Appealing DUI License Suspension in Georgia

Once you’re arrested for a DUI, your license is suspended at that point. The officer is going to give you a form that says that you’re able to drive on a limited permit, and that form acts as your driver’s license as your limited permit.

You’ve got a very small window in time to appeal that license suspension. Normally it’s about 30 days. So if we don’t put in for an appeal within 30 days, your license is going to be suspended for the remainder of the year.

When we appeal your license suspension, that appeal heads to what’s called an administrative license suspension hearing, ALS hearing. At that hearing, the officer gets on the stand and testifies about what happened, why they believe they had probable cause to arrest you for DUI. And it’s at that point when we can start asking the officer questions. We can cross-examine them, getting them on the record as to what did or didn’t happen, what they did or didn’t do in your specific case.

But what a lot of times we can do at the ALS hearing is speak to the officer and try to see if we can work out something with him that he would recommend, either a reduction or some other outcome to the prosecutor, which could be extremely helpful for us in trying to resolve our case.

That’s a huge value as we prosecute your defense later on. So it’s extremely important to get an attorney quickly and one that knows what they’re doing as soon as you get arrested for a DUI. At the Claiborne Firm, when it comes to criminal defense, your freedom matters most.