Prince George’s County MVA Hearings

After you receive a DUI citation, if you have a Maryland license, it is confiscated by the officer and mailed back to the MVA at which point you must schedule a hearing in order to challenge the suspension against it. Below, a Prince George’s County DUI lawyer discusses what you should know about challenging a license suspension and what factors may determine how long your license is suspended. For more specific information, call and schedule a consultation today.

Factors That Determine Your Driving Privileges

Once you have been issued your citations and paperwork, your Maryland license is held and sent to MVA. You will have received a form that becomes your temporary paper license.  It is good for 45 days as your permission to drive.

In that beginning period after you have received your first DUI citation, you have 10 days to request an administrative hearing. The hearing is very important because it is your opportunity to request your license be returned to you. There is no guarantee that you will get it back at that time, but it is more likely that you will get some form of license back if you submitted to a breath test and the result was under 0.15.

If your blood alcohol content is .08 or .149 your license is likely to be suspended for 45 days for a first time offense or a 90 days for second offense. However, that 45-day license for a first offense can be modified by an administrative judge to a restricted license, allowing you to drive to and from work. However, you must request the hearing within 10 days. The administrative hearing is held by the Office of Administrative Hearings and an Administrative Judge.

Benefit of a DUI Lawyer

You want to have an attorney at your hearing because if you have requested a Motor Vehicle Hearing it also means that you have sent them $150 to make this request. If your blood alcohol concentration was .15 or more you are looking at a 90 day hard suspension of your license for a first offense and 180 days for a second offense. If you do not want to take that suspension then you will have to have Ignition Interlock on your car for one full year, which will prevent your car from starting if your breath alcohol is too high.

Also, if you refused the breath test voluntarily, meaning you knew what you were doing and you were not coerced or threatened in some fashion, then you also want to consider Ignition Interlock or you will be subject to a 270-day suspension for refusing the breath test. Lastly, if you have a commercial driver’s license there may be other penalties you face. To navigate all these issues you need an attorney for the Administrative Hearing and the court proceedings.

Do You Have To Challenge The Suspension To

Yes, you have to be there in person. A hearing to challenge the suspension is not as formal as a trial. They are similar to a business meeting; you are in an administrative office and the judge is sitting right in front of you. It is you, your lawyer, and the administrative judge in a room. The MVA submits their paperwork via computer only.