| Adam Rust was one of approximately 90 people in Oregon whose convictions for driving with a suspended license were vacated after officials learned that glitches in the state’s record-keeping allowed these suspensions to remain on the books after their expiration.
Rust, then 22 years old, was stopped by a law-enforcement officer on March 12, 2012. When the officer ran Rust’s driver’s license through the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the records showed that Rust’s driving privileges had been suspended, based on a previous felony conviction in 2010 for failure to provide assistance to an injured motorist.
Rust pled guilty to the charge in Multnomah County Circuit Court on June 11, 2012. He received two years on probation.
In 2023, the Oregonian newspaper ran a series of articles detailing the DMV’s problems with accurately logging suspended licenses. The problems stemmed from the DMV using a placeholder date for suspended licenses, either 12/31/9999 or 00/00/0000.
The placeholder was needed because under Oregon law, license suspensions don’t take effect until a person completes a prison or jail sentence. Under the state’s system, defendants were required to contact the DMV and submit a form signed by a jail or prison official to activate the suspension and set its expiration date. That frequently didn’t happen. In some instances, defendants forgot to follow through. In other instances, they never received the proper forms.
According to the Oregonian, district attorneys knew of the problems with the DMV’s system and had begun working with the agency in the summer of 2022 to develop a remedy, but there was insufficient urgency to move quickly. The Oregonian’s initial story ran in February 2023, creating pressure on prosecutors to act quickly and correct these wrongful convictions.
The Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU) in the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office began reviewing cases. In Rust’s case, the review found that his license had been improperly suspended, based on a misapplication of the sentencing guidelines for the earlier conviction.
The district attorney’s office and Rust’s attorney filed a joint motion to vacate his conviction and dismiss his charge on May 18, 2023. A judge granted the motion on July 17, 2023.
– Ken Otterbourg
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