Role of the DMV in Third Offense DC DUI Cases
Anyone facing a third offense DC DUI case is charged and prosecuted vigorously by the DC Attorney General’s office. The Attorney General’s office is less likely to negotiate or even be willing to negotiate more favorable agreements and prosecutors are less likely to agree to dismissals of those cases and are much more likely to seek more significant amounts of jail time for people facing those third offense DUIs.
If you are facing charges for a third offense of drunk driving, a distinguished DUI attorney can help you build your defense. A local DC third offense DUI attorney can help clarify the role of the DMV in third offense DC DUI cases.
Following a Drunk Driving Charge
The DMV has a huge role in the beginning stages if a drunk driving charge. When a person is arrested and charged with driving under the influence, they will receive two different notices. The first notice is a notice to appear for the criminal case and the second notice is the notice from the DMV indicating a proposed revocation of driving privileges.
When a person receives this notice of proposed revocation, which is also called a form 3340, a person would have to go to the DC DMV to schedule a hearing to challenge the revocation of his or her driver’s license. If a person has a DC license, they would have 10 days to schedule that hearing; if the person has a non-DC license, they would have 15 days.
If a person does not schedule a hearing within that time period, the DC DMV would automatically move forward with the license revocation, even if a person had not yet been convicted of a crime. If a person goes to the DC DMV and schedules that hearing, that person will be placed in pending revocation status. After the DC DMV hearing, the DMV needs to hear testimony from an arresting officer about the person’s DUI case. That testimony can include information about field sobriety testing, breath testing, urine testing, or any other evidence gathered by the police.
DMV Actions
If the DMV finds by clear and convincing evidence of third offense DC DUI, the DMV can move forward on the appropriate license revocation. This is the case even if a person’s DMV hearing before the criminal court has concluded. If a person is still pending trial when the DMV has the hearing, the DMV can still find by clear and convincing evidence that a person committed the violence and can move forward on the revocation.
The role of the DMV in third offense DC DUI cases is to find that the police officers have proven their case. If they cannot prove that, the DMV can take no action on a person’s driver’s license. If a person is later convicted in criminal court of driving under the influence, the DMV can take actions, because the standard for finding a person guilty in criminal court is higher than the standard for finding a person responsible for the DUI. If there is a conviction in criminal court, it would automatically result in the DMV making a finding against a driver and imposing the appropriate license revocation.