1. Contact a DUI lawyer asap pursuant to the pink piece of paper you received when they snatched your license. Your attorney has 10 days from the arrest (Stop and Snatch of your CDL) to request a DMV HEARING. If you do not do this within 10 days your license will be gone for 4-5 months depending on whether you request a restricted license or not. The Pink Piece of paper you received from the officer is a Temporary License that is good for 30 days. You or your lawyer has to request a STAY OF YOUR LICENSE SUSPENSION when they call to request the hearing within the 10 day period or your CDL will be suspended for 4 months… or 5 months if you request a Restricted License.
2.GO TO DMV and request a DMV IDENTIFICATION CARD which you will need to get into a court or DMV ordered DUI CLASS.
3. A DUI arrest sets up two proceedings: a DMV hearing and a Court hearing. The DMV hearing will be set about 6 weeks after your arrest and the first Court date will be two months or so after your arrest. Your lawyer can not get an arrest report before the arraignment date or possibly if it is sent shortly before the DMV hearing. However if you request your record from DMV a few weeks after your arrest, it will show how many points you have against you AND show the Breath reading from your arrest. This is invaluable to your attorney. If you took a Blood test wait about 6 weeks to request your DMV record as it takes some time to analyze.
4. Take Down your Social Media Sites until the case is over as it provides info for the DA that could be embarrassing or harmful to you and helpful to the DA.
5. If you enter a plea in court, even though the judge does not suspend your license, when the court notifies DMV in Sacramento of your plea or conviction, you will get a license suspension from Sacramento. IF your license was already suspended after a DMV hearing in San Bernardino, you can get your license back by paying a reissuance fee.
6. The DMV Hearing is a Per Se hearing and if you have a reading of .08 or more you are Per Se GUILTY in the eyes of DMV… and most DA’s. Your attorney has to knock out one of the three elements for you to win a DMV hearing. The DMV Hearing officer is both Prosecutor and the Judge. They can conduct the hearing, even though they have not provided your attorney with a police report, They do this by using the one page DS 367 report the officer fills out at the scene……of course we object.
7. By Statute DMV is Black and White. The DMV Hearing officers have NO Authority to negotiate or extend courtesies because you do not have priors or are a good citizen. Most DMV hearings are arguments over evidence not facts.
8. If you lose the DMV hearing, after a 30 day license suspension you can file an SR22 (showing proof of auto insurance) along with proof of enrollment in DUI classes. You can then pay a reissuance fee to DMV. This will allow you to get a RESTRICTED CDL.
9. Contact our insurance agent who specializes in insuring DUI drivers.
10. Most importantly DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE………………..
