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California DMV Hearing
If you have been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (DUI), it is important that you contact the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to schedule an Administrative Per Se (APS) hearing within ten (10) days of your arrest. If a hearing is not requested within the 10 day period, which includes weekends and holidays, your driver license will automatically be suspended for a minimum of 30 days.
Suspension of License
When a person is arrested for DUI and has a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or higher, the arresting officer will take away the person’s license at the time of the arrest. After taking the individual’s license, the officer will issue him or her a temporary driver’s license, which allows the person to drive for a period of 30 days. Within ten days (10) of the arrest, the individual must contact the California DMV to schedule an Administrative Per Se (APS) hearing in order to contest the terms of his or her license suspension. If a hearing is not scheduled within ten days (10) of the arrest or if an individual refused to submit to a blood alcohol test, the person’s driver license will be automatically suspended.
Logistics of the Hearing
The DMV hearing may take place in person or over the phone. During the hearing, a DMV employee will act as both the prosecutor and the judge. It is the DMV hearing officer’s job to evaluate the offender’s case carefully. The DMV representative must determine whether or not the officer had probable cause for making the arrest, whether or not the arrest was properly executed, and whether or not the offender had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% at the time of the arrest in order to decide the fate of the individual’s driving privilege.
Refusal Cases
In cases where the person refused to submit to a BAC test, the DMV representative must determine if the person was informed that his or her license would automatically be suspended for failing to consent to the test. The representative must also determine if the person actually refused to take the BAC test after being informed of the suspension. If the accused motorist is unsuccessful at the California DMV hearing, the length of the driver’s license suspension will be substantially longer than for a driver who submitted to a chemical test.
DMV Decision
After all of these issues are considered, the DMV hearing officer will reach a decision. If the DMV representative decides based on the evidence provided that the individual is “not guilty,” the person’s driving privileges will be reinstated. If the person is found “guilty,” his or her driver’s license may remain suspended for a period lasting between 4 months (for a first offense) and 3 years (for multiple offenses).
DMV Administrative Per Se hearings can be won, but usually only with the assistance of a DUI defense attorney with specialized knowledge of the DMV hearing process. The Law Office of Robert Tayac is recognized as being among the top California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) defense law firms in the State of California and is known for providing favorable results on behalf of their clients.