Issues to Argue in a Department of Licensing Hearing
Whenever I read through the DUI laws, I am amazed at the harshness and severity of the punishments that exist. And it doesn’t just stop at jail time and fines. They go after your driving privileges too. This done first by the department of licensing, and is usually the result of blowing .08 or over on the breath test. But you can fight this. And I’ll talk about the ways you can do that below.
Before I get too far along, though, I want to point out that I’m a Seattle DUI attorney. That means I work for the most part in Washington state dealing with Washington state laws. These laws may or may not be the same as the laws in your state. Before you do anything to act on the information this article provides you, please make sure these laws and rules apply to your state.
You can challenge the drivers license suspension by attacking it in four ways: (1) that there was no probable cause to pull the driver over; (2) that there was no probable cause to arrest the driver for DUI; (3) that the implied consent warnings given prior to the breath test were improperly given; and (4) that the breath test was administered improperly. If you can show there was a problem in one of those four areas, the breath test is out, and you get to keep your driving privileges. But it’s not easy.
The key to having any chance of winning these hearings is to prepare correctly. They aren’t easy to win, but they aren’t impossible either. Finding enough information to demonstrate problems with one of the four areas is key to arguing the DOL suspension successfully.