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Recent Blog Posts
Supreme Court to Rule on Criminal Penalties for Refusing a Warrantless BAC Test
As we have previously discussed on this blog, refusing to comply with a law enforcement’s officers request for a blood-alcohol content (BAC) test subsequent to a DUI arrest will result in administrative penalties for the arrested driver. Illinois law makes it very clear that these consequences are not criminal charges but are administrative in nature and affect only state-issued driving privileges. In 13 other states, however, including neighboring Indiana, a refusal to submit to BAC chemical test is a crime and may be prosecuted. While the laws may be well-intentioned—reducing drunk driving is a good thing—they are being challenged in a matter now before the United States Supreme Court. Specifically, the Court must decide if refusing a warrantless chemical test should be punishable with criminal consequences.
Search and Seizure Laws
Driving Under the Influence in Illinois
Driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol can have serious consequences that extend to all areas of your life. Some may even be that are longer lasting than those related other types of crimes. This is because receiving a DUI may impact your ability to legally operate a vehicle, which can have serious effects on your ability to transport your children, get to and from work, and to maintain a social life.
Depending on the circumstances of the situation—including your blood-alcohol level, whether or not anyone was injured, or whether or not there were children present at the time of arrest—sometimes the penalties may be more severe than in others. If you are ever pulled over for DUI, the most important thing to do is to remain calm. When you understand your rights and responsibilities if accused of DUI, the situation can be mitigated, at least to some extent, and result in less time without a license or legal access to a vehicle.
Criminal Charges for Driving With a Suspended License
Every day, countless Illinois residents face the loss of their driving privileges due to driving with a suspended or revoked license. This is a serious consequence and inconvenience for nearly everyone. If you drive and own a vehicle, you likely depend on that vehicle to be a reliable mode of transportation to get you to and from work so that you are able to provide for yourself and your family.
Unless you are fortunate enough to work within walking distance to your place of employment or have access to an efficient public transportation system, your driving privileges allow you to maintain your livelihood. Even minor oversights or infractions can actually lead to the loss of your license, putting that livelihood at risk. To make matters worse, if you make the decision to drive once your license has been taken away and you are caught, criminal charges can ensue.
No More Hard Time DUI License Suspension in Illinois
Prior to 2016, if you failed or refused a roadside test for blood-alcohol content (BAC) in Illinois, your driving privileges would be automatically suspended for a period of time. The exact length of the suspension was based on your past history and whether you failed the test or refused to take—refusals resulted in longer suspensions. Such suspensions were—and still are—handed down by the Secretary of State’s office and are separate from the process of filing and prosecuting a driver for driving under the influence (DUI).
In recent years, modern technology has led to the introduction of driving relief programs that incorporate the use ignition interlock devices to ensure that a driver is sober when getting behind the wheel. These programs also allowed more drivers to get back on the road legally, despite their ongoing suspension of full driving privileges. The law, however, required a suspended driver to serve at least 30 days of "hard time" for a first offense with no ability to drive whatsoever. Repeat offenders were subject to even longer periods of full suspension.
Four-Time DUI Offenders May Be Eligible to Drive Again
Being convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) is always very serious, even if it is your first offense. In addition to expensive fines and possible imprisonment, you will almost certainly be subject to the suspension or revocation of your driver’s license. With multiple convictions, the penalties get much more severe on all fronts. Fines increase, potential prison sentences are longer, and revoked driver’s licenses become harder to reinstate. In fact, according to Illinois law, up until this year, drivers who were convicted of DUI on four separate occasions were automatically subject to a permanent license revocation, meaning they could never legally drive again.
The Old Way of Thinking
The ban on driving for those convicted of DUI four times was based on two premises. First, a person with four DUI convictions had all but proven by his or her actions that he or she could not be trusted to only drive when sober. This, in effect, meant that the person was a threat to public safety. The second idea was that of punishment. Not being able to drive created a serious inconvenience to the individual forcing them to find other modes of transportation.
DUI Evaluations and Risk Assessments
When you have been arrested on charges of driving under the influence, there are a number of factors that will influence the severity of your sentence and your ability to drive again in the future. In most case, the penalties for a DUI conviction will include the revocation of your driving privileges for at least one year for first-time offenders, with much longer revocations possible for repeat offenders. Once your driver’s license has been revoked, it is possible to get your license reinstated, but getting back on the road can be long, tough journey with many requirements with which you must comply.
Evaluations
Before you will qualify for license reinstatement—or even for a restricted driving permit—you will be required to undergo an alcohol and drug evaluation with an approved, licensed provider. The purpose of the evaluation is to analyze your use or dependence on alcohol or drugs and to establish the risk—if any—you present to public safety. Your evaluation will include:
Installing and Using a BAIID in Illinois
If you know someone that was ever arrested on charges of drunk driving, he or she may have explained to you a little bit about the difficulties such an arrest can impose on one’s life. Of course, there are criminal penalties associated with a conviction on DUI charges, but those are far from the only challenges. In many cases, a driver charged with DUI is required to install a breath-alcohol ignition interlock device (BAIID) on his or her vehicle as a condition of the reinstatement of his or her driving privileges.
What Is a BAIID?
Simply put, a BAIID is breathalyzer machine that is installed in a car or truck that prevents the vehicle from starting if the driver’s breath contains too much alcohol. The device is able to convert the concentration of alcohol in a breath sample to an equivalent blood-alcohol content (BAC), which provides a measure of intoxication. If the driver’s BAC level is 0.025 percent or higher, the vehicle will not start. BAIIDs in Illinois are also equipped with a camera that snaps a photo of the person providing the sample to ensure that the sample collected belongs to the person operating the vehicle.
Refusing a BAC Test Could Cost You Your License
When you have been pulled over on suspicion of driving under the influence, a million thoughts start racing through your mind. Will I go to jail? How much will the fine be? Will I lose my license? Of course, these are all very valid concerns, but before you even get to the point where the answers start to become clear, you will probably be asked to submit to a breathalyzer test or another type of test to determine your blood-alcohol content, or BAC. How you respond to that request can have a major impact on not only your prosecution but on your ability to drive legally in the months that follow.
No Criminal Repercussions
Under Illinois law, it is not a crime to refuse to submit to BAC testing prior or subsequent to an arrest on DUI charges. That is not to say that a refusal does not have legal consequences. When you operate a motor vehicle on Illinois roads, the law presumes that you have granted your implied consent to BAC chemical testing whenever it is duly requested by an officer of the law. If you decide not to take the test, you cannot be criminally prosecuted for refusing, but you will almost certainly face civil sanctions.
Sprays, Mouthwash, and Other Breathalyzer Tricks That Probably Will Not Help You
In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the wise Jedi master Yoda offers this sage advice: "Fear is the path that leads to the dark side." There is no question that fear makes people do some pretty strange things. When we are afraid, we may lash out at close friends and loved ones, we may turn inward and become self-destructive, and we may act in ways that are very uncharacteristic. Fear is also often of the strongest emotions present when a person is pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving—fear of conviction, license suspension, and other penalties—and some drivers will do just about anything to escape prosecution.
One Poor Choice After Another
Earlier this week, a man in Rock Hill, South Carolina was pulled over by local police after law enforcement officers observed the man’s car swerving and crossing the center line several times. As the prepared to approach the car, officers say they saw the driver "actively spraying AXE body spray into his mouth," and included the observation in their police report. When they asked the man what he was doing, the report states that he told them he was just applying the spray from "head to toe."
DUI Penalties Increase for Underage and Repeat Offenders
Driving under the influence has serious consequences that can be long-lasting and affect both your criminal record and your driving record for years. This is true whether it is your first DUI offense or a repeat offense and whether you are of legal drinking age or not.
Underage DUI
Illinois is a zero-tolerance state, meaning that if you are not legally allowed to drink and are found guilty of a DUI, you will automatically have your driving privileges revoked for a minimum of three months. For an underage driver to be charged with a DUI, he or she does not have to exceed the legal blood alcohol content limit of .08 percent that applies to adults age 21 or over. Any percentage of alcohol found in an underage driver’s bloodstream makes him or her susceptible to a DUI charge.
Repeat Offenders and Multiple DUI
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