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321.555 Habitual offender defined.

As used in this division, "habitual offender" means any person who has accumulated convictions for separate and distinct offenses described in subsection 1, 2, or 3, committed after July 1, 1974, for which final convictions have been rendered, as follows:

1. Three or more of the following offenses, either singularly or in combination, within a six-year period:

a. Manslaughter resulting from the operation of a motor vehicle.

b. Operating a motor vehicle in violation of section 321J.2 or its predecessor statute.

c. Driving a motor vehicle while the person's motor vehicle license is suspended, revoked, or barred.

d. Perjury or the making of a false affidavit or statement under oath to the department of public safety.

e. An offense punishable as a felony under the motor vehicle laws of Iowa or any felony in the commission of which a motor vehicle is used.

f. Failure to stop and leave information or to render aid as required by sections 321.261 and 321.263.

2. Six or more of any separate and distinct offenses within a two-year period in the operation of a motor vehicle, which are required to be reported to the department by section 321.491 or chapter 321C, except equipment violations, parking violations as defined in section 321.210, violations of registration laws, violations of sections 321.445 and 321.446, operating a vehicle with an expired license or permit, failure to appear, weights and measures violations and speeding violations of less than fifteen miles per hour over the legal speed limit.

3. The offenses included in subsections 1 and 2 shall be deemed to include offenses under any valid town, city or county ordinance paralleling and substantially conforming to the provisions of the Code concerning such offenses.

Section History: Early form

[C75, 77, 79, 81, § 321.555; 82 Acts, ch 1167, § 10]

Section History: Recent form

84 Acts, ch 1016, § 4; 84 Acts, ch 1022, § 9; 86 Acts, ch 1009, § 3; 86 Acts, ch 1220, § 37; 89 Acts, ch 296, § 36; 90 Acts, ch 1230, § 74--;76; 93 Acts, ch 87, § 8

Internal References

Referred to in § 321.213, 321.215, 321.556, 321.560


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