Posted by duijim in on August 22, 2023
By driving in Georgia, you have impliedly agreed to state-administered chemical tests on your breath, blood, or urine if police suspect you of driving under the influence. Refusal can result in a 12-month license suspension.
After your arrest, the officer should read you an implied consent warning. A skilled DUI defense lawyer could detect errors that could impact whether or not you consent or refuse testing.
What Happens if You Refuse a Chemical Test?
Georgia state law mandates that drivers arrested for DUI must submit to a breath, blood or urine test in order to be released from custody. Failure to submit can result in police suspending your driving privileges; however if you choose not to participate you can still fight your case to regain them.
As soon as an arresting officer pulls you over for traffic or DUI investigation, they must read you the Georgia Implied Consent Notice in an easily comprehensible fashion.
Implied consent refusal can work to your advantage in many different scenarios, but one common one occurs when police officers fail to read through and comprehend your implied consent notice properly, leaving you uninformed of your rights and unable to meaningfully agree or refuse a test.
An additional factor compromising your ability to take an independent breath or blood test is when the police officer selects which test you will take. Although he or she must provide you with options, accepting one chosen by them means forfeiting your right for an independent test with qualified personnel of your choosing; unlike some states there is no requirement that both tests must correspond.
What Are the Consequences of Refusing a Chemical Test?
Refusing to submit to breath, blood or urine testing may be used against you in criminal proceedings and administrative hearings by the State. Refusing may lead to severe administrative consequences (such as one-year license suspensions) as well as making obtaining work permits or limited driving privileges harder.
Most states mandate law enforcement officers to read an implied consent warning when arresting drivers for DUI. Typically, this happens while still in their patrol car at the scene of an accident; however, in some states police can wait until after they’ve been taken into custody at a hospital before reading these rights to them.
Georgia Supreme Court rulings state that any custodial waiver of your right to consult an attorney prior to making decisions about whether or not taking a chemical test can be used against them in court, so it is vital that you seek legal advice as soon as possible following your arrest. Therefore, contact a Georgia DUI lawyer as soon as possible after being detained for DUI charges.
Your Atlanta DUI attorney can help you avoid a 12-month license suspension by filing an ALS hearing (administrative license suspension) within 30 days of your arrest, giving them enough time to investigate whether the arresting officer followed all proper procedures during their investigation of your case.
What Can You Do if You Refuse a Chemical Test?
People typically do not realize that by driving on Georgia state roads, they have implicitly given consent for chemical tests of their breath, blood, or urine to be conducted on them as evidence against them in a DUI prosecution. Therefore it is imperative to hire an experienced Georgia CDL DUI lawyer immediately.
If you are arrested on suspicion of DUI, the arresting officer must provide you with an implied consent warning which states if you refuse to take a test your driver’s license may be suspended, including commercial drivers license holders. Furthermore, according to state law the test must be administered using specific methods and equipment.
Trial court did not err in denying defendant’s motion to suppress breath test results as the statutory implied consent warning given was not unconstitutional for failing to inform a suspect that their breath testing may be used against them at trial. This was because hunters and boaters are explicitly included under Georgia statute. Gelzer v. State 347 Ga App 219 818 S.E 2d 677 (2018)
Sometimes people ask to speak with an experienced Georgia DUI attorney prior to taking their test but the police officer denies them this right, which is illegal and potentially damaging to your case. An experienced DUI lawyer can investigate whether all legal requirements were fulfilled when arresting you; if they weren’t, refusal can be excluded from your case and prevent its 12-month suspension that otherwise would have ensued.
How Do I Get My License Back After Refusing a Chemical Test?
After being arrested for DUI, whether or not to submit to a breath or blood test is a significant decision. Refusals result in automatic year-long license suspension in Georgia; evidence of your refusal could also be used against you during any criminal proceedings against you. To prevent losing your driver’s license altogether, consider hiring an experienced DUI lawyer; their expertise can review implied consent law advisory documents to look for any gaps that might justify invalidating an initial refusal decision.
Police officers frequently request drivers stopped for DUI to submit to one or more chemical tests of their breath, blood, and urine. Unfortunately, many don’t realize they can refuse such requests even after being arrested and fear being arrested and sent directly to jail for refusing to cooperate in a DUI investigation.
Before declining a request for a test, consult an experienced Georgia DUI attorney first in order to avoid the 12-month driver’s license suspension. Your Georgia DUI lawyer can evaluate if the arresting officer followed proper procedures during their traffic stop and arrest; if not, then your Georgia DUI lawyer can file a motion to suppress test results from being used against you in court proceedings and prevent this evidence from being used against you in your criminal case.