State v. Chicoine

                                ENTRY ORDER

                      SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 88-250

                              JUNE TERM, 1990


State of Vermont                  }          APPEALED FROM:
                                  }
                                  }
     v.                           }          District Court of Vermont,
                                  }          Unit No. 2, Chittenden Circuit
                                  }
Daniel Chicoine                   }          DOCKET NO. 5104-11-87CnCr


             In the above entitled cause the Clerk will enter:

     Defendant appeals his conviction of operating a motor vehicle on the
highway while his license to operate was suspended, arguing that (1) the
trial court failed to find his "last known address," and (2) the three
suspension notices sent to the address he filed with the Commissioner of
Motor Vehicles did not satisfy due process because the commissioner had
received a communication from defendant's insurance carrier listing another
address for defendant.

     A person whose license has been suspended may not operate a motor
vehicle on a public highway until the commissioner reinstates that right.
23 V.S.A. { 674.  Constructive notice of a suspension is sufficient; as long
as notice is sent by registered or certified mail to the last known address,
the suspension is in full force and effect three days after the deposit of
such notice in the mail, even absent actual notice.  See 23 V.S.A. { 204;
State v. Boutin, ___ Vt. ___, ___, 572 A.2d 905, 908-09 (1990); State v.
Cattanach, 129 Vt. 57, 59-60, 271 A.2d 828, 829 (1970).

     Defendant had a continuing duty to inform the commissioner of any
change of address.  23 V.S.A. { 205.  Accordingly, his last known address
was the address he filed with the commissioner, not the address listed on an
insurance form.  Moreover, the court's inability to make a finding as to
defendant's "current address" did not negate the fact that the commissioner
followed the proper statutory procedure for notice of suspension.

     Affirmed.


                                   BY THE COURT:



                                   Frederic W. Allen, Chief Justice


                                   Louis P. Peck, Associate Justice



                                   Ernest W. Gibson III, Associate Justice


                                   John A. Dooley, Associate Justice


                                   James L. Morse, Associate Justice



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