What if I’m Charged with Driving While License Revoked DWLR?
If you’ve been pulled over and cited for Driving While License Revoked (DWLR), or Driving Without a License (DWL), you still have options. We consult with many individuals who have recently been pulled over with a revoked license or without a license at all and are now facing charges of Driving While License Revoked or Driving Without a License. If this has happened to you, it is not the end.
You cannot afford to loose your license due to not being properly represented or potentially be sentenced to jail by continuing to drive without a license. Our Driving Defense is not limited to Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, but Gaston County, Cabarrus County, Lincoln County, Rowan County, and Iredell County as well. Sheehan today and speak with a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Traffic and Speeding Ticket Lawyer today. Sheehan, PLLC, to get on track to getting your license back.
Two different offenses
G.S. 20-28 draws a hard line based on why your license was revoked in the first place. Driving while your license is revoked, where the revocation was not for impaired driving, is a Class 3 misdemeanor. Where the revocation was an impaired driving revocation, it is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
The difference is substantial. A Class 3 misdemeanor for a person with no record is punishable by a fine; a Class 1 misdemeanor carries the possibility of active time and, on conviction, mandatory additional revocation.
The additional revocation
Where the DWLR is on an impaired revocation, conviction brings a further revocation by operation of statute: “the person’s license shall be revoked for an additional period of one year for the first offense, two years for the second offense, and permanently for a third or subsequent offense.”
That consequence is not discretionary and it is not something the court can waive. It is the reason a DWLR charge on an impaired revocation should never be treated as a minor traffic matter.
- DWLR, not impaired revocation — Class 3 misdemeanor
- DWLR, impaired revocation — Class 1 misdemeanor
- First conviction on an impaired revocation — additional 1 year
- Second — additional 2 years
- Third or subsequent — permanent revocation
Knowledge is part of the offense
The State must show that you knew, or should have known, that your license was revoked. Notice is normally proved through the Division’s records showing a revocation notice mailed to your address of record.
That opens a real line of defense where the address on file was out of date, where the notice was returned, or where the revocation arose from a matter the person genuinely never knew about. It is not a technicality — it is an element the State has to prove.
Where the charge comes from
Most DWLR charges are discovered rather than sought. A person is stopped for a minor equipment or speeding matter, the officer runs the license, and a revocation nobody knew about appears — very often a failure-to-appear suspension from an old ticket in another county.
That history matters to the defense. A person who has been driving unknowingly on an administrative suspension is in a different position from one who continued driving after a DWI revocation, and the cases should not be handled the same way.
Fixing the underlying problem
A DWLR charge frequently cannot be resolved well until the reason for the revocation is dealt with. Where the cause is an unresolved case elsewhere, clearing that case and getting the license reinstated changes what the court is willing to do with the new charge.
Prosecutors and judges are markedly more receptive to a person who arrives with a valid license in hand than to one who promises to sort it out. The order of operations is usually: fix the old case, restore the license, then resolve the DWLR.
Why it should not be paid off
DWLR is a criminal charge, not an infraction, and a conviction is a criminal conviction that appears on record checks. It also feeds back into the license system, extending the very revocation that produced it.
Where the revocation was impaired-related, a conviction can begin a sequence that ends in permanent revocation. There is rarely a good reason to resolve one of these without advice.
Sentencing exposure
A Class 3 misdemeanor is punishable by a fine for a person with little or no record, with community punishment available. A Class 1 misdemeanor carries a materially higher exposure, with active time a genuine possibility depending on prior record level.
For most people the criminal penalty is not the worst part. The additional revocation that follows an impaired-revocation conviction affects daily life for years, and no fine compares to it.
Limited driving privilege after a DWLR
Where a DWLR conviction extends a revocation, a limited driving privilege may still be available depending on the category of revocation and how much time has passed. It is not automatic and the eligibility rules are specific.
Anyone in this position should establish what privileges are available before deciding how to resolve the charge, because some dispositions preserve eligibility and others do not.
The record consequence
DWLR is a criminal conviction and appears as one on background checks. For anyone whose employment involves driving, or who holds a commercial license, that consequence extends well beyond the license itself.
Commercial drivers face separate and stricter federal disqualification rules, and a conviction that a private driver could absorb can end a career. If you hold a CDL, say so at the outset — it changes the entire approach.
Bring the paperwork
The documents that change a DWLR outcome are the ones showing the revocation is over or was never properly notified: a current driving record, the reinstatement receipt, proof of the address the Division held.
Obtaining a certified driving record early is worth doing in every one of these cases. It tells you which of the two offenses you are actually facing, which is the first thing that has to be established.
Driving without a license is a different charge
DWLR and driving without a license are separate offenses. Failing to obtain a license before driving, contrary to G.S. 20-7(a), is a Class 3 misdemeanor under G.S. 20-35(a1) — not DWLR, and no additional revocation follows it.
G.S. 20-35(a2) makes two related matters infractions rather than crimes: driving on an expired license, contrary to G.S. 20-7(f), and failing to carry a valid license. G.S. 20-35(c) answers each — producing in court a license that was valid when you were charged, or renewing an expired one within 30 days, on the terms that subsection sets.
Clearing a failure-to-appear revocation
Where the revocation grew out of a missed court date or unpaid costs, G.S. 20-24.1 both created it and ends it. The revocation continues until the person disposes of the charge in the trial division where the appearance was missed, shows he is not the person charged, pays what the court ordered, or shows that the failure to pay was not wilful and that he is making a good faith effort, or that the amount should be remitted.
A revocation order under that section takes effect on the sixtieth day after it is mailed or personally delivered, so a notice that has just arrived leaves room to act.
When the vehicle itself is at risk
A separate statute reaches the car. Under G.S. 20-28.3 a vehicle is subject to seizure where the driver is charged with an impaired driving offense and, at the time of the violation, that driver's license was already revoked as a result of a prior impaired driving license revocation. The same applies to a driver who had no valid license and no liability insurance. The trigger is a fresh impaired driving charge, not a DWLR charge standing alone, but for a person already on an impaired revocation the two tend to arrive together.
Common questions
Do I have to attend court myself, or can a lawyer appear for me?
It is not automatic. G.S. 15A-1011 allows a plea to be entered in a misdemeanor case where there is a written waiver of appearance submitted with the approval of the presiding judge. Approval rests with the judge, so treat the court date as one you must attend unless you are told beforehand that a waiver has been approved.
I was convicted of DWLR in District Court. Is that the end of it?
Not necessarily. Under G.S. 15A-1431 a defendant convicted in district court before the judge may appeal to superior court for trial de novo with a jury, and notice of appeal may be given orally in open court or in writing to the clerk within 10 days of entry of judgment. Trial de novo means the case is heard afresh rather than reviewed for error.
Related questions
Ask about your own situation.
Every matter turns on its facts. Mr. Sheehan reviews each inquiry himself.