Fighting Your License Suspension
Many people who are facing their first DUI charge are unaware of the law surrounding drunk driving and traffic laws and how it can affect their driving privileges. Often, this is their first run in with the law altogether and they are unsure of how to handle the situation. Panicked and worried that an arrest means an automatic conviction, they fail to get the proper legal help that they need to prevent a conviction from occurring.
If you have been arrested for DUI, that is just it – you have not yet been convicted, and you have only been arrested. You still have a chance to work with a DUI defense attorney to come up with a skilled defense strategy to bring to court. It is important that you move quickly though; your driving privileges depend on your urgency. When a person is arrested for DUI, his/her driver’s license is confiscated by law enforcement.
The person is then provided with a temporary permit which allows them to drive for 30 days. After a DUI arrest takes place, you will have exactly 10 days to contact the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to schedule an administrative hearing. At this hearing, you will need to provide evidence that you were in fact not driving under the influence of alcohol or another factor has caused you to be charged with drunk driving.
During the DMV hearing, a DMV representative will meet with the person in a designated room. If the DMV representative finds that the person is guilty, the person will lose his/her driving privileges for a set period of time. However, if the DMV representative finds that the person is not guilty, the person’s driving privileges will be reinstated.
Having your criminal defense lawyer present at this hearing is critical if you wish to retain the privilege to drive. Without this privilege, you will be unable to continue your life as before. You will be unable to drive yourself to work, drive your children to school or practice, drive to the supermarket, or even just drive down the block – it will be against the law.
Get Help Today – Contact an Orange County DUI Lawyer
At the Law Offices of Virginia L. Landry, the legal team works aggressively and quickly to ensure that the rights of their clients are protected at the DMV hearing. The DMV hearing is completely separate from the criminal hearing, which will take place afterwards. This means that the outcome of your DMV hearing will not affect the criminal hearing in any way, even if you find a positive outcome. As such, it is important to have defense at both hearings. Furthermore, in some cases, there may be a third meeting for a civil matter if you caused an accident while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
There are many tricky matters with a DMV hearing that makes it vitally important to have a criminal lawyer on your case. If the hearing with the DMV is not scheduled within ten days of the arrest, your license will automatically be suspended and you will be unable to drive anywhere. As you can see, facing a DUI charge is very serious, and you will need experienced legal help to prevent serious consequences in your life.
For more information, contact or call our Orange County DUI defense attorney today at for a free initial consultation.