Delaware § 8228 - Jurisdiction; penalties.

§ 8228. Jurisdiction; penalties.

(a) (1) Any person who, as operator of a vehicle, shall knowingly or wilfully violate any provision of this Act, the Code of Federal Regulations adopted under this Act and/or any regulations of the Commission pertaining to routing, parking or other act in the actual operation of a vehicle, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $100, or imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or both. Any such person committing a second or subsequent offense and the conviction thereof shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500, or imprisonment for not less than 60 days nor more than 1 year, or both.

(2) A person arrested without a warrant for a violation of this Act or any regulation thereunder shall have the person’s case heard and determined by the nearest available justice of the peace, notwithstanding the fact that the court of said justice of the peace is situated in a county other than that in which the violation is alleged to have occurred. It shall be a sufficient defense for such person to show by 1 competent witness that there was at the time of the person’s arrest an available justice of the peace whose regular office was nearer to the place where such person was arrested than the justice of the peace before whom the case is being tried.

(b) For the purpose of this section, a justice of the peace is available when the justice of the peace is at the office or court.

(c) Any person who, as shipper, carrier, consignee or user of a hazardous material, shall knowingly or wilfully violate any provision of this Act, the Code of Federal Regulations adopted thereunder or any regulation of the Commission, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof in the Court of Common Pleas of the county wherein the offense occurred, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500, or imprisonment for not more than 60 days, or both. Any such person committing a second or subsequent offense and the conviction thereof shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $5,000 or imprisonment for not less than 60 days nor more than 1 year, or both. If such person be a firm, partnership, joint venture or association, or if such person be a corporation, the officer, agent or employee thereof responsible for the violation shall have the sentence, herein prescribed, imposed upon the officer, agent or employee.

62 Del. Laws, c. 123, §  1;  64 Del. Laws, c. 28, §  10;  68 Del. Laws, c. 290, §  188;  70 Del. Laws, c. 186, §  1;  71 Del. Laws, c. 176, §  36;