I just loved this story and thought I'd share it:
Broward DUI case resurfaces after 18 years
Charges against woman were dropped in 1987
By Rafael A. Olmeda
Staff Writer
Posted June 25 2005
Broward prosecutors brought a Lake County woman to trial on a drunken driving charge Friday, 18 years after she was originally arrested for the crime.
Susan Kaplan, 67, resumed a normal life after thinking her case was dropped on Thanksgiving weekend in 1987.
She stayed in Fort Lauderdale for 14 years, working most of that time at the popular Floridian restaurant on Las Olas Boulevard. She renewed her driver's license several times. She welcomed 10 grandchildren into the world. She retired and moved to Leesburg with her daughter.
And one day last October, as she was making soup for her family, she heard a knock at her door. A Lake County deputy said he had a warrant for her arrest.
"I looked at him and he looked at me like we were both crazy," said Kaplan, who's staying with another daughter in Broward County until the case is resolved. "They handcuffed me, humiliated me in front of my grandchildren."
It was still unclear, even to the prosecutor, how and why the case took so long to come to trial. Assistant State Attorney Nathan Avrunin, who only got the case Friday morning, said records showed Kaplan was arrested for driving drunk with a blood alcohol level of .13 in April 1987, and was originally scheduled for trial that November. But a key witness fell ill, and when the judge wouldn't postpone the trial, prosecutors dropped the charges.
That was the last time Kaplan said she heard anything about the case, but Avrunin said the state attorney's office refiled the charges within a few days. The problem, he acknowledges, is that no one told Kaplan. Her lawyer was notified, but for some reason, the arrest warrant never found its way to the accused.
"I really don't know what efforts were made to locate her," Avrunin said.
Kaplan said she remained at the same address, near Commercial Boulevard and State Road 7, for three years after her arrest. She completed a mandatory class for people with DUI arrests. And she kept working as a waitress and, later, a manager at the Floridian, where Fort Lauderdale police were among her regular customers.
"I did learn my lesson," she said. "I never even got a parking ticket or a speeding ticket afterward."
Avrunin confirmed her clean driving record.
Kaplan's new lawyer, Norm Kent, said Friday he's going to try to have the case dismissed on the grounds that her right to a speedy trial were violated. "The state had a legal obligation to give her notice to come back into court. We have no proof that they ever did."
Even Avrunin said that might be a winning strategy.
"We're reviewing the case law regarding whether we will be able to go forward," he said. While some precedents might support proceeding with the prosecution, Avrunin said dropping the case -- for good this time -- is still an option.
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Before anyone asks: statute of limitations is not an issue because the charges were filed in a timely manner. Speedy trial is the issue, and she'll probably win on that.
Funny story, though.
