30-Day Letter Suspension

Athens DUI Defense Law Firm

Georgia will often suspend your GA driver’s license administratively. This means that it is not a criminal suspension. If an administrative suspension is initiated, you have 30 days to appeal the suspension. To initiate the suspension, the arresting officer will issue a suspension notice. It is yellow or white and will say Temporary Driver’s Permit at the top, and 1205 form on the bottom. The officer will attach your driver’s license to the form and send it in to the State. It will act as a 30-day permit to drive.

The letter simply needs to assert your desire to appeal the suspension of you driver’s license. The letter needs to include your full name, mailing address, birthday, driver’s license number and date of arrest. Include whether you are appealing an alleged refusal or a .08 BAC. Also, try to include any other information that will assist in matching your appeal letter with the 1205 form sent by the police, so the officer’s name and police department can be helpful.

For help filling lifting your driving suspension, call (706) 705-5122 to speak with our Athens DUI defense attorney at no charge.

Administrative Suspensions

You must include $150.00 with the letter. If your facts fit into either of these categories, but you didn’t get a suspension form, you should send a letter out of caution. If no 1205 form was sent in by the police, in about 90 days you can get your $150.00 back.

Once the letter is sent, a hearing should be set in about 30 days, but 45 days is not uncommon. You will receive notice about two weeks before the hearing. Preparation and experience are the keys to a successful hearing.

Administrative Suspensions may be triggered if:

• If you take the State Administered Test (breath or blood usually), and you register a .08 or higher. The length of the possible suspension varies by how many DUIs you have had and whether there was a prior administrative suspension. Limited permits to drive are available in some circumstances and not in others.
• You refuse the State test that is requested by the police. A refusal can be anything from saying “no” to remaining silent and not giving an answer. “Playing” with the breath test machine (pretending to blow) will be a refusal.

There is even a case where the defendant spoke no English. The officer, in English, asked him to take a State breath test. When the defendant couldn’t answer, it was deemed a refusal. Limited permits are not available for a refusal suspension. Sending the letter in this situation is imperative.

Contact A DUI Defense Lawyer Now

If you’ve been charged with a DUI in Athens and need help with your 30-day letter, contact Athens DUI Defense Attorney J. Lee Webb at the Law Offices of J. Lee Webb today at (706) 705-5122.