Q: Can the officer who pulled me waive the jail time for driving while DUI suspension? He assured me?
A:
Yes and no. The charge of driving while DUI-suspended (1543(b)) caries a mandatory jail time of 60 days -- or 90 days if you're caught driving with any amount of alcohol in your system. The judge can't change that, and the cop can't change that.
The cop, however, has the discretion to change the actual charge at the magisterial district court hearing -- and *that's* what usually happens to avoid the jail time. Often, the charge will be changed to *1543(a)*, which is simply driving on a suspended license (non-DUI). The problem with that is it carries another year of license suspension on top of your current DUI-related suspension. Which means you're under the thumb of PennDOT for that much longer. Still, it's better than jail.
See if the cop (or the judge) will change the charge to some *other* traffic citation that carries ZERO license suspension. That's your best bet. Best of luck to you.
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