You May Hate Bureaucracy, but Not as Much as the Guy Who Lost His License for Someone Else’s Crime From 20 Years Ago

No one heads down to the DMV, or to their state’s Department of Driver Services, expecting to have a positive experience. This loathing for the most pedantic elements of our state bureaucracies is more or less baked into us at the cellular level at this point: I would wager that most people would prefer to go to their dentist for tooth drilling, or be summoned for jury duty, than face the prospect of waiting for hours at the DMV only to be told that they haven’t brought the right forms or proof of ID or address to make a desperately needed change. The bureaucracy is immutable; it doesn’t respond to explanations, appeals to empathy or logic. It refuses to admit when it makes a mistake, or correct that mistake. And yet there’s no way that you hate your local DDS as much as a Georgia resident named Justin Jones, who has been slapped with a suspended driver’s license for going on three months at this point … for a crime committed by a different person, 20 years ago, in a state where Jones has never set foot.

In October, Jones received a letter from the state, informing him that his license had been suspended. The stated reason: The Georgia DDS had received notice of a DUI charge that supposedly had happened in Santa Fe, New Mexico on Christmas Eve of 2005. The only issue, of course, is that Jones had never been to New Mexico. In fact, Jones knew exactly where he had been on the night in question despite it being so long ago: Dec. 23 is the day after his birthday, and in 2005 he had just turned 21. Rather than being pulled over in New Mexico, Jones had been in Georgia at the time, celebrating his 21st birthday.

“Never been to New Mexico, never driven through New Mexico,” said the Carroll County, Georgia resident in an interview with Atlanta’s WSB-TV. “I’ve never even stepped foot in the state off a plane. The burden of proof has been on me to prove that I wasn’t that person that got a DUI 20 years ago in New Mexico.”

Understandably, the high school administrator assumed that although some wires had no doubt been crossed, it wouldn’t be particularly difficult to explain the situation, seek proof from New Mexico and get his driver’s license restored. But he hadn’t counted on the sheer pigheadedness of the bureaucracy, and the way that it would proceed to repeatedly ignore offered proof, up to and including New Mexico state departments flatly stating that the notice had been sent in error.

First, he obtained a stamped and sealed document from the court clerk in New Mexico stating that he had no convictions in the state. DDS reportedly said that wasn’t enough, so Jones went on to get a letter from the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, which reads as follows: “This letter certifies that he does not currently have any holds on his driving record within our state. Furthermore, it is essential to clarify that the record under review pertains to a different individual who shares a similar name and date of birth.”

Case closed, right? The state of New Mexico states that this was a different person, that Jones has never been accused of any crime there. What else is left to prove? And yet, the Georgia DDS still wouldn’t restore his license. Nor would they reportedly explain to Atlanta’s WSB-TV why Jones had been told to seek those letters, if they wouldn’t be considered admissible or necessary in order to restore the license. Instead, the sole DDS statement to the TV station throws the blame back at New Mexico, claiming that a “negate” has not yet been sent from the other state’s likewise addled bureaucracy, and that until this happens, they’ll refuse to give Jones back the right to drive in Georgia, even though they know full well that the license was suspended in error.

“New Mexico DMV sent the DUI electronically to the DDS and it was added to his record,” reads the statement from Georgia DDS. “We contacted NM and requested they submit a negate to correct their error. Once the negate is received from them then the DUI will be removed by DDS.”

Meanwhile, stuck in the grip of governmental stupidity and refusal to correct a simplistic error is this Georgia citizen, who is left to beg someone at the Department of Driver Services to act like a human being. As of the start of 2026, it appeared that his license was headed toward its third month of suspension.

“I’m just hoping to get someone who can get to yes, you know?” said Jones to WSB-TV. “Somebody who has some common sense to say, ‘You know what, this person is not the same person. Let’s lift this suspension.'”

Asking for “common sense” from a faceless government entity? I can’t say I care for those odds.

Justin Jones had his Georgia driver’s license suspended over a DUI from New Mexico, a state he says he has never visited. Despite official proof it was mistaken identity, he’s been unable to drive for months. When government errors go unchecked, everyday people pay the price.

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— Attorney Ben Crump (@attorneybencrump.bsky.social) Dec 29, 2025 at 6:18 PM