DUI Lawyer in Long Beach

Ten days

The deadline that runs first

The pink form handed over at the arrest is a temporary licence and a notice of intent to suspend. Under Vehicle Code 13558(b) you have 10 days from receiving it to request an administrative hearing. Miss that and the suspension takes effect regardless of what the criminal court later does.

The hearing is run by a DMV Driver Safety office, not by the court, and it is a separate proceeding with its own issues and its own evidence. Requesting it also normally stays the suspension until the hearing is decided, which is a practical reason to do it immediately even in a case that will eventually be resolved by plea.

Sources: Vehicle Code 13558(b) — request a hearing within 10 days of receiving the notice of suspension; California DMV — Driver Safety offices, which hold these hearings.

Checkpoints

The rules a sobriety checkpoint has to follow

Long Beach runs sobriety checkpoints regularly, often on holiday weekends and along the main corridors. Vehicle Code 2814.2 requires drivers to stop when directed, but a checkpoint is a seizure without individualised suspicion and is only lawful if it meets constitutional requirements developed by the California Supreme Court: supervisory officers, not officers in the field, must decide the location and procedures; the criteria for stopping vehicles must be neutral and fixed in advance rather than left to an officer’s discretion; the location and timing must be reasonable; adequate safety precautions and visible indicia of the official nature of the stop are required; the detention must be brief; and the checkpoint should be publicised in advance.

Those requirements are documented in the operational plan, the publicity, and the logs, and a checkpoint that departed from them is challengeable. This is one of the more productive areas in a checkpoint DUI, and the records have to be requested.

Sources: Vehicle Code 2814.2 — drivers must stop at a sobriety checkpoint; Long Beach Police Department.

The office

How the office handles Long Beach DUI cases

The Law Offices of Patrick S. Aguirre handles both halves of a DUI: the criminal case in court and the administrative hearing at the DMV. Patrick S. Aguirre has practised in Long Beach and across Los Angeles County for nearly three decades, with offices in Long Beach and Downey.

The office does not describe itself as a DUI specialist or as certified in DUI defense; in California those terms mean State Bar certification specifically. No result is promised here. The office speaks Spanish and the consultation is free.