Alexis

The Director of the State Department of Motor Vehicles, Doris V. Alexis, appeals after the trial court granted Duane Doyle Johnson’s petition for mandate and ordered the director to set aside an order suspending Johnson’s driver’s license.

On October 29, 1975, Johnson drove a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. He was convicted of that offense January 20, 1976. Four years, 359 days after the first offense, on October 23, 1980, Johnson repeated the crime. He was convicted of the repeat offense on March 16, 1981.

On January 1,1981, amendments to Vehicle Code section 13352 became effective, changing the rule requiring a one-year suspension of one’s driver’s license upon a second conviction of the drunk driving offense within five years to a rule requiring the suspension upon a second conviction of a drunk driving “offense which occurred within five years of the date of a prior offense which resulted in a conviction.”

Thus, two offenses, rather than two convictions, within five years became the basis for suspension on January 1, 1981.

On May 21, 1981, the director ordered Johnson’s license suspended, applying the law that went into effect January 1,…