State v. Kimberly Love

¶ 1. The resolution of this appeal requires this Court to interpret 23 V.S.A. § 1205, the statute governing the procedures for civil suspensions of drivers' licenses. Specifically, the question is whether the statutory language requiring the final hearing to be held within twenty-one days of the preliminary hearing is mandatory for second or subsequent offenses and whether, as a result, defendant's civil suspension should be dismissed because her final hearing was scheduled more than twenty-one days after her preliminary hearing. The trial court concluded that the twenty-one-day requirement…