Colorado DUI Law

Gather all paperwork relevant to your DUI arrest.

Documents given to you at the time of your release may contain information which will form the basis of a defense, e.g., do the documents contain facts, errors or inconsistencies which can be used to discredit the police officer's reason for stopping you? Was a test taken within the two hour time limit mandated by law? You should also preserve documents such as credit card receipts from the tavern or restaurant where you consumed alcohol. These documents can be of significance if the alcohol test results are inconsistent with the number of drinks you consumed. Documents such as cell phone records, restaurant receipts, etc., may help your case if the time of contact with police or time of driving becomes an issue. A bar tab may be used to show that your alcohol consumption was inconsistent with the result of a blood or breath test.

Write down everything you remember about the arrest.

Any experienced criminal defense lawyer will tell you that as time passes you will forget important details about your case. While certain facts may seem insignificant to you, these same facts in the hands of an experienced attorney could mean the difference between conviction and acquittal. Talk to friends or family to ask them what they remember. The police are trained to take notes about things that might incriminate you. Many police personnel will purposely exclude facts from their reports that might exonerate you - so its up to you to bring facts which might help you to your attorney's attention. Take a few minutes to write down everything you remember about what happened before you were contacted by the police. Your notes should include a detailed account of everything you said and that the police said up to the time you were released. Include a list of what you had to drink and when you drank it. These notes could be helpful in formulating a defense or to refresh you memory months later during a trial or other hearing.

Request a hearing from the Colorado Department of Revenue.

Except in very rare instances, it is always a good idea to request a hearing concerning revocation of your drivers license for "driving with excessive alcohol content." At minimum, if a valid request for hearing is made but no hearing is scheduled by DMV within 60 days, you are entitled to have your license returned! If you took a breath test or refused any test and you were issued an Affidavit and Notice of Revocation you should request a hearing, in writing, with the Department of Revenue within seven days. Failure to do so will not only result in loss of your driver's license but also loss of your right to a hearing during which you might save your license. In order to make sure that the written request is made properly, onsult with a competent attorney prior to going to DMV if possible. Click here to see hearing request and temporary license. If you took a blood test, the hearing request must be made later, within a time period that will be specified in correspondence from the DMV. When you go to a DMV office to request a hearing, you may also wish to obtain a Colorado Photo ID Card.

Determine whether to request the officer's presence at the DMV hearing.

Many attorneys recommend that you request the presence of the police officer (at the hearing) in your written request. This is not always good advice. First, you can be assured that if the officer attends the DMV hearing he will "supplement" his report with any critical details he may have left out. I normally ask police officers to attend the hearing only if it is unlikely that my client's defense will use a "lack of evidence" in the reports as a ground for dismissal of the action. This determination is based upon my analysis of the facts and any documentation obtained before the hearing is requested.

Second, if you request "the officer" DMV will summon the officer who signed the Affidavit and Notice of Revocation. This may not be the officer who stopped you or who was actually involved in the stage of the arrest process that you wish to contest. If it turns out, after in depth review of the police reports and other documentation that police testimony is desirable at the DMV hearing, I can request that DMV issue a subpoena for the specific officer of officers needed at the hearing.

Contact an experienced dui defense attorney.

This is an obvious step to protect your rights. Unless you've had some training in general criminal law and DUI law in particular, you should run your case by a lawyer who specializes in DUI. Whether you hire an attorney should be a decision made after careful deliberation, but usually it costs you nothing to speak with an attorney on the telephone about your case.