Enjoying the weekend and then the cops ruin it? Need a San Diego DMV / DUI Hearing? With a possible license suspension looming, your San Diego DUI criminal defense attorney will vigorously approach this mini-DUI trial without a jury. It’s an odd duck with much different San Diego DMV rules, laws and procedures.
A San Diego DUI / DMV hearing is heard by a Driver Safety Officer (DMV hearing officer) rather than a real judge, an employee of the DMV not trained in law who acts as both prosecutor and judge. As unfair as it apparently is, she or he can legally object to your evidence, rule on her or his own objection, dually engage your San Diego DUI / DMV lawyer, and admit or not admit either party’s evidence.
A San Diego Hearing Officer collects and offers drunk driving – related evidence in the form of documents and/or witnesses. The Driver Safety Officer offers the San Diego drunk driving / DUI police report, DMV records, San Diego DUI alcohol reports and the important San Diego DUI officer’s sworn statement entitled a “DS 367.” With no Fifth Amendment right at the hearing, your San Diego DUI / DMV attorney usually will not want you to be present at the hearing since the Driver Safety Officer can call you as a witness and force you to testify against yourself if you ill-advisedly appear.
A San Diego DMV defense lawyer’s defenses at an APS hearing are specialized and technical, more so than in criminal court. Frequent San Diego DUI / DMV proof problems – as well as legal, procedural and bureaucratic obstacles – are possible grounds for setting aside the suspension. Due to the peculiar nature of San Diego DUI / DMV hearings and the absence of an independent San Diego DUI judge to offer some protection, you are strongly advised not to try to represent yourself. Because these are not San Diego DUI criminal proceedings, San Diego County public defenders are unavailable. Your San Diego DUI / DMV attorney has just 10 CALENDAR DAYS after the DUI arrest to call the San Diego DMV Driver Safety Office to timely demand a hearing. You waive your right to a hearing after the 10 day deadline is over.
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