Lost my ALS License Hearing? What do I do, and what will happen?

If you provided a sample of your breath and have no other ALS suspension to your name, you are eligible for a limited permit at this point in time. The bigger issue is that you now have a second in five DUI and could face a year long suspension without any limited permit available if you are convicted. Furthermore, you are facing jail time and other serious consequences. At this point, you really need to speak to a qualified attorney regarding your case to discuss what your options are. I would be happy to offer you a free initial consultation to review your case and discuss your options, as well as the full gambit of issues regarding your license.

What you need to do now is the same thing you should have done before the ALS hearing. GET AN ATTORNEY. Just because you lost at ALS doesn't mean you will necessarily lose at a DUI trial. An attorney can evaluate the evidence in your case to see what your best options are. DO NOT WAIT though. The longer you wait, the harder it is to help you! Please let me know if I can be of assistance. I would be happy to help. Regards, M. Jason Rhoades PS - You asked about a hardship waiver. Unfortunately, GA law does not allow such a waiver from an ALS hearing. You need to get the real DUI charges taken care of so the ALS outcome will be moot.

Ironicallly I dealt with this issue recently at an ALS hearing. I had a client who was convicted 2 years ago in metro Atlanta and 6 months ago she was unlucky enough to get stopped and arrested again for DUI. BAC was .100. In her case she needs to drive to work so keeping her DL was most important. If you are convicted of a 2nd DUI its a 1 year hard suspension with no permit. However if you lose the ALS hearing (before you are convicted) you can qualify for a renewable 30 day permit until the criminal case resolves - in many cases its longer than a year. This period of suspension with a permit counts toward your 12 months hard suspension, so in the event you are later convicted of a DUI - in some cases greater than 12 months after the ALS hearing, your 12 month suspension has been met and you are eligible even upon a 2nd conviction for DUI to never lose the ability to drive. Complicated but in your case its potentially a good thing you lost this hearing because in the event you were found guilty in criminal court you could still drive depending on when your case is resolved. You must go to the DDS in Conyers - not on a Monday, and apply for a limited permit. You will have to do this every 30 days. Make sure you talk to one of these outstanding lawyers about your DUI case and about what the limited permit allows you to drive for. Also - on a limited permit, any ticket you get must be sucessfully defended by a lawyer or you lose your permit. Good Luck!