Your Driver’s License After An Ocean City DUI
The following is taken from an interview with an Ocean City DUI lawyer as they discuss the repercussions you can face against your drivers license following a DUI charge in Maryland. To learn more call and schedule a consultation today.
Aggravating Factors For a License Suspension
If the person is a Maryland driver and they take the breath tests and the result is the .08 or greater or if they refuse to take the breath test, the officer will physically confiscate the actual driver’s license and will issue a paper temporary license to the driver. That temporary license will be valid for the next forty five days and on the forty sixth day, the person’s privilege to drive will be suspended. If the driver blew a .08, but less than a .15, then their license will be suspended for forty five days if it’s a first offense or it will be suspended for ninety days for a second or a subsequent offense.
If the breath test result is a .15 or greater, then the suspension will be ninety days for a first offense and a hundred eighty days for a second or a subsequent offense. If the driver refuses to submit to a breath test completely, then the suspension is a hundred twenty days for a first offense or one year for a subsequent offense.
When the driver is issued this temporary license, the driver also receives paperwork which explains to the driver what their options are. The paperwork explains that the driver has the right to elect to participate in the ignition interlock program and the paperwork explains exactly what to do in order to participate in ignition interlock. The paperwork also explains to the driver that they have the right to request the hearing regarding the suspension and explains to the driver that they need to fill up the paperwork and they need to mail all of that paperwork to the Office of Administrative Hearings which is located in Maryland and that they also have to pay $150 filing fee in order to have that hearing.
Challenging a License Suspension
A driver has the absolute right to request a hearing and ask that they appear in front of hearing officer to challenge the officer’s stop of their vehicle and the subsequent suspension of their license. In order to ask the driver to take a breath test, the officer has to establish reasonable grounds to show that he suspects that the driver was under the influence of alcohol at the time. At the hearing, that’s when the driver can challenge whether or not the officer had reasonable grounds to ask the driver to take the breath test.
There are also other challenges that can be made. There are very specific statutory requirements that have to be met in order to ask a driver to take a breath test and to admit the results of that breath test. A driver can challenge whether or not the statutes were followed and if the police officer did everything the police officer was supposed to do. If the hearing officer finds that the police officer’s conduct was not appropriate or if the officer violated those regulations, then the driver might be able to successfully challenge a suspension and therefore be able to get their license back.