This video discusses the administrative driver’s license hearing request process in Kansas DUI cases, the potential penalties for refusing or failing a breath, blood or urine test, and how to apply for a restricted license instead of being suspended from driving.
AI Transcript:
00:01 Hi, I’m Jay Norton, DUI attorney in Kansas, and I want to talk to you about the first thing you need to know when you are facing a DUI case in Kansas. 00:12 And that is when you get arrested for a DUI and you either take a test and fail it or you refuse that test, you get two different cases going on at the same time. 00:21 The first is the criminal case that’s filed against you where you’re charged with a DUI and whatever else they may have charged you with. 00:28 But at the same time, you’ve got an administrative action against your driver’s license, which is represented by a form that the officer should have given you. 00:34 Sometimes it’s pink, sometimes it’s white. That form at the top says officer’s certification and notice of suspension. And down in the bottom left hand corner, it’ll say DC 27. 00:46 The DC 27, that stands for driver’s control 27. That form is a temporary driver’s license and the law enforcement officer will take your physical driver’s license and give you that temporary driver’s license for you to drive on. 01:03 And that. Officer certification and notice of suspension. That form, like I said, sometimes it’s pink, sometimes it’s white. That is your driver’s license and it contains all of the same, you know, rights and privileges that you had in your driver’s license before you were arrested. 01:21 But it’s a temporary driver’s license. It tells you that it’s only good for 30 days and after 30 days, then your driver’s license would be suspended and then restricted to an ignition airlock device based on whatever the officer has certified that you failed a test or that you. 01:37 Refused a test. So it’s real important though that you know that in the fine print, it tells you that you can request a hearing about whether your license should be suspended. 01:50 You have to request that hearing within 14 days. So the first thing that I do when somebody hires me on a DUI case is I request the administrative hearing on their behalf. 02:00 I do that in writing and I send that to the department of revenue certified return receipt requested so I can prove that they got it when they got it and who signed for it. 02:08 I also fax it and get a fax confirmation back so that we have redundant processes to prove that they received the request for the administrative hearing. 02:17 Once we do that, then your driver’s license is gonna remain valid until we can have a hearing. The hearing is typically two or three months down the road, two or three months from when you request the administrative hearing or when you get stopped for a DUI. 02:35 Between requesting the hearing and that actual hearing date, two or three months later, I can get all the police reports, the video recordings, the audio recordings every scrap of evidence that there is on the case, the photographs, diagrams, witness statements, accident reports, whatever there may be 02:55 , we get all of that information. I get all the information on the breath test machine, maintenance logs, calibration logs, testing logs. 03:02 We want to get every single piece of evidence that we can so that all that can be reviewed prior to having the administrative hearing. 03:16 When you request the administrative hearing, you have to request an in-person hearing or else all you get is a telephone hearing. 03:24 I like to have an in-person hearing. I want to have the officers show up. I want to put them under oath. 03:29 I want to cross-examine them, you know, in their presence. I want to see how they testify. I want to look in their eyes. 03:36 You know, really to get a sense of what their attitude is, what their testimony is going to be, how it’s going to play out in court should this case proceed to a trial or something down the road. 03:50 If there’s any issues that you have discovered, that’s a good time to question them. You know, hopefully get information that you can use in the administrative hearing and in the criminal case. 04:02 You’ve got to ask for a subpoena of the officer or officers that signed that form or else they won’t be present if they aren’t subpoenaed to the hearing, then you all the issues that you w the burden of proof at the So you’ve got to bring the officer. 04:26 So you got to subpoena the officer to hearing. If you do that, l set up a hearing about or three months down the they’re not, you know, type hearings. 04:47 They’re lightning rounds. And so you got show up to that hearing, and hit him with everything that you got quickly and efficiently. 05:06 You know, the driver’s license hearings in Johnson County are held in the Johnson County Administrative building or if it’s an Overland Park case, they’re held in the Overland Park Police Department, the old one at 85th and Antioch in Wyandotte County. 05:21 They have them in the Wyandotte County District Courthouse in in Douglas. County. They do them in the the DMV there in North Lawrence. 05:31 Each different county or jurisdiction has some government building where they have these these administrative hearings. And it’s just the Administrative Hearing Officer plus me and the arresting officer. 05:44 Typically you know, my clients don’t have to show up to that. You don’t have to be there for the administrative hearing if you have an attorney that’s going to handle it for you. 05:54 You know, some people want to be at the hearing. That’s perfectly fine. It’s open to the public. It’s their hearing. 05:58 You know, they have every right to be there. But I can handle that on behalf of my clients. 06:05 You don’t have to be there. The only time I have my clients show up to the driver’s license hearing is if there’s something that I need you to testify to. 06:13 We have the burden of proof. Like I said, so if there’s something that only my client can testify to, that’s the only way to get that evidence in that I need to have my client show up. 06:22 So things like whether they were driving the car or whether they had, you know, something in their mouth or they belched prior to the breath test or some issue like that, that only they can testify to, that’s when I have my client show up. 06:35 But in the majority of cases, it’s something that I do on your behalf. And you know. The administrative hearing, like I said, is not you know, a full hearing. 06:50 It’s not like you’re going to get in a criminal case. You know, they set these things up to try to take people’s driver’s licenses. 06:58 Away, basically. So, you know, in a criminal case, you’re presumed innocent, and the government has the burden of proof, and they gotta prove you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and you have all kinds of defenses and constitutional rights. 07:15 That you can invoke to try to you know, prevent that from happening. So, because they know that people can fight and win DUI cases in, in the criminal courts, they set up this parallel universe where because driving is a privilege and not a right. 07:33 It can be taken away by the government with, you know, less in circumstance, less process than than other rights can be taken away because it’s not a right, it’s a privilege. 07:46 And so they set up this civil administrative action where you’re presumed guilty when the officer fills out that form properly. 07:53 That officer’s certification and notice of suspension. You have the burden of proof. You’ve got to come in and prove that the things that he has certified, he or she has certified 08:03 on that form are false or insufficient. And there’s a limited number of issues that you can raise and you don’t have all the constitutional rights that you would have like in a criminal case. 08:14 So the administrative hearings can be difficult. And a lot of it attorneys don’t bother with them. A lot of attorneys encourage their clients to just go ahead and eat the suspension. 08:24 I never do that. I fight every single one of them. You know, we want to go in there and and have our day in court with respect to people’s driver’s license as that issue is important. 08:34 And so so I always think it’s worth it to show up and and at least you know, raise the issues that you can. 08:45 And it’s also important to see how the officers are going to testify to know if that may be helpful or useful in, in the criminal case. 08:53 So, I always have that hearing. And you know, we, we do the best we can. And you know, we can’t win them all, but, but can win a fair number of those by getting prepared and knowing the law and showing up and hitting them with everything that you’ve got. 09:13 At the end of the hearing, the hearing officer really has three different options. They can Affirm the suspension of the driving privileges, which means that your license is going to get suspended and or restricted. 09:25 They can dismiss the proceedings against the license, which means you’re not going to get suspended and you’re not going to get restricted as a result of the administrative hearing. 09:36 Or they can take it under advisement, which means that they want to go back to their office and review a video, look at the law, consider further the arguments that were raised at the hearing and then you get a decision back sometime 09:51 a month or two later. If you lose the administrative hearing, then your license will be suspended beginning 30 days after the date of the hearing. 10:01 So if you have that hearing on April 15th and you lose then May 15th, your driver’s license is going to get suspended. 10:08 How long it gets suspended and restricted for depends on whether you have a prior DUI in your lifetime In the state of Kansas and it depends on whether you took the breath test, blood test or refused it and what your alcohol content was. 10:31 So if you’ve never had a DUI before, or you take a breath test and it’s between a .08 and a .15, then it’s a 30 day suspension followed by six months of ignition interlock device. 10:43 If you were over .15 on a first time DUI, it’s a one year suspension followed by one year of interlock. 10:53 If you refuse the test, then it’s a one year suspension followed by two years of restriction to an ignition interlock device. 11:00 So it’s a three year transaction on your driver’s license for a first time refusal of driver’s license. If you have a prior then the length of restriction can be longer and it can be five years and ten years and and on up depending on how many prior DUI occurrences you have on your driving record in 11:19 your lifetime.. . The good news is that under fairly recent changes to Kansas law if your driver’s license gets suspended you can file an application with the Kansas Department of Revenue to have the suspension modified to a restriction to the ignition airlock device so if you get a 30 day suspension 11:41 or you get a one year suspension you can file this application and you will not have to be suspended you can drive during that time period with the ignition. 11:50 interlock device. So the application to have your suspension modified to a restriction is called a DC 1015. You can get that form at the Kansas Department of Revenue’s website. You can get it on my website. You can find it out there. 12:12 It’s a very simple form. And I’m going to show that to you. you submit the DC 1015 form, then the Department of Revenue has to grant that application. 12:30 And as long as you’re not suspended for some other reason, they will grant that in and they will allow you to drive. 12:36 They will not consider that application until the 30th day after the hearing or you know once the suspension is supposed to start, then they will consider the application. 12:46 So there might be a day or two or a few days where you can’t legally drive. Bye! But you should shortly thereafter get a letter from the department revenue that says we’ve granted your application to modify the suspension. 12:58 You can go get an ignition interlock device put in your car and you can drive with the ignition interlock device. 13:04 And when you’re under an ignition interlock device restriction You can drive anywhere you want to whenever you want to for whatever reason. You’re not restricted to to and from work or anything like that. 13:15 You can drive anywhere, anytime, any place but you have to have the ignition interlock device in your car. The ignition interlock device is a device, a gizmo that’s wired into your ignition and you’ve got to blow into it in order to start the car and you’ve got to blow into it from time to time every 15, 13:35 20 minutes or so to keep the car running. And if you have alcohol On your breath then umm the car won’t start and uhh the car won’t keep running if you blow numbers so it makes sure that you’re not drinking and driving when you have the ignition interlock device in your car. 13:52 Umm you know it costs $150 to have the interlock put in your car typically it costs around $80 a month to rent it from the ignition interlock company and you gotta take the car in every month to have the you know digital 14:12 . . Information downloaded from the interlock by the company and to prove that you still have it and it’s still in working condition and all that but you know you can drive umm and it’s better than being suspended and umm and so you know there’s a decent chance that you can have an ignition interlock 14:30 device in your car you can drive any car that you want but it’s got to have an ignition airlock device in it and anybody in your family can drive your car with the interlock device but they’re gonna have to blow into it in order to start. 14:44 So the important thing to to know right from the outset is that you’ve got 14 days to request an administrative hearing, you need to ask for an in-person hearing if you want one, you need to ask for a subpoena. 14:56 Of the officer or else you won’t get one. I highly suggest that you have an attorney do that for you, it’s got to be done in writing, it’s got to be sent to the department revenue certified, return receipt requested, that way you can prove that they got it. 15:08 and then your license is going to be valid until You can have a hearing and you’ll have a shot to try to keep your license from being suspended
I am going to show you the DC-1015, that is the application to modify an alcohol related suspension or revocation. 15:25 So if your driver’s license gets suspended, you can submit this application and the Department of Revenue will grant it as long as you’re not suspended for some other reason. 15:35 It’s a real simple form, all you have to do is print your name and your driver’s license number, date of birth, your address in there. 15:44 It asks you here have you operated a vehicle while you were suspended or revoked? This really only applies to suspensions that occurred before 2011 but hopefully the answer to this is no anyway. 15:58 And you sign it, you date it, and you just take this form and you mail it to the Kansas Department of Revenue with $100. 16:07 Of course there is a fee associated with it it’s a hundred bucks but you’ve got to send this in. The address is down here at the bottom, Division of Vehicles, Driver Solutions in Topeka. 16:23 You send that in with $100, they will grant it as long as you’re not suspended for some other reason hopefully shortly after you file the application, they will review it, they’ll send you a letter and tells you that you can drive. 16:37 Again, this is the DC-1015 that you can get from the Kansas Department of Revenue and if your license gets suspended, you might want to submit that so that you can drive with an interlock instead of being suspended.