-01-07T11:50:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:50:40","slug":"court-florida-driver-without-license-cant-be-convicted-for-driving-on-revoked-license","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-florida-driver-without-license-cant-be-convicted-for-driving-on-revoked-license\/","title":{"rendered":"Court: Florida Driver without License Can\u2019t be Convicted for Driving on Revoked License"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>No matter which kind of charges you are facing, it is important for a person accused of a crime in Florida to understand that prosecutors have the burden of proving your guilt. Specifically, they have to convince a judge or jury beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed the specific crime with which you were charged. As a <a href=\"https:\/\/edca.1dca.org\/DCADocs\/2017\/1782\/171782_1287_04182018_09002161_i.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recent case<\/a> out of Florida\u2019s First District Court of Appeal makes clear, it is the prosecutors\u2019 fault if they charge you with the wrong crime.A defendant was charged with two counts of violating a state law that makes it a first-degree misdemeanor to drive a car while knowing that your driver&#8217;s license or driving privilege has been canceled, suspended, or revoked.\u00a0He pleaded no contest to the charges but then filed a motion to dismiss them. The defendant argued that he could not be convicted because he never had a driver\u2019s license. In other words, the defendant said his driving privileges had never been canceled, suspended, or revoked. A trial judge denied that motion, finding that the defendant could have had his driving privileges revoked even if he never had a license in Florida. But the judge also invited the First District to weigh in.<\/p>\n<p>The appeals court eventually sided with the defendant. The First District said the law was ambiguous on this particular question because the state legislature didn\u2019t define the term \u201cdriving privilege.\u201d It noted, however, that a separate law requires anyone operating a motor vehicle in the Sunshine State to have \u201ca valid license issued by the State of Florida or fall under an exception to licensure.\u201d As a result, the court said the term driving privilege referred to anyone who can lawfully operate a vehicle in Florida, even if they don\u2019t have a driver\u2019s license. Since the defendant didn\u2019t have a license and didn\u2019t fall under one of the exceptions to the license requirement, the court said he should have been charged with driving without a license rather than driving with a revoked license.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the State&#8217;s position were correct and people had an innate privilege to drive, there would be no need for obtaining a license and persons could not be punished for driving without one,\u201d the court explained. \u201cFlorida courts have consistently stated that a license to drive is a privilege, not a right that is subject to regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"read_more_link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-florida-driver-without-license-cant-be-convicted-for-driving-on-revoked-license\/\"  title=\"Continue Reading Court: Florida Driver without License Can\u2019t be Convicted for Driving on Revoked License\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No matter which kind of charges you are facing, it is important for a person accused of a crime in Florida to understand that prosecutors have the burden of proving your guilt. Specifically, they have to convince a judge or jury beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed the specific crime with which you were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-traffic-offenses"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Florida Driver Without License: Key Ruling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Charged with driving on a revoked license in Florida? See why this court said some drivers can\u2019t be convicted.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-florida-driver-without-license-cant-be-convicted-for-driving-on-revoked-license\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Florida Driver Without License: Key Ruling\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Charged with driving on a revoked license in Florida? See why this court said some drivers can\u2019t be convicted.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/busy-traffic-jam-driving-offense.webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hanlon Law, PA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Florida Driver Without License: Key Ruling","description":"Charged with driving on a revoked license in Florida? See why this court said some drivers can\u2019t be convicted.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-florida-driver-without-license-cant-be-convicted-for-driving-on-revoked-license\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Florida Driver Without License: Key Ruling","twitter_description":"Charged with driving on a revoked license in Florida? See why this court said some drivers can\u2019t be convicted.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/busy-traffic-jam-driving-offense.webp","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hanlon Law, PA","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-florida-driver-without-license-cant-be-convicted-for-driving-on-revoked-license\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-florida-driver-without-license-cant-be-convicted-for-driving-on-revoked-license\/"},"author":{"name":"Hanlon Law, PA","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8b1bbe17dcab105246cd4cb867e91837"},"headline":"Court: Florida Driver without License Can\u2019t be Convicted for Driving on Revoked License","datePublished":"2018-05-18T19:22:49+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-07T16:50:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-florida-driver-without-license-cant-be-convicted-for-driving-on-revoked-license\/"},"wordCount":523,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-florida-driver-without-license-cant-be-convicted-for-driving-on-revoked-license\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/busy-traffic-jam-driving-offense.webp","articleSection":["Traffic Offenses"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-florida-driver-without-license-cant-be-convicted-for-driving-on-revoked-license\/","url":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-florida-driver-without-license-cant-be-convicted-for-driving-on-revoked-license\/","name":"Florida Driver Without License: Key Ruling","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-florida-driver-without-license-cant-be-convicted-for-driving-on-revoked-license\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/court-florida-driver-without-license-cant-be-convicted-for-driving-on-revoked-license\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/busy-traffic-jam-driving-offense.webp","datePublished":"2018-05-18T19:22:49+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-07T16:50:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.criminalattorneytampa.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8b1bbe17dcab105246cd4cb867e91837"},"description":"Charged with driving on a revoked license in Florida? 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