RIGHT TO COMMUNICATE WITH ATTORNEY AND FAMILY
Be advised that persons who are arrested have the right to communicate with an attorney of their choice and a member of their family by making a reasonable number of telephone calls or by communicating in any other reasonable manner. Such communication shall be permitted at the earliest possible time after arrival at the police station, sheriff’s office, jail, or other like confinement facility to which such person is first taken after an arrest. If the arrested person is transferred to a new place of custody, his right to communicate with an attorney and a member of his family is renewed.
RIGHT TO CONSULT WITH ATTORNEY
Any person committed, imprisoned, or arrested for any cause, whether or not such person is charged with an offense, shall be allowed to consult with an attorney at law of this state whom such person desires to see or consult, alone and in private at the place of custody, as many times and for such period each time as is reasonable.
YOU MUST REQUEST A HEARING
If you are arrested for a D.U.I. and refuse to submit to a blood or breath test or submit to a breath test and the result of the breath test is a .08 or higher, the arresting officer will take your driver’s license and give you an Express Consent Affidavit and Notice of Revocation. This is a temporary license which is valid for seven days. During that seven-day period, you must take this temporary license to the Motor Vehicle Department and fill out a form requesting a hearing. When you request a hearing, you will be asked if you want the arresting officer present at the hearing – check the box that says “Yes.”
If you fail to go to the Motor Vehicle Department and request a hearing within seven days of the date of your arrest, then on the eighth day, your driving privileges will be revoked for nine months for a first offender and for 12 months for a driver who has had a previous D.U.I. charge. I am amazed by the number of clients who do not read the Express Consent Affidavit and Notice of Revocation and miss the seven-day deadline. When you request a hearing, you will be given a temporary permit which is valid to drive on up to the date of the hearing. If you win the hearing at the Motor Vehicle Department, you will not lose your driving privileges at this point. If you fail to request a hearing, you have no chance to save your driving privileges.
However, be reminded that even if you win the Express Consent Revocation Hearing you can still lose your driving privileges if, in the criminal case, you are convicted of violations which total 12 points or more. A conviction for D.W.A.I. or a D.U.I. can cause additional periods of license revocation if the driver has prior convictions for D.W.A.I. or D.U.I.
If you would like your D.U.I. defense carefully conducted by an experienced, competent, and reliable Denver, Colorado D.U.I. attorney, contact me immediately at 720-270-2500.
