Administrative License Suspension

Administrative License Suspension for Driving Under the Influence in Las Vegas

If you act quickly to hire a DUI lawyer in Vegas as soon as you have been arrested, it may be possible to avoid administrative suspension of your license by the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles. The goal of the DMV is not to punish you. The criminal justice system is responsible for dishing out punishment, not the DMV. Instead, the DMV wants to make sure that reckless and irresponsible drivers are not on the road.

You only have 7 days to request a DMV hearing to protect your license from revocation or suspension after you have been arrested for driving under the influence in Las Vegas.

How does a Nevada DMV administrative licensing hearing work?

The Nevada DMV publishes a form that your lawyer will use to request a hearing. The hearing is free, and it is not a criminal proceeding like the court process is.At the hearing your lawyer will cross-examine the officer who arrested you for driving under the influence. This creates an official record that can be used later in your criminal case in court. This helps you because it increases the likelihood that the arresting officer may contradict him or herself later, and that casts doubt on his or her testimony. You have nothing to lose by requesting and completing a DMV hearing. It gives your DUI lawyer an opportunity to find weaknesses in the state’s case against you. Those weaknesses can be helpful in negotiating a lower sentence in your criminal case or getting the charges dismissed entirely.

What does the judge look for at a DMV hearing?

The administrative law judge or hearing officer who oversees the hearing only considers three things:

• Whether you refused to take a blood test, breath test, or field sobriety test;
• Whether your blood alcohol content was measured above the legal limit in Nevada of .08; and
• Whether the arresting officer reasonably believed that you were intoxicated when you submitted to the blood alcohol test.

When will I find out the result of the DMV hearing?

In some cases, the administrative law judge will give his or her decision right at the hearing. In other cases, a written ruling may be mailed within 30 days.