Crime against road safety

The Supreme Court (TS) has upheld an extraordinary appeal for review and has annulled a final criminal conviction for a crime against road safety. The case revolves around a simple idea, a person had been convicted for driving when, supposedly, they had no points left on their license, but later an official document emerged that demonstrated that this "key piece" of the conviction was incorrect .

The convicted person had been declared guilty in a summary trial for a crime under art.384 CP, which punishes, among other behaviors, driving without having authorization to do so (for example, due to total loss of points). The problem is that the conviction was based on an administrative information about the points of the permit that turned out to be erroneous .

After the ruling, a resolution from the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) was submitted, which certified that, on the date of the events, the driver did have points and the license was valid. That is, the determining fact that justified the conviction (not having points) was not true.

With that "new evidence," the TS applies art.954.1. d LECr, which allows to review final judgments when relevant facts or evidence appear that were not taken into account and that, if known, would have changed the outcome (here, logically, the appropriate action would have been to acquit). Furthermore, the TS emphasizes that maintaining such a conviction would clash with the presumption of innocence . For all these reasons, the TS declares the nullity of the judgment convicting in the summary trial procedure and nullifies the conviction.

 

In proceedings arising from facts related to the driving of motor vehicles, our lawyers are at your disposal for the defense of your interests.