One of the first questions people have after a driving offense in Maine is “What will happen to my driver’s license?” If you are charged with a criminal driving offense, your license can be suspended both by the court, if convicted, and by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Maine. The BMV will sanction its administrative suspension first.
OUI Driver License Suspension in Maine
For a first time OUI offense, your license and driving privileges may be suspended for 150 days by the state of Maine. This can occur without due process of law, unless you and your attorney timely request an administrative hearing.
If you are an out-of-state driver, the Court and Maine BMV cannot suspend your license, but they can suspend your privilege to operate a vehicle inside Maine. However, in my experience, even home states that have not joined the Driver License Compact will learn of your suspension from sources such as the National Driver Registry and take similar actions against your license.
What this means for your driver’s license suspension in Maine is that you need to act promptly in order to restore your license as quickly as possible. I can help achieve that. There are a few tactics we can take to shorten your loss of license time. Depending on the circumstances, suspension can be dramatically reduced or avoided altogether.
Protecting Your License After a Maine OUI Charge
Maine DMV license suspension must be handled swiftly. You will be automatically sanctioned with a 150 day suspension of your driving privileges (first OUI) unless you contest the action by requesting an Administrative Suspension Hearing.
You will receive a Notice of Suspension from Maine’s Secretary of State informing you of the suspension and the date it will take effect. You have the right to contest this suspension before a Hearing Examiner, but to do so, the Secretary of State must receive a written request for an administrative hearing within 10 days of the date your suspension starts.
Requesting the administrative hearing can have major advantages for you, the most significant of which are:
- Delaying the automatic license suspension;
- Dismissal of suspension action if you win at the hearing;
- Preview of the state’s evidence against you;
- Possibility of providing reasons to persuade the DA not to move forward with the criminal case.
To exploit these advantages along with preserving the chance to keep your driving privileges intact, you need to move fast. Remember, you only have 10 days to submit your request for the Hearing.
The Administrative Hearing is so beneficial, I make a strong point of pursuing it in virtually every single case I take on. Because of the importance of this hearing, you can be represented by a criminal defense lawyer. In fact, it is normally expected that the driver will be represented by defense counsel.
What You Should Do After a Notice of Driver License Suspension
To protect your license and ensure you are on the quickest path to reinstating any loss of driving privileges, take these steps:
1Make sure the BMV has your current address on file so you receive all notices.
2Contact an experienced, local DUI defense lawyer to assess all of your options as soon as possible.
3Give your Notice of Suspension to your attorney so the hearing request can be filed on time.
4Talk to your defense lawyer about early enrollment in the DEEP program, if required.
5If your license is in another state, read the information on our Out of State Clients page and ensure your lawyer is making a comparative analysis of all options for restoring your driver’s license in both states.
In some cases the Administrative Hearing is the single most important opportunity you have for obtaining a positive resolution in your OUI case. — Richard Hartley, Esq
For most of us, the need to drive is vital in our day to day lives. Lawmakers in Maine recognize this and have heavily weighted DUI and most other driving offenses with driver license suspensions. My goal at Hartley Law is to lift those weights off your shoulders.
Call my law office now and receive a free case review: (207) 941-0999