GRANDMOTHER TRIED ON 1987 DUI CHARGE

A Lake County grandmother who thought a DUI charge against her was dropped in 1987 found herself before a Broward County judge on Friday to answer for the offense.

Susan Kaplan, 67, who moved from Fort Lauderdale to retire in Leesburg, Fla., years ago, was arrested on the charge last October, handcuffed at her home in front of her family, her lawyer Norm Kent said Saturday.
"A DUI should be brought to trial in six months, not 216 months," Kent said. "This is a very stressful, traumatic thing for someone to go through 18 years after the fact."

The charge was dropped against Kaplan in 1987 when a prosecution witness became ill. Kent said Kaplan didn't know the charge was refiled later.
She continued to live in Fort Lauderdale, spending many years working as a waitress at the Floridian restaurant on Las Olas Boulevard, Kent said. She eventually became a manager, and her daughter and granddaughter still work there as waitresses.

By the time she retired and moved to Leesburg, Kaplan had renewed her driver's license several times and taken a class for people with DUI arrests. She'd spent countless days around Fort Lauderdale police officers who ate at the Floridian. She never had a clue the charge had been refiled, Kent said.
Neither Kent nor a Lake County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman knew what led to the long-delayed arrest, but both surmised that it may have been a warrant sweep - in which police serve outstanding warrants.

They didn't know why it took so long from the October arrest for her to go to trial last week.

Broward State Attorney's Office spokesman Ron Ishoy would not comment on the case Saturday.

Kent said he expects the case to be dismissed because Kaplan did not get a speedy trial, which the law entitles her to.

"Hopefully, [prosecutors] will look at the state law and do the right thing," Kent said.