Birmingham DUI & Criminal Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Eversole Law Firm : Criminal and DUI Defense : Serving Birmingham, Montgomery, Alabama

Have you been charged with a DUI in Alabama?  If so, you have only 10 days to request an administrative hearing or your license will be suspended.  You should receive notice of this fact from the arresting officer.  If you lose your license, your only option is to appeal the decision to the Circuit Court within 30 days. 

The license loss is distinct from any criminal penalties. This means that you can lose your license while being found "guilty," or "not guilty," in an Alabama DUI trial.  Makes you wonder what happened to the concept, "innocent until proven guilty."  In this case, it's not even, "guilty until proven innocent."  It's simply, "guilty."  Now some will argue that balancing this equation is the administrative hearing.  But does the administrative hearing really provide the same kind of safe guards that are enshrined into our Constitution and afforded those accused of crimes?  Furthermore, even if you somehow believe that taking someone's license for a crime he has not been proven to commit is fair, I would then scream Double Jeopardy.  It is supposedly illegal to charge someone with the same crime twice, no matter how you look at it, and no matter how it may have been interpreted, the prohibition against Doubly Jeopardy is not esoteric.  It's plain meaning will suffice. 

Sorry for the digressive rant.  Back to my original subject.  The 10 day rule applies to you if you meet any of the following conditions:

• BAC over .08 while driving or under control of a vehicle
• BAC at or above .02 and you are below the age of 21
• BAC over .04 at time of arrest for Commercial Drivers
• You refused to take breath test

If you do not request an administrative hearing within ten days of arrest you will lose your license. You could lose your license in this manner anywhere from 90 days to several years.  Factors to be considered in determining how long you could lose your license include:

1. Driving Category
2. Age
3. Driving Record

Moral of the story, hire an Alabama DUI & Criminal Defense attorney that focuses his practice on defending those accused of a DUI.  I spend hundreds of hours perfecting the defense of those accused of DUI.  I have read all relevant publications, including hundreds of DUI and Criminal Defense Blogs from all over the country.  I also regularly attend legal education seminars devoted to DUI defense. Not to mention , I obsessively update this blog to make it the best source of information available to those accused on a DUI in Alabama.  Combined I spend around 25-30 hours a week studying Alabama DUI & Criminal Defense Law.  The law is way too complicated these days for an attorney to be a jack-of-all-trades.  When your reputation, money, job, or freedom is on the line, you need an attorney that makes Alabama DUI & Criminal Defense his priority.  Riddle me this:  Did you get your plumbing fixed by the electrician?

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I have listed Alabama's Implied Consent law below in its entirety.  This law gives the state the right to test a person for alcohol if you have been lawfully arrested for an offense involving the use of an automobile on public highways.  The law states your license will be suspended for 90 days if you refuse a test.  However, a 90 day license suspension is much better than a DUI.  If you have any alcohol in your system at all, you should not incriminate yourself by taking any test administered by the police.  The breath tests are often inaccurate, and the field sobriety tests are completely subjective and easily manipulated.  Piss off a cop and the flawless way you touched your finger to your nose becomes something else in the cops report.  Just remember:  NEVER, EVER, TAKE ANY TEST ADMINISTERED BY THE POLICE WITHOUT YOUR ATTORNEY PRESENT!

§ 32-5-192. Implied consent; when tests administered; suspension of license or permit to drive, etc., for refusal to submit to test.

(a) Any person who operates a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this state shall be deemed to have given his consent, subject to the provisions of this division, to a chemical test or tests of his blood, breath or urine for the purpose of determining the alcoholic content of his blood if lawfully arrested for any offense arising out of acts alleged to have been committed while the person was driving a motor vehicle on the public highways of this state while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. The test or tests shall be administered at the direction of a law enforcement officer having reasonable grounds to believe the person to have been driving a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this state while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. The law enforcement agency by which such officer is employed shall designate which of the aforesaid tests shall be administered. Such person shall be told that his failure to submit to such a chemical test will result in the suspension of his privilege to operate a motor vehicle for a period of 90 days; provided if such person objects to a blood test, the law enforcement agency shall designate that one of the other aforesaid tests be administered.

(b) Any person who is dead, unconscious or who is otherwise in a condition rendering him incapable of refusal, shall be deemed not to have withdrawn the consent provided by subsection (a) of this section and the test or tests may be administered, subject to the provisions of this division.

(c) If a person under arrest refuses upon the request of a law enforcement officer to submit to a chemical test designated by the law enforcement agency as provided in subsection (a) of this section, none shall be given, but the Director of Public Safety, upon the receipt of a sworn report of the law enforcement officer that he had reasonable grounds to believe the arrested person had been driving a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this state while under the influence of intoxicating liquor and that the person had refused to submit to the test upon the request of the law enforcement officer, shall, on the first refusal, suspend his license or permit to drive, or the privilege of driving a motor vehicle on the highways of this state given to a nonresident; or if the person is a resident without a license or permit to operate a motor vehicle in this state, the director shall deny to the person the issuance of a license or permit, for a period of 90 days, subject to review as hereinafter provided. For a second or subsequent refusal of such test within a five-year period, the director, upon said receipt of a sworn report, shall suspend his license or permit to drive, or the privilege of driving a motor vehicle on the highways of this state given to a nonresident for a period of one year; or if the person is a resident without a license or permit to operate a motor vehicle in this state, the director shall deny to the person the issuance of a license or permit, for a period of one year subject to review as hereinafter provided. If such person is acquitted on the charge of driving a motor vehicle upon the highways of this state while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, then in that event the Director of Public Safety may, in his discretion, reduce said period of suspension.

(d) Upon suspending the license or permit to drive or the privilege of driving a motor vehicle on the highways of this state given to a nonresident or any person, or upon determining that the issuance of a license or permit shall be denied to the person, as herein before in this section directed, the Director of Public Safety or his duly authorized agent shall immediately notify the person in writing and upon his request shall a

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