Maine and New York are both members of the Drivers License Compact (DLC) meaning that the Maine traffic court or ME Bureau of Motor Vehicles will alert the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles if you are convicted of the criminal speeding offense and driving with a suspended license.

Maine Revised Statutes (MRS) Title 29-A Section 2412-A states that operating while your driver's license is suspended or revoked is a Class E crime.

If the suspension was for OUI or an OUI offense, the court shall impose a minimum fine of $600, a term of imprisonment of 7 consecutive days and a suspension of license of not less than one year nor more than 3 years consecutive to the original suspension. The penalties may not be suspended.

For all other types of suspensions, the minimum fine for a first offense is $250, which may not be suspended by the court. The minimum fine for 2nd and subsequent offenses is $500, which may not be suspended by the court.

As for the speeding ticket it sounds as if it is a criminal speeding which is listed under MRS 29-A Section 2074. Here it states that a person commits a Class E crime if that person operates a motor vehicle at a speed that exceeds the maximum rate of speed by 30 miles per hour or more. The complaint for a violation of speed limit must specify the speed at which the driver is alleged to have operated the car.

A person who operates a motor vehicle on the Maine Turnpike or the Interstate Highway System at a speed that exceeds the posted speed of 65 miles per hour by less than 30 miles per hour commits a traffic infraction punishable by a fine of not less than $50. This would not apply in your case since you were going over the limit by 30 mph or more.

According to the penalties listed in MRS Title 17-A (section 1252) for a Class E crime, the court can imprison you for a time period not to exceed 6 months. And from section 1301 under 17-A it states that:

A natural person who has been convicted of a Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D or Class E crime may be sentenced to pay a fine, unless the law that the person is convicted of violating expressly provides that the fine and imprisonment penalties it authorizes may not be suspended, in which case the convicted person must be sentenced to the imprisonment and required to pay the fine authorized in that law.

It then lists in this section of ME law that the fine amount for a Class E crime cannot exceed $1000. Also in Maine any person who is convicted of operating after suspension may have their license suspended for a period of 60 days. Persons convicted of the certain offenses may have their licenses suspended for a period of 30 days. Speeding by 30 miles per hour or more over the speed limit is one of these offenses. So the time of your license suspension in Maine will also go up do to these citations you received if you are convicted of them in court.

It is a good thing that you were not in an accident that caused injuries in Maine while driving with a suspended license. According to the ME driver's manual a new provision in 29A MRSA 2464 creates two criminal offenses for persons, who while driving with a suspended or revoked license, cause serious bodily injury or death.

If the person causes serious bodily injury, the offense is designated as a Class C crime. If the person causes death, the offense is designated a Class B crime. The Secretary of State is required, upon receipt of the conviction, to suspend the person’s license for five years for the Class C crime and ten years for the class B offense. The fines and imprisonment times for Class B and Class C crimes are way higher than those for a Class E.

Since these are criminal offenses that you are charged with and may involve jail time being given to you as part of your penalties in court you may want to seek legal counsel to help you minimize your penalties. A lawyer familiar with this area of Maine law can tell you more about the actual penalties that judges normally hand out for these violations and what to do to prepare for court.