Your Driver’s License after a DUI

When you are arrested in California for a DUI, you are supposed to be given a choice of a blood or breath alcohol test. If (1) a breath test indicates a .08% blood alcohol level or above, or (2) blood is taken for later analysis, or (3) you refuse to submit to chemical testing, your driver’s license is immediately confiscated by the police (unless it is an out-of-state license) and you are issued a document from the California DMV. This paper serves as (1) a formal notice of immediate suspension, (2) a temporary license valid for 30 days and (3) a detailed explanation of the law and the DMV procedures involved.

If this is a first offense, your driver’s license will be suspended for 4 months. This can be reduced to 1 month followed by 5 months of work restriction if you file proof of enrollment in a DUI class and proof of insurance (an “SR-22″ form). If there is a refusal to submit to chemical testing, the suspension is for 1 year and no work restriction is possible. A second offense within ten years carries a 1-year suspension, and 2 years if a refusal.

You or your attorney has ten days to call the Drivers Safety Office of the Department of Motor Vehicles to contest the suspension at an administrative hearing. This is called the Administrative License Suspension (“ALS”).

We strongly recommended that a DMV suspension hearing be requested.  There is a fair chance that the suspension will be thrown out; the worst thing that can happen is that the same suspension will take effect, but much later than 30 days.

NOTE: It is CRITICAL that the DMV be contacted by your attorney within 10 calendar days of the arrest. On the 11th day, the DMV will refuse to provide a hearing and the suspension will automatically take effect in 30 days.

In most cases, due to DMV work overload, the DMV will be unable to provide a hearing before the 30-day temporary license expires and we can have the DMV extend the temporary license to a later date.

At the Law Offices of Hart J. Levin, we will handle the DMV hearing for you; you do not have to appear.  If you had your license confiscated pursuant to a DUI arrest, call us immediately to help restore your driving privileges.

DUIs go from bad to worse – Six Ways to get severely punished in your DUI case

California has enacted a statute that creates several sentencing enhancements for DUI cases.  If there are particular aggravating factors in a DUI arrest, a person convicted of DUI may face significantly harsher penalties including long state prison sentences, huge fines and severe (even life-time) license suspensions.

Here are the factors that increase a DUI sentence:

(1)    Prior DUI convictions – If you have previously been convicted of a DUI (within the past 10 years), any new DUI counts as a second time (or third time) DUI and the sentence is significantly harsher.  There is mandatory county jail time, an 18 – month alcohol class, and severe license restrictions.  A fourth DUI conviction in 10 years will automatically be filed as a felony with a significant state prison sentence to follow.  First, second and third time DUIs are probation eligible.

(2)    High Blood Alcohol Content – If your BAC or blood alcohol level is .15% or higher, the prosecutor has the discretion to add a high blood alcohol allegation to the vehicle code charge which will dramatically increase the amount of alcohol classes you are required to attend, and negatively impacts your driver’s license.  With a BAC between .15% and .20%, the prosecutor has the discretion to add the enhancement – it is by no means required and can often be negotiated away.  At .2%+ BAC, the enhancement is mandatory.

(3)    Refusal to submit to chemical testing – Each licensed California driver has agreed to submit to an alcohol screening test at the request of a law enforcement agency, whether they know it or not.  If you refuse to submit to a test, your driver’s license will automatically be suspended.  On many occasions with a breath-test, if you do not blow hard enough the machine will not register a valid reading and the law enforcement agency will consider it a refusal.  At the Law Offices of Hart J. Levin, we work closely with prosecutors and judges to “strike” the refusal allegation, meaning removing it from the complaint as if it never happened.

(4)    Bad driving – If you were speeding at a very high rate of speed or driving very recklessly, the prosecuting agency will give a significantly harsher penalty, often including jail time.

(5)    Traffic Accident – If you are involved in a traffic accident as part of your DUI, you will face increased fines and large restitution orders, and possibly jail time.

(6)    Injury to others – If you cause injury to someone else because of a DUI traffic accident, you will most likely be charged with a felony “DUI Causing Injury” which carries a very harsh state prison sentence.  Courts and prosecutors are especially harsh on drivers who have caused injury to innocent civilians and the penalties can be very severe, including a life-time license suspension.

If you are facing a DUI with one of these aggravating factors, call the Law Offices of Hart J. Levin immediately.  We will aggressively defend your case and in many cases we can get the prosecutor and Court to agree to strike the sentencing enhancement to get you the best possible result.