Your License Is At Stake With a DUI
What happens to your drivers’ license in California after being charged with a DUI is a valid concern. You may need your license for your livelihood to get to and from work, and maybe even to do your work. Not being able to drive can affect you in more ways than you ever imagined and this is one of the reasons you are giving the right to request a hearing with the DMV about the state of your license within 10 days of it being confiscated at the time of your arrest.
If you contact the DMV’s Office of Driver Safety and request a suspension hearing on your own, then there is a chance you will encouraged to agree to a phone meeting. You may not realize that you have a right to a San Francisco DUI attorney for this hearing and that it is often best to have this attorney make this request on your behalf. A lawyer will help make sure you get an in-person hearing, which is usually more successful than one over the telephone.
Once the request for the hearing is made, a DMV employee will review your case to make sure all paperwork has been filled out by the arresting officer according to procedure and that there were grounds for an administrative license suspension. The hearing will usually take place within 30 days of request, but this is not always the case. The hearing will also take place at a Driver Safety field office as close to where the arrest took place as possible, but if this is not convenient for the defendant or his San Francisco DUI lawyer then a request for a change of venue is allowed.
A DMV employee will serve as both prosecutor and judge in this hearing, whether he or she has legal training or not. This employee will be the person to question you on the incident that led to your arrest and license confiscation and also make the decision about the suspension. The deck may seemed stacked against you on your chances of retaining your license permanently, but with a good DUI attorney in San Francisco by your side you have a better chance than if you chose to go it on your own.
If you are faced with both criminal charges and also the possibility of losing your license and possibly your livelihood, contact a DUI lawyer in San Francisco today to discuss defense possibilities.
