Following your DUI arrest, the law enforcement agents will confiscate your driver’s license. The arresting police officer will give you a pink paper that will be your temporary license for one month. After thirty days, the DMV will suspend your license and bar you from driving. You just have ten days from the date of the arrest to contact the DMV and ask for a hearing to attempt and retain your driver’s license from receiving a suspension.
At San Diego DUI Attorney, we can contact the DMV on your behalf and talk directly to those in charge to ensure you receive your hearing. If you fail to request the administrative hearing within ten days, you will lose a chance to contest the license suspension, even with a viable legal defense.
During the DMV hearing, an official will listen to proof of the alleged DUI case and determine whether to suspend your driving license. The DMV hearing is independent of the criminal case. You are allowed legal representation but at your own cost.
During the hearing, the arresting police officer will detail what happened and file a police report as proof. The testimony will contain info about:
- The reason the police initiated the DUI traffic stop
- Your field sobriety tests score
- Your conduct or appearance while with the police officer
- Whether you declined chemical breath tests
Through your aggressive defense lawyer, you have the legal entitlement to cross-examine the law enforcer and present your narration of the events.
After hearing the evidence, the DMV hearing officer will decide if a preponderance of the evidence proves that you were drunk driving. The burden of proof differs from that of a criminal DUI case, and the threshold is met if the evidence demonstrates that it was more likely than not that you were drunk driving.
Our defense lawyers can help you fight these criminal charges by presenting any of the following legal defenses:
- Intoxication signs like an unstable gait or slurred speech do not necessarily imply drunk driving
- The arresting police officer did not observe you for more than fifteen minutes.
- The police violated Title 17 regulations
- You were not driving your car.