What happens at a San Diego DMV Hearing
When you are arrested for DUI, the police officer is supposed to give you a pink piece of paper which is your temporary driver license. You are required to contact the DMV within 10 days of the date of your arrest and request a DMV Admin Per Se Hearing. If you fail to do so, your license will be automatically suspended in 30 days from the date of your arrest. If you do call the DMV, you can request a stay on your suspension, which means that your temporary license is extended until a decision is made following your hearing. They will mail you an updated temporary license with a date further out in the future. When you make the phone call to DMV, they generally set your hearing within 4-6 weeks.
At the hearing, a DMV employee called a Hearing Officer will preside over the hearing. Generally it is just the Hearing Officer and your lawyer. Witnesses can also be called by either the DMV or your attorney for the hearing. The DMV will introduce the police report, chemical test results, etc. as exhibits and attempt to have them moved into evidence to use against you. Your attorney will make objections to the exhibits and try to keep them from coming in to be used against you. There will be issues at the hearing, which are listed on the back of the pink piece of paper you received. The DMV must prove all of the issues to prevail. If the the DMV rules against you, they will mail you a Notice of Suspension following the hearing. The suspension will usually begin about a week after the date of the Notice.
If you prevail at the hearing, they will mail you a Set Aside. This means they will not suspend you based upon the findings of the hearing. You will then have to deal with the court side, where a conviction will also trigger an additional suspension. Bottom line is that you have to prevail at both the Admin Per Se hearing and the court side to save your license.
If you need help with a San Diego DMV Hearing, contact San Diego DUI Attorney Aaron T. Hicks for a free consultation today.