Arrested for DUI? You Have Two Legal Battles to Fight
A DUI arrest catches nearly everyone off guard because it creates two separate legal battles, not just one.
1. After a DUI Arrest: The Formal Review Hearing (DMV)
This has nothing to do with whether you’re guilty of a crime. This is the DMV’s process to decide if your license gets suspended, and you typically have just 10 days from your arrest to request it. No request equals automatic suspension. An experienced attorney can challenge the legality of the stop, the field sobriety testing, and the breathalyzer results right here.
2. The Criminal DUI Case (Court)
This is the criminal side, where your freedom, record, and finances are on the line. Penalties can include fines, DUI school, probation, and jail time. This case plays out in front of a judge and operates entirely separately from the DMV hearing.
Many people assume that if they win one case, the other automatically goes away. That’s not true. The DMV can suspend your license even if the criminal case is dismissed, and a criminal conviction can happen even if you win at the DMV hearing. That’s why a DUI arrest requires two separate strategies from day one.
Why does this matter? Because a single DUI arrest can trigger two cases that need a defense strategy for both, and they require action at different times.
Don’t wait. Don’t assume one outcome affects the other. And don’t try to navigate this alone.
📞 Call us today at (813) 253-3363.