Factors Considered By California DMV Dealing With A DUI
When it comes to administrative hearings with the California Department of Motor Vehicles, particularly in the context of a DUI in Los Angeles, the process is designed to be fair and just. The first consideration is whether you were lawfully stopped, ensuring that the police had a valid reason to pull you over.
They can't just pull people over for no reason unless they have a checkpoint, then in which case, they have to abide by specific requirements. So, if it's a lawful stop, you would move on to the next thing.
A lot of times, the police don't even come upon somebody driving. They may come upon somebody on foot who's been in an accident and walks to get help. In that case, they'll have to be able to determine when the person was driving.
So, they're going to ask the person, were you driving that car down there? When did you get in the accident? Other times, they come upon an accident scene, and they start asking people if they've been drinking.
They get somebody they think is a drunk driver, and now they have to figure out when that person was driving and what vehicle they were going. So, issue number one is — this is what they're going to go after when they do these DMV hearings — and I've done thousands of them — was the person lawfully stopped, and did they honestly contact the police?
Lawful Arrest
The second factor that holds significant weight in a DUI case and is thoroughly examined at DMV administrative per se hearings is the legality of the arrest. Was the person lawfully arrested? This question is pivotal as it determines the validity of the subsequent actions and decisions made by the police.
That means that they've arrested you. I ask when clients say, "Well, I passed all of the field sobriety tests." Well, not according to the police because they're not allowed to arrest you unless you fail those tests.
So, they're going to say you failed the test. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to arrest you. So, that's one thing they're going to do. They're going to do the field sobriety tests. So, if you fail the field sobriety tests, they can lawfully arrest you.
Sometimes, I've seen where people are so drunk that they can't even do the field sobriety tests, and then the police will write that this person was so drunk we were afraid they were going to hurt themselves during the field sobriety test, so we determined that they were too intoxicated to drive.
We, therefore, arrested them at that point. So, issue number two, as it relates to DMV hearings in Los Angeles, is, could the police lawfully arrest you? There are some circumstances where people refuse to do the field sobriety test, which they're allowed to.
They refused to take the preliminary alcohol screen device, which the police could arrest. If you blow a .08 or greater, you're going to be stopped immediately. Then the question becomes, can the police lawfully arrest you? They're going to have to look at a lot of different factors.
They're going to look at how you were driving. Were you swerving all over the road? When you got out of the car, were you staggering? How was your gait? They're going to look at whether your breath smells like alcohol. They're going to look at a whole host of different factors. They're going to ask you if you've been drinking. If you say you had four drinks, that might provide probable cause for them to arrest you.
Probable Cause to Make Arrest
The next crucial factor in a DUI case is the establishment of probable cause for the arrest. If this can be proven, the case moves forward to the next point: was your blood alcohol level a .08 or greater? This factor directly impacts the outcome of the DUI case.
There is a presumption law that if you blew a .08 or greater or your blood was a .08 or greater, you have a DUI, and the DMV can lawfully suspend your license. Of course, it's not always as easy as that. Sometimes, people refuse to take the test, so they don't have a .08 or greater.
Under those circumstances, they can get you for a refusal. You'd lose your driver's license for a year with no restrictions. But of course, there are rules for denials, too. They have to tell you that you will lose your driver's license for a year if you don't take this test.
So, there are a bunch of different roads they can go down trying to get that last tenant they need during a DMV hearing in Los Angeles, California. But, all in all, they're going to need to prove your blood alcohol level was a .08 or greater or that you refused to take the test.
Once these requirements are met, the DMV will proceed to suspend your license. On a first-time DUI, this means a mandatory 30-day suspension, a period during which you cannot drive.
After that, you should be able to get it back on a limited basis to drive to and from work, to and from school if you're a student, to and from any alcohol program. They have you put an ignition interlock device in your car during that restriction. After the condition is over, you are then free to get your driver's license back, assuming that you meet specific requirements.