Q: Hello, if I am on supervision in Illinois and I get a ticket in Indiana, will that affect the supervision? (More details

A: Hello Asker,

First, let say that you need to slow down. You are not only risking your job but you are also seriously risking a cancellation of your driving privileges. It is imperative that you hire an attorney for the Indiana case ASAP. DO NOT LITIGATE IT YOURSELF. Your Illinois case entered as a serious moving violation. If you receive two of these within a 36 month period, you WILL have your CDL cancelled for at least 60 days if not more. If the Indiana ticket was for speeding, it will constitute a second moving violation within 36 months IF it was for speeding 15 or more mph over the limit. For this reason, hiring counsel is not only a good idea, but it may very well save your livelihood.

Second, as to your supervision in Illinois, it was contingent on not receiving any new tickets within the period of supervision. This new violation will be reported to the secretary of state on the national database. You may get lucky and have your supervision terminated successfully before this violation hits the national database but depending on your county, you may be less lucky. My recommendation would be to see about stalling on the Indiana ticket in hopes that it isn't resolved until after your supervision terminates. I cannot guarantee the effectiveness of this preserving your supervision but I do know that it may reduce the likelihood of Illinois discovering the ticket until after the supervision ends if it remains pretrial until after the supervision period ends. I would consult an Indiana attorney regarding the effectiveness of this strategy as it depends on how their courts report offenses and I cannot speak as to how that is done mechanically.

Third, the danger of this new ticket is that your court supervision can not only be revoked but the original charge may be reinstated against you along with any other dismissed tickets. You MUST take action to be vigilant about any petitions to revoke your supervision because some counties like Lake and Kane County require waivers of notice of for petitions to revoke in order to plea guilty. Doing so will prevent you from knowing when a supervision revocation hearing is occurring increasing the likelihood of a resentencing that isn't in your favor.

Finally, just because I don't think it can be stated enough, you need to slow down. You have to understand that CDL's are very fragile. Simple tickets can be fatal not only to your license but your job as well. Also remember that while Illinois is very receptive towards CDL's and can be more willing to look the other way than other states, this is not a bulletproof shield and you can easily find yourself unemployable if you continue to do this.

Hope that helps!

Sincerely,

Jason A. Wilkins

Attorney at Law

(630) 445-2293