IMMEDIATE REVOCATION
OF DRIVERS LICENSE AFTER BEING CHARGED
WITH DWI
After being charged with a DWI, your
driver's license is immediately revoked
for 30 days. After 10 days, you may be
eligible for a limited driving privilege.
The following conditions must apply to
you to be eligible for this privilege:
(1) at the time of the offense, you held
either a valid driver's license or a
license that has been expired for less
than one year; (2) you do not have an
unresolved pending charge involving impaired
driving except the charge for which your
license is revoked or additional convictions
of an offense involving impaired driving
since being charged with this violation;
(3) the license has been revoked for
at least 10 days if the revocation is
for 30 days or 30 days if the revocation
is for 45 days; an (4) you have obtained
the necessary substance abuse assessment
by a court approved registered facility.
There are different criteria for a pre-trial
limited driving privilege if the driver's
license was revoked indefinitely.
If these conditions apply to you, you
must wait at least 10 days before requesting
a limited driving privilege while you
are waiting for your court date. You
must have completed a Substance Abuse
Assessment prior to applying for the
limited driving privilege. Assessment
fees are set by law at $50.00.
When you go to court for your limited
driving privilege, you must bring with
you a Petition for Limited Driving
Privilege (Form AOC-CVR-9), a copy of your Substance
Abuse Assessment performed by a court
approved program, a Certified copy of
a seven-year Driving History (cost $7.00),
a valid DL-123 insurance form from your
insurance agent (good for only 30 days;
the court will accept a faxed copy) and
three copies of a fully completed, typed,
proposed Limited Driving Privilege.
To be convicted of a DWI, the prosecution
must show that the officer had probable
cause to stop you, probable cause to
arrest you and must prove beyond a reasonable
doubt that you were appreciably impaired.
Below is an explanation of what the prosecutor
must prove.
PROBABLE CAUSE TO STOP
The reason or probable cause that the
officer had to stop you is a matter within
the police officer's professional judgment.
The officer could give almost any reason
whatsoever for stopping you, such as
speeding, crossing the yellow line, swerving,
excessively slow driving, expired inspection
or registration, etc. The officer's testimony
that one of these reasons existed, based
on his professional judgment and years
of experience is usually enough for the
judge to find that the police officer
had probable cause to stop you.
§ 20-16.3A.
Impaired driving checks.
PROBABLE CAUSE TO ARREST
§ 20-139.1.
Procedures governing chemical analyses;
admissibility; evidentiary
provisions; controlled?drinking programs.
FIELD SOBRIETY
After the police officer stops you, he
must also have reason to suspect that
you were driving after drinking or under
the influence of an impairing substance
to arrest you for DWI. To prove this,
the officer will indicate in court his
observations about your physical appearance
and disposition such as slurred speech,
red and glassy eyes, the odor of alcohol
on your breath or that you appeared incoherent.
The officer may also use at this point
what is called field sobriety test. Field
sobriety tests can include reciting the
alphabet forward or backwards, the pencil
to eye test, the hand to nose test, walking
the yellow line forward and backwards,
and any other number of other coordination
type of tests that the officer may think
will help to determine whether you have
been drinking or under the influence
of drugs.
IMPAIRMENT
Finally, to convict you of a DWI, the
prosecutor must prove to the court
beyond a reasonable doubt that you
were appreciably impaired. Evidence
of impairment includes your breathalyzer
reading of a .08 or above and the
results of the police officer's observations
of you as well as the results of
the field sobriety tests. In addition,
the fact that you were in an accident,
your car is in a ditch, etc., can
also be used against you. If you
were injured in an accident and are
unable to do a breathalyzer test
the police officer can request the
hospital do a blood test to determine
your blood alcohol content. If you
refuse to allow a breathalyzer test
or a blood test, then your driver's
licenses will be administratively
revoked for 1 year, no matter the
result at the trial concerning your
DWI. You can be convicted of a DWI
without a breathalyzer or blood test
as long as the police officer has
enough evidence from his physical
observations and field sobriety tests.
Failure or refusal to take the Breathalyzer
or blood test can be used against
you at trial.
BREATHALYZER REFUSAL
There is an automatic revocation of
driving privileges for a period of
one year for a refusal to submit to
the Breathalyzer when stopped for suspicion
of a DWI. The person may be entitled
to a hearing for a limited driving
privilege six months into the revocation.
The person must have had a valid driver's
license or it had been expired for
less than one year at the time of the
charge. There can be no previous refusal
or conviction of a DWI within the past
seven years, no unresolved DMV issues
pending, no pending DWI's and no convictions
since the original charge, and no accident
that resulted from death or critical
injury to person. The underlying charge,
which resulted in the refusal, must
have been finally disposed of with
no conviction or a conviction under
the statute that allows a limited driving
privilege, and person has done an alcohol
assessment as required by law.
§ 20-16.2.
Implied consent to chemical analysis;
mandatory revocation of license
in event of refusal; right of driver
to request analysis.
PUNISHMENT FOR A DWI CONVICTION
Once you have been convicted of a DWI,
there are five levels of punishment.
Level one is the most serious level.
This level is for people who have had
one or more convictions in the past
seven years, or who are driving with
a license that has been revoked due
to a prior DWI, or who are driving
with a child less than 16 in the car,
or who have caused serious personal
injury to another because of their
driving while impaired. Level five
is the least serious punishment that
you can receive and usually is given
to first time offenders. This level
is for a person who has no prior convictions
for a DWI and has no aggravating factors
with this DWI.
Aggravating factors are especially
negative factors. Some aggravating
factors include a very high breathalyzer
reading of .16 or more, especially
reckless driving, a bad traffic record
that consists of at least two tickets
in the past 5 years that resulted in
3 points or more on your DMV record,
alluding arrest, property damage, speeding
in excess of 30 mph or being uncooperative
with the police officer, etc. When
you blow .16 or higher on the Breathalyzer,
then you will be required to have a
ignition interlock system installed
in your vehicle at a cost of several
hundred dollars and a monthly monitoring
fee.
§ 20-17.8.
Restoration of a license after certain
driving while impaired convictions;
ignition interlock.
Mitigating factors are positive factors,
which can be used to help balance out
the negative factors. Mitigating factors
can be slight impairment with an alcohol
concentration not exceeding .09, driving
safely at the time of the stop, a good
driving record in the past 5 years,
or voluntarily doing an alcohol assessment
program at an approved facility before
you go to court.
§ 20-179. Sentencing hearing after conviction
for impaired driving; determination
of grossly aggravating and aggravating
and mitigating factors;
Generally speaking, if there was no
accident at the time of the arrest,
you have no prior convictions for DWI,
you were cooperative with the police
officer, and the breathalyzer reading
was between a .08 and about a .12,
you are probably going to be found
guilty of a level five.
COSTS, FINES, and COMMUNITY SERVICE
REQUIREMENTS
Costs include $100.00 for court costs,
a fine up to $200.00 for a Level Five
offender, a $50.00 alcohol assessment
fee, a $50.00 license restoration fee
and a community service fee of $200.00.
In addition to these immediate costs,
you will have attorney' fees and an
increase of up to 450% on your insurance.
For a Level Five offender, you have
to do 24 hours of community service
(within 30 days). Finally, you have
to do an alcohol assessment program
through an approved facility if you
have not already done so before court.
§ 20-179.4.
Community service alternative punishment;
responsibilities of the
Department of Correction; fee.
LICENSE REVOCATION FOLLOWING CONVICTION
OF DWI
After going through the court process,
paying fines and complying with all
the other terms and conditions that
the judge will impose on you, the next
problem you have to face will be with
the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
The DMV will revoke your license for
a one-year period after you have been
convicted of a DWI for a level Five.
If you have not had any prior convictions,
at the time you are in court before
the judge, you or your attorney can
request a limited driving privilege,
if you meet the criteria. A limited
driving privilege allows you to drive
for the purposes of work, community
service, court-ordered treatment and
school in a limited specific geographic
area during limited specific hours.
A limited driving privilege will usually
allow you to drive essentially from
6:00 am until 8:00 pm Monday through
Friday within the conditions stated
above. If you need to drive outside
of these standard hours or on weekends,
you would need special permission from
the judge. Reasons for this variation
might include your job or your family.
§ 20-17.
Mandatory revocation of license by
Division.
§ 20-17.2.
Court?ordered revocations for offenses
involving impaired driving;
procedure for notice.
§ 20-179.3. Limited driving privilege
If you have had a DWI conviction in
the past seven years you are not eligible
for limited driving privilege. A limited
driving privilege is considered to
be exactly that, a privilege. If you
are caught driving outside of your
hours, geographic region, assigned
purpose or if you are driving with
any amount of alcohol in your blood
whatsoever, even as little as a .01
or .02, you can lose your limited driving
privilege. The police officer only
has to suspect you have been drinking.
The level of proof is appreciably less
than what was required for a conviction
of a DWI. If you lose that privilege,
you are not allowed to drive at all
during the year that your license is
revoked and you will be charged with
driving while license is revoked.
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