DUI/APC, CHEMICAL TESTS

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YOUR DRIVER’S LICENSE

We have included this topic in the "Punishment" section of this web site. Although the Supreme Court of Oklahoma has defined it as "remedial" and not punishment, few people DO NOT find the revocation - and the requirements to reinstate - of their driver’s license as some of the most severe punishment that is related to their DUI/APC arrest.

When you are arrested for a DUI or APC, you will be asked to submit to a chemical test. In most instances, it will be a breath test. Occasionally, the officers will request that you take a blood test. If you fail (a .08 if you are 21 years old or older; .02 if you are UNDER 21 years old) OR refuse the chemical test, the officer will seize your driver’s license. The Department of Public Safety ("DPS") will receive from this officer what is called an "Officer’s Affidavit" that reflects this failure or refusal of the test. A copy of this affidavit will be given to you to use as your driver’s license for thirty (30) days after the arrest.

The DPS will revoke the license for a period of time from six (6) months to three (3) years, depending upon your prior record. If it is the first time that this has happened to you in the past ten (10) years, it will be for six months. If it is the SECOND time in the past ten years, it will be for one (1) year. Any person who has had this occur to them two or more times within the past 10 years will have the license revoked for three (3) years!

Only a 6 month revocation can get a "work permit" or a modification. There is no way, at all, that a person whose license has been revoked for 1 year or 3 years to get ANY driving privileges during this revocation period! And, only Class D licenses can get these modifications! To get a "work permit" or modification, you must pay $150 to the DPS and install an "ignition interlock" or breath machine in any car you might be driving.

The ONLY way to avoid this revocation is to request a hearing with the DPS within fifteen (15) days of the arrest. If you miss this deadline, you can not get it back. Once the hearing is set, you must WIN IT to avoid the revocation. These are called "Implied Consent Hearings" and are very difficult to win. Indeed, many attorneys will tell their clients that these CAN’T be won. Of course, that is not true. Mr. Sifers has won thousands of them for his clients.

Another way that the person’s license can be revoked as a result of this DUI or APC is upon a conviction of the offense. If the revocation does not occur from the issue of the chemical test, a conviction can revoke it for the same length of time. A person’s license can not, however, be revoked TWICE for this event. The revocation occurs for one or the other but not both.

REMEMBER: If the revocation occurs, it will go onto your driving record and it will be there for - not three or five years, but - for the rest of your life!!

 For more information, go to our DUI Home Page.