When you have been charged with a DUI in Utah, your license will be suspended by the Driver’s License Division if you fail to request a hearing within 10 days from the date of your citation. The state is inclined to suspend your license before you are even heard in court so do not delay in addressing the matter with the DLD as soon as possible. Many people do not realize this fact and fail to ever contact the DLD only to later learn, by receiving a letter in the mail, that their license has been suspended for a period of at least 120 days or more depending on the circumstances. If you provide the adequate notice and information to the DLD, they will schedule a hearing to give you the opportunity to plead your case in hopes of keeping your driving privileges. At the hearing, the officer who cited you will be questioned by the DLD agent and you will have the opportunity to cross examine the police officer. The hearing can be conducted either in person or by telephone if you request the same within a certain period of time. It is important to understand that these hearings do not carry all of the same rights and evidence rules available in court so in many respects, the cards are stacked against the person accused. The DLD officer will not make a decision on your license until after the hearing and you will be sent a letter as to whether or not the division decided to suspend your license or take no action.
Refusing to Submit to a Breath Test
It gets even worse if you refuse to submit to a breath test. If you refuse to submit to chemical testing after you are suspected of a DUI, your license can be suspended automatically for an even longer time. You may still request a hearing with the DLD to address the license suspension but it may be even more difficult to win since the issue becomes simply whether or not you knowingly refused to take the test, not whether or not you were actually intoxicated while driving. Don’t take any chances on this, if you have been accused of refusing to submit to a breath test following a DUI stop, you need to consult with a Utah DUI Attorney in our firm as soon as possible.
Provo DUI Lawyer
Because the DLD hearing for DUIs are already prejudiced against the defendant, it is important to hire an attorney to represent you in the process if at all possible. We cannot stress enough the difference an experienced lawyer can make in the outcome of your case. An experienced Provo DUI Lawyer at our firm can give you the best chance possible of winning at the hearing and keeping your license. For more information, call us today at 801.900.3371. Our team is ready to take on the most challenging cases and our record of success on the license issue speaks for itself.
