The fireworks faded, heartburn from that freedom dog set in, and the feel of the cool aluminum Truly can in your hand was swapped for the cold steel of handcuffs around your wrists. This sounds like an arrest for DWI over Fourth of July Weekend. The next thing you know you’re walking out of the Montgomery County Jail in Conroe with a vacuum sealed plastic packet with paperwork that makes no sense. What does that paperwork mean? What do you do next?
Sorting through that packet of paperwork can feel overwhelming. Each flip of the page floods you with the emotions of being cuffed, placed in the back of the police car, and booked into jail. You might want to toss it to the side and forget this DWI arrest ever happened. Doing that though could result in an automatically suspended driver license. In Texas when you’ve been arrested for an alcohol related driving offense, you only have 15 days to request an Administrative License Revocation hearing. The DIC-25 Form in that packet serves as your only notice and admonishment of this process.
During the arrest process when requesting a specimen of your breath and blood, the officer should have read you the DIC 24. This form vaguely lays out the consequences of refusing and/or consenting to providing a sample. The ALR Hearing acts as the venue to determine if your license shall be suspended for refusing or failing to provide a breath or blood sample.
If you or your attorney fail to request the hearing, the suspension goes into effect on the 40th day after the date you received the DIC 25 Notice – typically 40 days from the date of arrest; unless you provided a sample of blood. Your license should remain valid until the blood alcohol concentration results return. At that time a Notice of Suspension shall be issued. If a hearing is not requested 40 days after the notice is presumed received, the driver license is automatically suspended.
Periods of suspension of your driver license vary depending on your age, criminal history and the facts of your case. More information is provided below directly from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Suspension Periods
If you are 21 years of age or older and your driver license is suspended for ALR, the following periods of suspension will apply:
- Refusal to provide a blood or breath specimen following an arrest for an offense prohibiting the operation of a motor vehicle or watercraft while intoxicated, while under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance:
180 Days First Offense
2 Years If you have been previously suspended for failing or refusing a blood or breath test or for a conviction of DWI, Intoxication Assault, or Intoxication Manslaughter during the 10 years preceding the date of your arrest.
- Provide a blood or breath specimen with an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or greater, following an arrest for an offense involving the operation of a motor vehicle or watercraft while intoxicated:
90 Days First Offense
1 Year If you have been previously suspended for failing or refusing a blood or breath test or for a conviction of DWI, Intoxication Assault, or Intoxication Manslaughter during the 10 years preceding the date of your arrest.
If you are a minor (younger than 21 years of age) and your driver license is suspended for ALR, the following period of suspension will apply:
- Refusal to provide a blood or breath specimen following an arrest for an offense prohibiting the operation of a motor vehicle or watercraft while intoxicated, while under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance:
180 Days First Offense
2 Years If you have been previously suspended for failing or refusing a blood or breath test or for a conviction of DWI, Intoxication Assault, or Intoxication Manslaughter during the 10 years preceding the date of your arrest.
- Failed a blood or breath test or a detectable amount of alcohol was found following an arrest for an offense involving the operation of a motor vehicle or watercraft while intoxicated.
60 Days First offense
120 Days If you have been previously suspended for failing or refusing a blood or breath test or for a conviction of DWI, Intoxication Assault, Intoxication Manslaughter or Drug Offense during the 10 years preceding the date of your arrest.
180 Days For two or more of any combination of the following: previous suspensions for failing or refusing a blood or breath test and/or convictions of DWI, Intoxication Assault, Intoxication Manslaughter or Drug Offense during the 10 years preceding the date of your arrest.
If you were in fact arrested for DWI over Fourth of July Weekend, the 15 days to request the ALR Hearing are running out. Don’t let your driver license be suspended. If you need assistance in protecting your right to drive, please contact our office and we can get you taken care of.