Administrative DUI Suspensions in Arizona
In the state of Arizona, one of the possible penalties of being pulled over for driving under the influence (DUI) is a 90-day suspension of your driver’s license should the results of a chemical test – either a blood test, or a breath test — show that your blood alcohol level is at a saturation level of .08% or above. This penalty applies in cases where you voluntarily consented to the taking of such a test and differs from an implied consent suspension, which results in cases where you do not voluntarily agree to chemical testing. Many state district attorney’s websites will assure you that you only have 15 days in which to act in your own best interests if you are facing a possible admin per se license suspension. However, it is important to remember that as with other types of cases, how long you have to take action depends greatly upon the details of your individual case, meaning the urgent “act now” warnings may or may not be legitimate in your particular instance.
What happens if I fail a voluntarily taken breath test?
If you fail a breath test, you can expect the officer to immediately confiscate your Arizona driver’s license. If you have an out-of-state license, the officer cannot legally confiscate it, but he does have the authority to proceed as far as suspending your Arizona driving privileges. Next you will be given two copies of an official document called an “admin per se/implied consent affidavit”. The affidavit serves two purposes. The first is to serve as your notice that your driving privileges will be suspended in 15 days. The second is to act as a temporary driving permit for your use over the course of those 15 days. The actually 15-day period itself starts counting down from the minute you failed the breath test. As with any official document, take a long, hard look at the affidavit and read it carefully. As you may have interpreted from the name of the document itself, it is used both for implied consent suspensions as well as admin per se suspensions. Make sure that the type of penalty you are facing is the 90-day admin per se suspension, as opposed to the 1-year revocation associated with implied consent cases.
What happens if I fail a voluntarily taken blood test?
In cases where a blood test was failed, as opposed to a breath test, the officer cannot suspend your driving privileges until test results showing a blood alcohol saturation level of .08% or higher are received back from the crime lab. At that point, the police will forward the necessary suspension request to the Arizona MVD. The next thing you can expect is to receive a “corrective action” document from the MVD. You will notice that included in this document will be an exact date when actual suspension of your driving privileges will officially begin. You have until the date specified to request a hearing. Otherwise, suspension will automatically begin as scheduled on the date specified. Upon receipt of a corrective action, be sure to notify us immediately, as the MVD case is a separate matter from the DUI court case. For this reason, our offices will not automatically be notified. In addition, you should note that the date on which suspension ends will also be specified in the corrective action document. However, as with all license suspensions in the state of Arizona, reinstatement of your license and attached privileges is not automatic once that date comes to pass. You must take proper action through the appropriate channels to actually have your license reinstated.
Whether or Not to Request an Admin Per Se Hearing
Although this is not a matter on which all attorneys who handle DUI cases agree without exception, our recommendation would normally be to allow us to put in a request for a hearing, as it will greatly increase the amount of control both you and your attorney have over the situation at hand. However, it’s important to realize that a request for a hearing does not actually obligate you or your attorney to go through with the hearing itself. If you so choose, the request can simply be withdrawn at any juncture prior to the date of the hearing itself. At that point, you would be entitled to choose the actual start date of your suspension as long as it falls within 45 days from the date for which the hearing was scheduled. Putting in a request for an admin per se hearing also buys you and your lawyer valuable time, as such hearings can sometimes take months to be scheduled. In the interim, your lawyer will have sufficient time in which to further investigate the facts of your case, increasing the chances of suspension reversal as an outcome of the hearing. You yourself will also be able to make adequate plans to cover you in the event the suspension does go through. The only real drawback to requesting a hearing is that should you be eligible for a work permit, the MVD will not automatically mail you one.
What to Expect from an Admin Per Se Hearing
Admin per se hearings operate within a relatively limited scope. In order for a proposed suspension on your driving privileges to actually go through, the state has to establish all of the following.
- The officer had reasonable cause to assume that you were in violation of Arizona state laws governing DUI, and that you were arrested for said violations.
- Whether a chemical test was taken and whether the results showed a blood alcohol level above legal limits (.08 or above for regular vehicles and .04 or above for commercial motor vehicles).
- Whether or not the testing methods were reliable, as well as whether or not the results were properly evaluated.
The MVD hearing can provide your attorney with an excellent opportunity to get a feel for how the DUI criminal case will ultimately go as well. He can get a feel for how he thinks the officer’s testimony will go, or for whether or not the officer will show up at all. He also has the opportunity to get the officer on record testifying under oath at the MVD hearing. Should the officer change his story between the MVD hearing and the criminal hearing, the records of his testimony from the MVD hearing could be used against him in court to aid the defense. If he decides it is prudent, and should the scope of the hearing allow, your attorney may also elect to cross-examine the officer and question him in depth. However, as with many legal strategies, there are arguments for or against this strategy, so whether or not your attorney proceeds with it will depend on the details of your individual case. If you and your attorney successfully win the hearing, you will not have to face immediate suspension, although you may still have to face the possibility of suspension should you lose the criminal DUI case. Should you lose or ultimately choose not to go ahead with the MVD hearing, the penalty will depend on whether or not you have prior DUI-related suspensions within the past 7 years. If this is your first offense, you’ll be looking at a 90-day suspension of your Arizona driving privileges with a likelihood of eligibility for a work permit after the first 30 days, meaning that you will be allowed to drive for the purposes of transportation to and from work and/or school, as well as on the job in the event your occupation involves driving. If you have prior offenses, you will still be facing a 90-day suspension, but you will not be eligible for a work permit. Should the admin per se suspension go through, expungement of it from your permanent record is a possibility if all of the following conditions are met:
- The suspension period has been served, and your license has been reinstated.
- A certified copy of either a not-guilty verdict or an official court dismissal is presented to the MVD.
- You are not convicted of any other moving violations during the span of your suspension period.
If you have any questions related to your DUI case in Phoenix, contact attorney Joshua S. Davidson today.
