Illinois DUI Lawyer Blawg
There are criminal and administrative sanctions in Illinois for alcohol-related arrests. Criminal consequences of an Illinois DUI refer to jail, fines, probation, Victim Impact panel, alcohol assessment and classes and community service.
Administrative sanctions involve your driver’s license, which can be suspended or revoked, or both, as a result of alcohol issues, some of which do not even require that you be driving if you are under the age of 21. For a DUI arrest, a Statutory Summary Suspension (SSS) of your driver’s license can occur.
The SSS applies if you are asked to provide a breath or blood sample and register above the level limit of .08, or refuse to take a test. 625 ILCS 5/11-501.1 The length of the suspension varies, depending upon whether you submitted to, or refused testing, and upon whether you have had a DUI arrest during the previous five years.
If there is no arrest in the last five years, you are considered a “first offender” for SSS purposes. 625 ILCS 5/11-500. A first offender who agrees to testing will be suspended for six months if the blood alcohol content is .08 or higher. A first offender who refuses will be suspended for twelve months.
After 30 days, any first offender is eligible to request a Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP). 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1; 206.1 If a first offender is convicted of the DUI, he is eligible to request a hearing with the Illinois Secretary for a Restricted Driving Permit (RDP) provided he can demonstrate that lack of driving privileges has created an undue hardship.
A non-first offender (a DUI within the previous five years) will be suspended for one year if there is a test and three years if there is not. He is eligible for neither an MDDP nor an RDP. He cannot drive at all, even for limited purposes.
If you are under 21, you can lose your driver’s license even if you are not guilty of DUI. This is the “zero tolerance” law. If the police stop you for a traffic violation and issue you a citation and suspect you have been drinking, they can ask you to give breath or blood simples.
If you register above zero, your license will be suspended for three months. If you do not give a test, it will be suspended for six months. The penalties increase if this is not your first offense. It’s one year if you test and two years if you refuse. 625 ILCS 5/11-501.8; 625 ILCS 5/6-208.2
As someone under 21, you can lose your driver’s license if you receive a “drinking ticket”. This offense is also called minor in possession, illegal consumption, under aged drinking and alcohol by a minor, among other names.
If you receive court supervision for such a ticket, the Secretary of State will suspend your driver’s license for three months, even if you were not driving and did not intend to drive. 625 ILCS 5/6-206(a)(43); Freed v. Ryan, 301 Ill.App.3d 952; 704 N.E.2d 746 (1st Dist. 1998) If you are convicted of the ticket, you are looking at a six month suspension. 625 ILCS 5/6-206(a)(38); 92 Illinois Administrative Code ยง1040.32
Finally, you may caught holding a fake ID. Although the youthful driver in this article was driving and was charged with DUI, neither circumstance has to exist for you to lose your license for one year if you have a fake ID.
You don’t necessarily have to have alcohol in your system, in your possession or be consuming alcohol at the time. In fact, you need not be in a bar.
The court in Freed v. Ryan stated that if there is any “discernible connection” between the fake ID and alcohol consumption, the suspension is valid. In short, if the most likely explanation for your having an ID or license that belongs to someone over the age of 21 years involves alcohol, you are guilty.