When a person gets a DUI they get their license suspended for a DUI 46 days after their arrest.
For the next 30 days after that they are “hard suspended” that means they can’t drive at all. And after that they are suspended for 5 or 11 months if they haven’t had a DUI within five years.
So how do they get around if they are suspended for DUI? Well they could have a hearing to determine if the suspension should go into effect. At that hearing the judge will consider:
1. Was a ticket issued for DUI?
2. Did the officer have reasonable grounds to believe that the driver was driving under the influence?
3. Did the driver refuse to take the breathalyer?
4. Did the driver take the breathalyzer and score over 0.08?
5. Was the driver properly warned of the consequences of taking or refusing the breathalyzer?
While there are some other issues, most of the hearings are based in one or more of the above issues. What a driver should know is that to win this hearing he or she must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that something went wrong. And if he does prove this, the state may rebut that proof at the hearing.
So as you might guess winning the statutory summary suspension hearing is its own little challenge. Sometimes it is very easy. For example if there is a booking video showing the police officer messed up. Other times it is nearly impossible. For example when the driver tries to prove that the officer did not have reasonable grounds to believe the driver was DUI (when there are ample examples of why the officer might have that belief). In any case, the driver will need a good DUI attorney to explore all of those issues at the hearing.
Law Dude, Ray Flavin, Trial Attorney in McHenry County Illinois. His law offices are located across the street from the McHenry County IL Courthouse in Woodstock, IL. Visit Ray’s other website @ www.rayflavin.com.
Mobile: 815-334-9004
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