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Lawyer: Youngstown client selling house to pay license reinstatement fees
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
James McCarthy wants to drive so badly, he’s selling his house.
McCarthy, 49, has to put it on the market to pay his reinstatement fees to get his driver’s license back because his license has been suspended at least five times. He has also gotten rid of his car, he said Tuesday in municipal court.
Judge Elizabeth Kobly was not impressed with his zeal. She sentenced him to 21 days in jail for his latest offense, when he was stopped by Mill Creek MetroParks police in April.
City Assistant Prosecutor Jeffrey Moliterno said that McCarthy had three suspension citations in the 1990s, two in 2014 and his present one in 2015.
McCarthy told the judge he has had a license before, but it has been suspended for his failure to pay child support. He said he tries to keep up on the payments but he works construction, and since that work is seasonal, he often is laid off in the winter months.
Every suspension adds more and more money McCarthy must pay the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to get his license back.
Judge Kobly said the best thing he can do is to just not drive.
“Stop the bleeding and stop driving,” Judge Kobly told him.
McCarthy admitted it is frustrating.
“I’m tired of this, too. I’m really tired of this,” McCarthy said.
Also sentenced to 21 days in jail was Kadeem Gilmore, 26, who was stopped by Youngstown State University Police on May 28 and cited for driving under suspension. Moliterno said Gilmore had two previous license suspensions in 2014.
Compounding the problem was that Gilmore said he did not have insurance for himself. Judge Kobly said that meant he would receive another license suspension besides the one he was pleading no-contest to Tuesday.
Gilmore said he was ordered to pay $5,000 as part of a settlement for an accident he was involved in, and that was why he was not able to pay off his previous suspensions.
“Are you a millionaire, sir?” Judge Kobly asked him.
“No, ma’am,” Gilmore replied.
“Then why are you throwing away money you don’t have?” the judge asked him.
Gilmore had no answer.
Gilmore said he had a license when he was 17 but he lost it in the accident he was involved in where he was ordered to pay the judgment.