If you have been arrested for a DUI in Oklahoma City, you know that your license was temporarily suspended on the spot. You may not know that you have 15 days to respond to this. Contact a DUI attorney in Oklahoma City as quickly as possible if you want to protect your driver’s license.
From a DUI Attorney in Oklahoma City: What Happens and How to Protect Your License
State law requires the police to suspend your license as soon as you are arrested for drunk driving. At that point, you have 15 days to appeal, and this whole process is something different from the criminal process of defending yourself against the charge of a DUI. If you do nothing, your license will automatically be revoked after 15 days. If you contact a DUI attorney, it is possible to sometimes successfully challenge a suspension.
Your lawyer will help you request a hearing with the Department of Public Safety, and that the city will not set a hearing date for you: you must request it. You also need to do it as soon as possible after your arrest because it often takes the DPS as long as two weeks to schedule hearings, and you will be driving illegally if you haven’t made the request within the 15 days.
Bear in mind that most people cannot successfully challenge a suspension without the help of an experienced lawyer. You will need a strong defense and you will need to give a valid reason that the court will accept for requesting the appeal. If you don’t understand Oklahoma City DUI laws, it’s unlikely that you will know the various legal grounds available, which one is the best choice for you, and how to best argue your case before the hearing.
The Hearing and Your Defense
At your hearing, the officer will question the police officer who arrested you and any witnesses who are listed on the affidavit. Your attorney will have an opportunity to cross-examine them at this point and will then be allowed to present evidence in your defense and give reasons why your license suspension should be thrown out. Your lawyer may challenge everything from the results of a chemical test to the legitimacy of field sobriety tests or even the legitimacy of the traffic stop.
You do not have to appear at this hearing, and in most cases it’s best if you don’t attend and let your lawyer take care of it. If you are there, the Department of Public Safety can put you under oath and force you to testify, and unlike in a criminal trial, you do not have the right not to testify under these conditions. It’s best to let an experienced lawyer take care of it for you, and you will usually hear back from DPS in about two weeks as to the final decision they have made on your case.
Appeals
If you lose your initial hearing, you can appeal it to the District Court either to challenge the revocation itself or to request a modification if they have put some limits on your driving privileges, such as requiring you to use an interlock device.
If you lose the first appeal, you do have the right to appeal it to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, and your lawyer will be able to advise you on whether this is a good idea in your case. While the administrative hearing for your driver’s license and any criminal case being prosecuted against you for a DUI are two separate cases, sometimes the District Court wants to wait until other cases have finished before they move forward with an appeal. If you file an appeal and the case is continued, that’s usually what’s going on.
Your Criminal Case
As stated above, your administrative hearing is a separate thing from your DUI criminal charge. If you are convicted of a DUI in a criminal court, you will automatically lose your driver’s license, regardless of what happens in the administrative hearing. Even if you win your criminal case, the DPS can still take away your driving privileges through the administrative hearing. If DPS feels that you got out of the criminal charge solely on a technicality but were actually driving while under the influence, they will often uphold the suspension of your license.
How long your suspension lasts depends entirely on your previous record, how you behaved at the time of your arrest, and precisely how high your blood alcohol level was at the time. If there are no serious factors involved and this was your first incident, you will lose your license for 180 days if you lose the hearing. If you had an especially high blood alcohol level, over .15%, or if you refused to take a breathalyzer test in the field, you will lose your license for 180 days and then get it back with an 18 month “probation” period. During this time, you will have to have an ignition interlock device on your car at all times.
What If I’m From Out of State?
Oklahoma takes drunk driving very seriously, and even if your driver’s license is from another state, Oklahoma will revoke your privilege to drive within the state of Oklahoma if you lose this administrative hearing. They will also report what has happened to your home state, and what happens after that will depend on your state and their particular laws about drunk driving.
What If I Need My Car for Work?
If you have a job you won’t be able to keep without the ability to drive to and from work, there are some situations where the DPS may be willing to give you a modification that allows you to drive only between specific locations and only with an ignition interlock device on your car. For example, you may be given permission to drive between your home and work only or between your home and various job sites.
However, if you have a CDL, things are a bit different, and Oklahoma takes this even more seriously. If you are convicted of a DUI, or if you lose the administrative hearing, you will immediately lose your CDL for one year: and that is just for a first-time offense. If you are ever arrested for a DUI a second time, your CDL will be revoked for life. Be aware that even if you get a deferred sentence, this will count as a “conviction” with your CDL. If you are even required to pay a fine or any court cost, this will also count as a conviction for the purposes of a CDL.
As you can see, Oklahoma takes drunk driving extremely seriously and goes out of its way to ensure that those who are charged with a DUI are kept off the roads if it all possible. In an administrative hearing, the deck is stacked against you. Unlike in a criminal case, the prosecution does not need to prove that you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. You are already assumed to be guilty by virtue of having been arrested, and it’s entirely up to you to provide a robust defense. Don’t try to go alone: contact us at Cannon & Associates now for experienced, aggressive protection of your rights.