Bradenton DMV Hearings
DUI Lawyers Serving Manatee County, Florida
Upon the request of the driver or an attorney in our office, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) will conduct a formal ;review regarding the suspension of your driver’s license by the arresting officer of breath test officers. The hearing officer making a decision is an employee of the DMV and is referred to as a hearing officer. The Hearing officer works in a division o of the DMV called the Bureau of Administrative Review or BAR office. Locally, the main BAR office is located at 4585 140th Avenue North , Suite #1002, Clearwater, FL 33762. Their phone number is 727-507-4405 and the only have one phone line, so patience is a virtue. However, so that witnesses do not have to drive to Pinellas County for hearings, the hearing offficers travel to Bradenton to conduct formal review hearings several days a week. The hearing officer will be deciding whether to uphold or invalidate the suspension of your license. On cases were our client blew above a .08% on the intoxilyzer 8000, then the DMV is attempting to suspend your license for six months on a first time DUI. When a driver refuses to submit to a breath test, then the DMV will attempt to suspend your license for 12 months on a first DUI arrest. The outcome of an administrative hearing conducted by the DHSMV will not impact the criminal DUI case in any way, and vice versa.
How does this affect your Manatee County DUI case? After you are arrested for drunk driving, you have to contact the DHSMV within 10 days to request your DMV hearing. That means that you can drive on the citation that you received from the officer for 10 days following your DUI arrest. You MUST have the citation that says Florida DUI Uniform Traffic Citation in your possession in case you are stopped by the police. Within that ten days, we will secure this 42 day temporary business purposes only permit for you. If you do not file this request in time, your license will be suspended for a set period of timem usually 6 months or 12 months. You may be entitled to a hardship license after waiting a certain number of days. Call our office for particular questions about your case. It doesn’t matter if you are found not guilty in criminal court. Your license will still be suspended and your only chance of driving before the suspension period is over will be to request a hardship license (which will allow you to drive for work, school, religious affiliation, and anything to maintain your livelihood).
You Need an Attorney for your Manatee County DMV Hearing
Because a DMV hearing is an administrative process, it is not required that you have legal representation and the state will not provide you with an attorney if you cannot afford one. However, it is important to understand the benefits of working with a private attorney in the face of your DMV hearing. After a Bradenton DUI arrest, your license will be suspended if you do not request your DMV hearing within 10 days. Your chances of retaining your driving privileges will be much greater if you request a formal review hearing and have an attorney explore any possible legal issues. In certain instances we may want to subpoena the Manatee County Sheriffs Deputy, or Bradenton, Longboat Key, or Palmetto police officer who arrested you. Although required to notify the state attorney of the intention to subpoena law enforcement officers to the DMV, the prosecutor typically does not appear at these hearings so it allows us a free shot with the officer to explore any possible issues in the case. Its been our experience that our office will be better prepared to represent you during the criminal process with zealous representation at the DMV hearing.
Contact The Law Place today to find out more about how a DUI lawyer can help you at your DMV hearing.
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