What Happens at a Georgia Administrative License Suspension (ALS) Hearing?
The Georgia Implied Consent Notice
Georgia law requires that law enforcement officers read the Georgia implied consent warning after arresting suspects for DUI. Georgia considers driving a privilege and when you agree to the rules and regulations of holding a Georgia drivers license, you also agree to give consent to a test of your blood, breath, or urine if you are pulled over for DUI. Because of the Georgia and United States Constitutions privilege against self-incrimination, you do have a right to refuse to consent to testing. However, if you refuse, your ability to drive may be suspended under Georgia law.
Reading of the Georgia implied consent notice will begin with them pulling a green card out of their pocket and then reading a long statement to you. If you see the officer pull a green card out of their pocket before they begin reading a long statement to you. The Georgia implied consent notice for suspects age 21 and over is as follows:
The State of Georgia has conditioned your privilege to drive upon the highways of this state upon your submission to state administered chemical tests of your blood, breath, urine, or other bodily substances for the purpose of determining if you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs. If you refuse this testing, your Georgia driver's license or privilege to drive on the highways of this state will be suspended for a minimum period of one year. Your refusal to submit to blood or urine testing may be offered into evidence against you at trial. If you submit to testing and the results indicate an alcohol concentration of 0.08 grams or more, your Georgia driver's license or privilege to drive on the highways of this state may be suspended for a minimum period of one year. After first submitting to the requested state tests, you are entitled to additional chemical tests of your blood, breath, urine, or other bodily substances at your own expense and from qualified personnel of your own choosing. Will you submit to the state administered chemical tests of your (designate which test)?'
It is the officer’s choice whether to request a blood, breath, or urine test or any combination of the three. You are entitled to your own independent test as well, but you first have to take the tests the officer requests. If you refuse to take the state’s chemical test the officer can seize your license and issue you a DS-1205 form which acts as a temporary driving permit, a notice of suspension, and usually but not always informs you of how you can request an appeal of the suspension through an administrative license suspension hearing or acquire an ignition interlock device limited permit. The officer can also seize your license if you provide a chemical test above the legal limit.
Requesting an Administrative License Suspension (ALS) Hearing
You have 30 DAYS from the date your are arrested to make a decision on how to move forward regarding any pending drivers license suspension if you are issued a DS-1205 drivers license suspension form from the officer that arrested you. If you would like a courtesy copy of the form to request an administrative hearing, a courtesy copy can be found here or you can reach out to my office and I will e-mail you a copy as well. There is a $150 fee payable to the Georgia Department of Driver Services to request an administrative license suspension (ALS) hearing. I recommend you send any request for appeal certified mail with return receipt verification. Take a picture of your request, the payment, and the certified mail tracking numbers before your mail them out. Your request must be postmarked within 30 days of the date of your arrest. An experienced Georgia DUI attorney can walk you through the next steps of protecting your drivers license after a Georgia DUI arrest. If you do nothing within the 30 day period your license will be suspended after the expiration of the permit that is part of the Georgia Department of Driver Services DS-1205 form.
Choosing to appeal the pending suspension against will delay any suspension from going into effect. The Department of Driver Services will send your request for appeal to the Georgia Office of State Administrative Hearings (OSAH). Your appeal will be docketed by an administrative law judge and a hearing date will be set and you will be mailed a notice of hearing to the address on your drivers license. Hearings are generally scheduled on specific days each month based on the county in which the arrest occurred. So all Cobb County DUI arrests are held on the same day, and Gwinnett County DUI arrests, and DeKalb County DUI arrests, and so on. Some smaller counties in Georgia may group their hearings together as the main office for the administrative law judges is in Atlanta, but they must travel all over the State of Georgia for hearings. The Georgia Office of State Administrative Hearings has an online docketing search where you can check the date, time, and location of your hearing at osah.ga.gov.
Your Hearing Date
On the date of the hearing, you or your attorney will appear at the scheduled location at the scheduled time. The officer who arrested you will also be scheduled to appear at that same time. Both parties must be present. If you fail to appear you will be in default and the suspension will be put into place against you. If the officer fails to appear and doesn’t have a valid reason, the pending implied consent suspension will be reversed, and the pending suspension against your Georgia drivers license will be dismissed.
If the officer appears, you will have the opportunity to speak with them. If all parties are present, there are two ways your case can move forward. You can have a hearing, making the officer prove by a preponderance of the evidence (51/49) and not beyond a reasonable doubt, that they did everything properly to petition to suspend your license. The requirements to move forward with an ALS suspension are that they had a reason to pull you over, they had probable cause to arrest you, they read the Georgia implied consent notice correctly, and you provided a sample over the legal limit or you did not consent to a test either through refusal or silence. If the officer can establish these four factors by a preponderance of the evidence, the Judge will affirm your license suspension. If the Judge decides the officer cannot establish these four factors, the Judge will reverse the pending suspension.
You do generally have one other option on the date of your hearing. Most officers will allow you to sign an agreement saying you will plead guilty to the DUI charge in exchange for dismissing the pending license suspension. This agreement will save your license now in exchange for an agreement to plead guilty in the criminal case. If you do not follow the terms of this agreement, the officer can move to suspend your license later, and this agreement can be used as evidence against you at trial.
It is important to remember that an administrative license suspension based on implied consent is not the same as a suspension for a conviction for DUI. If your administrative license suspension was dismissed because your officer failed to appear, or you won the hearing, your license can still be suspended if you are convicted for DUI in the criminal case. However, any time spent on an administrative license suspension after your hearing date will count as time your license was suspended if you later have to serve a DUI conviction suspension as well.
A Georgia DUI arrest starts a 30 day clock where you have to make a serious decision that can impact your ability to drive freely throughout the State of Georgia. This includes driving for work, to take care of your family, for religious services, and even court appearances. A Georgia implied consent drivers license suspension can completely prevent you from driving while it is in effect. Before you make your decision it is important to contact a Georgia DUI attorney to discuss your rights and options. Even if you can’t afford an attorney, they can give you information that can help you best represent yourself. Please feel free to reach out at any time if you have questions regarding your Georgia drivers license after a DUI arrest.
