DUI - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

• After I have been arrested and released, what happens next?
  In most cases in which a breath reading is obtained during the time you are in custody, the police officer will confiscate your driver license and provide you with a temporary license good for a short period of time.  You will have 7 days within which to request an Express Consent Hearing, i.e. a hearing before the Department of Revenue, Division of Hearings (“the Department:”) in Lakewood (for Denver metro-area arrests).  In cases in which blood is drawn, you will have 10 days to make this election after receipt of notice that your driving privileges will be revoked.  This notice will be sent to your last known address by the Department.  The Express Consent hearing requires the Department to prove that you drove a motor vehicle while impaired or with an unlawful alcohol level.  If you fail to request the hearing or hire a lawyer to do so within the 7 day-period, for first DUI offenders with breath results under .17, your license will be immediately revoked for a period of 9 months with the possibility of a probationary license after 30 days of absolutely no driving (this does not include further license revocations upon conviction for the offense) with the lease of an interlock device in your vehicle for at least 4 months.  The interlock device permits vehicle ignition after exhaling into the device and only upon demonstrating no alcohol in your body.  Drivers in other circumstances may face longer revocation periods or other requirements, such as longer interlock device periods.  Meet with us and we will explain some of the details unique to your case.
  
  
• Should I refuse to submit to a chemical test of my breath, blood or urine?
  Colorado law makes this question most difficult to answer definitively.  If a person refuses to submit to a chemical test of his breath, blood or urine at the lawful request of a police officer, that person will have his or her driving privileges revoked for a period of at least 1 year (after losing an Express Consent hearing or after failing to request one within the 7-day period and for a first offense) and then any revocation upon conviction for the offense of DUI will be consecutive, i.e. following, rather than concurrent or overlapping, to the original revocation period.  On the other hand, a chemical test demonstrating that the accused has an unlawful blood alcohol level is often a powerful tool to the prosecution of evidence that the person is guilty of DUI. The absence of proof of your blood alcohol level can, in many instances, rob the prosecution of a successful case against you.  The choice whether to refuse must be personal to each individual because of the serious consequences to that person as a result.  Meet with us to discuss the consequences of your submission or refusal of a chemical test of your alcohol level in your case.
  
  
• Why is there a revocation period before I have been convicted of a DUI?
  The U.S. Supreme Court, upon deciding that driving is a privilege, not a right, has further decided that states may revoke driving privileges immediately upon an arrest as a remedial measure (provided a hearing is offered) and then still punish the driver upon a DUI conviction with the further revocation of driving privileges.  There are, thus, possibly two revocation periods.  The first is the subject of a civil administrative proceeding in which license revocation occurs following the arrest and the other, the results of the criminal case, occurs upon a conviction.  In other words, the Department revokes a person’s driving privilege immediately upon the above proof of driving impaired or with an unlawful blood alcohol level as required by law and a conviction for DUI can create a new revocation period.  Our law firm represents clients at every stage of a DUI case, both the civil administrative Express Consent hearing stage and the defense of the criminal case.  Ask us further about this process in your case.
  
  
• Should I represent myself in the Express Consent Hearing or the DUI case?
  Somewhat shockingly, many persons decide to represent themselves and then see whether they are “in over their heads”.  Typically, persons engaged in self-representation are not lawyers and, thus, not trained as lawyers in the rules of evidence and criminal procedure.  Every prosecutor is a lawyer trained and experienced to apply these rules to their client, the State of Colorado’s advantage.  You are, thus, unmatched and outgunned.  Deciding to hire a lawyer after realizing this prospect in the case is a risky proposition and can result in your lawyer being unable to save you from any damage you may have done to that point in the case.  Seriously consider hiring counsel immediately following your release after arrest and before the expiration of the 7-day period to seek an Express Consent hearing (see above).  Contact our offices to discuss the perils of self-representation specific to your case.  

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Taub & Taub, P.C. represents clients throughout Colorado in Douglas (including Castle Rock, Parker, Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree, Monument and all other towns and cities), Denver, Elbert, El Paso, Arapahoe, Jefferson, El Paso, Lincoln, Adams, Weld, Larimer, Morgan, Washington, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Yuma, Kit Carson, Cheyenne, Pueblo, Crowley, Otero, Bent, Prowers, Baca, Las Animas, Huerfano, Larimer, Gilpin, Clear Creek, Park, Teller, Fremont, Custer, Costilla, Alamosa, Conejos, Rio Grande, Saguache, Chaffee, Lake, Summit, Grand, Jackson, Archuleta, Mineral, Hinsdale, Gunnison, Pitkin, Eagle, Routt, Moffat, Rio Blanco, Garfield, Mesa, Delta, Montrose, Ouray, San Juan, La Plata, San Miguel, Dolores and Montezuma counties.