Judge leaves permit issue up to DMV

Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2005 | 9:20 a.m.

A judge ruled Tuesday it will be up to the Department of Motor Vehicles to determine if a man convicted of drunken driving in the death of another motorist in 1995 should keep his learner's permit.

James Yach served 8 1/2 years in prison for running a red light and hitting a car, killing the driver, 51-year-old James M. Hastings. He was released from prison last month and received a learner's permit for a driver's license.

Under Nevada law the court clerk is required to send a notice of the conviction to the DMV. Then when the inmate is released from prison, the prison system sends a notice to the court clerk, who notifies the DMV.

This is to ensure that upon completion of the sentence, an individual waits the required three years before obtaining a new driver's license.

In Yach's case, however, the DMV said it never received a notice of his conviction, which left no obstacles in place to prevent Yach from receiving his learner's permit last month.

Deputy District Attorney Bruce Nelson said it's unclear why the department has no record of a notice being filed for Yach, but he's satisfied the notice will be filed shortly.

"We don't know if the notice was never sent or if it was sent and got lost in the mail," Nelson said. "What I do know is the notice should have been sent and as of today he still hasn't been revoked even though he should have long ago."

Deputy District Attorney Michael Foley of the civil division addressed the court on behalf of the clerk's office saying there was nothing in Yach's file to indicate whether the notice "was sent or not sent" to the DMV.

In issuing his order Tuesday, District Judge John McGroarty mused that the prosecutors were "basically asking me to order the clerk's office to do what they should have done 10 years ago."

The judge went on to ask the prosecutors whether the 10 years that have passed since Yach's conviction "makes this stale" to which Nelson answered "it's up to the DMV."

The notice of Yach's conviction will now be sent to the department of motor vehicles and they will determine whether or not to issue a notice of license revocation to Yach.

The prosecutor said he will now begin checking on other cases in the system to make sure the same type of error has not occurred.

Yach's attorney, Frank Cremen, said the argument in favor of Yach keeping his learner's permit rests in what the laws stated at the time of Yach's conviction.

When Yach was convicted the law said a person had to wait three years from the date of conviction before they could receive a driver's license. The law was later changed to require a three-year wait after the persons served their sentence.

Cremen said he believed the DMV would just "rubber stamp" the case and revoke Yach's license.