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Historically, basic matters of public safety on non-federal highways have been handled by the states. Beginning in the early 1980’s, Congress started intruding on this traditional area of state law with reference to Illinois DUI laws (Driving Under the Influence).

Rather than use persuasion, Congress employed a hammer, namely, money. States that did not submit to the will of the Federal Government risked losing federal funds allocated to the states.

Due to this coercion, all 50 states now have: a drinking age of 21 (235 ILCS 5/6-16), a blood alcohol content of .08 (625 ILCS 5/11-501(a)(1) and driver’s license suspensions for either taking a test and registering above the legal limit or for refusing to take a test.

Given the recent ruling United States Supreme Court decision in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (“Obamacare”), exactly how far the Federal Government may go in regulating areas traditionally reserved to the states under the Commerce Clause is not completely clear. However, that will not stop Congress and the President, particularly one who, as it the case with the current occupant, favors a strong federal presence in our lives, from trying.

In vogue at the present time, touted as “silver bullets” to stop drunk driving are Interlock Ignition Devices, which in Illinois go under the names of Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP) and Breath Alcohol Interlock Ignition Devices (BAIID). A machine is incorporated into your vehicle’s ignition. The vehicle will not start unless you blow into a mouthpiece that allegedly measures blood alcohol readings.

BAIID and MDDP revolve around the idea of requiring a driver to rent a machine from someone (the manufacturer of the machine, or as the people who support these intrusions like to call them, the much less threatening-sounding “device”). Then after renting this “device”, the driver is forced to pay someone certified by the state (the installer) to place the “device” in the driver’s vehicle.

The installer periodically downloads readings from the “device” (for a fee the driver pays) and sends those results to the Illinois Secretary of State. For a fee the driver pays the Secretary of State, his office records the results and monitors the driver’s compliance with the Secretary of State’s rules. 92 Illinois Administrative Code (IAC) §1001.444.

Clearly, money is a factor in the push for these “devices’. And if the providers of these “devices” throw enough of it around Washington DC, there’s bound to be some proposals to increase the use of Interlock Ignition Devices (IID) throughout the country.

The state of Virginia, next door to DC, recently began requiring first offenders to install an IID. Both neighboring Maryland and the District of Columbia itself are now in the bulls eye of the National Traffic Safety Administration.

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If you are charged with Driving Under the Influence (DUI) in Illinois, and it is your first offense, you may be tempted to accept whatever offer the prosecutor makes to you. This may not be a wise choice once you understand the consequences of an Illinois DUI.

You are headed home one evening after stopping for a couple of drinks after work. A peace officer, based upon an anonymous tip from someone in the restaurant you just left that a car matching the description of yours just left the parking lot with a drunk driver behind the wheel, activates his siren and emergency lights and orders you to pull up to the curb.

This very well could be an illegal stop, since the tipster was anonymous and therefore the police had no reason to believe the information the tipster provided was reliable, and since the officer has no reason independent of this anonymous tip to suspect you had committed, or were about to commit, a crime, as required under the United States Supreme Court case known as Terry v. Ohio 392 US 1, 20 L.Ed. 2d 889 (1968)

If the initial stop was illegal, then any evidence gathered as a result of the stop is also illegal and cannot be used in court against you. Without this evidence, it would impossible for the police to prove the charges against you.

Blocking illegal evidence from being introduced into a DUI case is known as the “exclusionary rule”. If you plead guilty to the DUI, you give up all your constitutional rights, including your right to assert the exclusionary rule and the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, as guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Change the facts a little and suppose there was no tip and that the officer saw you make a turn without signaling, a perfectly valid basis upon which to stop you. The police cannot just come up and start asking you DUI-related questions after stopping you.

They first must have a reason to believe you may be impaired. Failure to do so would raise questions of “probable cause” to make an arrest. Once again, though, if you plead guilty, you give up your right to raise this defense.

Once the officer has made a determination to investigate you for possible DUI, there is no doubt that he will ask you to take a breath test to determine if your blood alcohol content is .08 or higher, the legal limit in Illinois. 625 ILCS 5/11-501. If you register .08 or higher, or if you elect not to provide a breath sample, the officer will issue you a notice of statutory summary suspension (SSS).

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What happens if you find yourself in a situation similar to that of Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Donald Washington ? At a time he was a resident of another state, Washington was arrested for an Illinois DUI (Driving Under the Influence) charge.

In addition to DUI charges, Washington was arrested for possession of marijuana and driving on a suspended license. Apparently, Washington’s driver’s license issued by another state is suspended. Furthermore, police found a bag of crushed pills.

Because the police were unable to determine what substances the pills contained, they were sent off to the Illinois State Police crime lab for further analysis. Therefore, other charges relating to possible drug possession are pending.

Whenever a person is arrested for DUI in Illinois, the police demand bail. The purpose of bail is ensure the defendant returns to court to answer the charges. Stack v. Boyle, 342 U.S. 1, 72 S. Ct. 1, 96 L. Ed. 3 (1951)

Under Supreme Court Rules, the standard bail for a resident of Illinois for a misdemeanor DUI is $3000.00. Supreme Court Rule 526(c) In lieu of all-cash bail, an Illinois resident with a valid driver’s license may post $1,000.00 cash bail and their driver’s license. Supreme Court Rule 526 (e)

However, Illinois is unusual in that bail bondsmen have been eliminated. Rather than paying the bondsman ten percent of the bail amount, a sum that the accused never recovers even if the charges are dropped, the accused is required to post with the clerk of the court ten percent of the amount of the bail, meaning that in a DUI the cash bail will normally be $300.00, or $100.00 plus your driver’s license. Supreme Court Rule 529
If you post bail and fail to appear at trial in a DUI case, the cash you posted will be forfeited, you will find that your driver’s license is suspended and a warrant will be issued for your arrest. If the charges are dropped, bail will be refunded to whoever posted it, minus a small service charge. If you are convicted, bail may be applied to your fine or paid over to your attorney if you executed a bond assignment.

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For an Illinois DUI (Driving Under the Influence) arrest to be legal, the police must first have a valid reason to come into contact with you. Under the “reasonable suspicion” standard of Terry v. Ohio, 392 US 1, 20 L.Ed. 2d 889 (1968), a police officer may stop a person in a public place for a reasonable period of time if the officer reasonably infers that the person committed, is committing or is about to commit, an offense, including traffic offenses. (Codified in Illinois at 725 ILCS 5/107-14)

There are exceptions to the reasonable suspicion requirement. For one, if the member of the public engages in a voluntary encounter with the officer, the person has given up his Fourth Amendment privacy rights. Another exception to the reasonable suspicion requirements is the “community caretaking” function. This could include assisting a person whose vehicle is broken down or who appears to be in physical distress. People v. McDonough, 239 Ill. 2d 260 (2010).

Random license plate checks are another exception to the reasonable suspicion requirement. One other example of a valid stop without reasonable suspicion involves roadblocks, provided that certain criteria are met.

However, the police may not act based upon a “mere hunch” of criminal activity. People v. Drewes, 278 Ill. App. 3d 768, 215 Ill. Dec. 445 (3d. Dist. 1996). Therefore, a stop based upon a ‘suspicious vehicle”, or a vehicle leaving a closed business parking lot, or a car parking in a no-parking zone, are illegal stops.

In the case of an illegal stop, the defendant should file a motion to suppress (throw out) the evidence gathered from the moment of the illegal stop. While this does not specifically require the judge to “throw out” the case, it in effect forces the prosecutor to dismiss the charges, as the evidence to prove them has been blocked from being brought forward.

A statutory summary suspension (SSS) becomes a factor in most Illinois DUI arrests. The driver is pulled over, the officer suspects he has had too much to drink and he requests a breath test. If the driver agrees and registers above .08, a suspension of his driver’s license will begin automatically on the 46th day following the arrest (625 ILCS 5/11-501.1(h)) unless the suspension is rescinded (thrown out). And if he does not agree to a test, he will be suspended, for a longer period of time than if he had agreed to a test.

The law sets forth specific grounds (reasons) for which a suspension can be rescinded. Those grounds are at 625 ILCS 5/2-118.1 and are as follows:

You were not properly placed under arrest for a DUI offense as evidenced by the issuance of a Uniform Traffic Ticket;
The arresting officer did not have reasonable grounds to believe you were driving or in actual physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence;
The arrest officer did not properly warn you of the consequences of taking or refusing to take a breath or blood test;
You did not refuse to submit to the test;
You took the requested test and had a blood alcohol content of under .08.

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For many, the most troublesome part of an arrest for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) in Illinois is the loss of your driver’s license. A single DUI conviction results in a driver’s license revocation. 625 ILCS 5/6-205(a)(2) This includes out-of-state convictions. 625 ILCS 5/6-206(a)(6)

A revocation causes the termination of your driver’s license and your privilege to operate a motor vehicle upon the Illinois roadways. You must have a hearing with the Illinois Secretary of State if your license is revoked. However, before you can request a full license, you must wait out the revocation period, which can be 1, 5 or 10 years.

A single DUI conviction in Illinois, or an out-of-state conviction that the other state reports to Illinois, causes a revocation for one year (the waiting period). If you have two convictions within 20 years of each other, your revocation will be in effect for five years. A third conviction, no matter how many years it occurs from the second conviction, will result in your being revoked for ten years. 625 ILCS 5/6-208
Because it is a revocation, you do not receive your license back after a year. You must have a driver’s license hearing and meet all the requirements of the Secretary of State. 625 ILCS 5/2-118; 92 Illinois Administrative Code § 1000.10 et. seq.

However, depending upon the status of your statutory summary suspension (SSS), you may be entitled to request a hardship license (RDP). This privilege only applies if you are what is known as a “first offender”, meaning that you have not been arrested for a DUI in the previous five years. 625 ILCS 5/11-500
First offenders may apply for an RDP with the Secretary of State during the SSS. The SSS for a first offender who agrees to give a breath or blood test is six months. It is one year if you do not agree to provide a sample.

Non-first offenders must wait out their entire suspension, a period of time that will be one or three years. The suspension will run for one year if you give a breath or blood sample at the time of the most recent DUI and three years if you refuse. 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1 Even if you have a driver’s license issued by another state, that foreign license will not be valid in Illinois if your driving privileges are revoked here.

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Just about any police officer that receives training in Driving Under the Influence (DUI) investigations has been instructed in the use of the standardized field sobriety tests (SFST). Many are familiar with the concept of SFST from Hollywood productions, usually in the comedy genre.

The video, while humorous, does illustrate the supposed evolution of DUI law. At one time, it was the Wild, Wild West when it came to what SFST were administered and how they were conducted and graded. There was nothing to show that the tests proved anything about whether or not the subject was impaired by alcohol, or how the tests should be administered.

There are two different ways to charge DUI, one being actual impairment and the other being driving with a blood alcohol level (BAL) of .08 or greater, without the need to prove impairment. 625 ILCS 5/11-501(a)(1)(2); 625 ILCS 5/11-501.2 There are driver’s license penalties associated with submitting to a breath or blood tests and registering over .08, or refusing to submit. In addition, the results of the test, or a refusal to agree to provide the tests, are admissible in the DUI prosecution. 625 ILCS 5/11-501.2
The field sobriety tests used in the past included reciting the alphabet, finger-to-nose, walk-and-turn (WAT), counting backwards, Romberg, the one-legged-stand (OLS), a portable breath test (PBT) and the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN). The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) claims it commissioned studies that validated the WAT, OLS and HGN as reliable indicators that someone is likely to have a blood alcohol level of .08 or greater, which is the standard in all 50 states, thanks to federal agencies like NHTSA.

So the tests are not designed to detect actual impairment but rather to assess the likelihood that someone is at or above .08. However, the tests are used when the only charge is actual impairment, in other words, in those case where there is no BAC reading.

Some consider the SFST to be “junk science” or in other words, science bought and paid for my NHTSA. Essentially, the argument goes, NHTSA came up with a theory and then paid someone with a scientific background to validate the theory.

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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.

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In the state of Illinois, the offense of Driving Under the Influence (DUI) is a crime. Assuming this is a first offense and there are no aggravating factors, a conviction for DUI is a Class-A misdemeanor. 625 ILCS 5/11-501(c)(1) The maximum criminal punishment is a fine of up to $2,500 and/or up to 364 days in the county jail. 730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-55
The DUI arrest and the conviction also have driver’s license consequences. For a first DUI offense, your driver’s license is subject to a suspension for six months if you submit to a blood or breath test that reveals a blood alcohol contents of .08 or higher. Should you decide not to provide a sample, your driver’s license is subject to a suspension for twelve months. 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1
The suspension, known as a Statutory Summary Suspension (SSS), begins on the 46th day following the date on which the arresting officer serves you with a notice of SSS, which usually occurs at the time of the DUI arrest.625 ILCS 5/11-501.1(h) For the first thirty days that the suspension is in effect, you are prohibited from driving.

Thereafter, you are entitled to a Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP) so long as you were over 18 at the time of the offense, no serious injury resulted, your license was valid and you do not have a previous arrest for reckless homicide. 625 ILCS 5/6-206.1 At the end of the suspension period, your driving privileges may be restored, unless that are otherwise invalidate, such as by being convicted of the DUI for which you were arrested.

A DUI conviction results in a revocation of your driver’s license. For a first conviction the revocation is for one year. 625 ILCS 5/6-208 This does not mean that at the end of the year, you automatically get your license restored.

A revocation means that your current license is permanently invalid; in fact, the Secretary of State shreds it. You must, in order to restore full driving privileges, have a Secretary of State driver’s license hearing. However, after your SSS ends, you may apply for a Restricted Driving Permit (RDP) while the revocation is still in effect. This will allow you to drive for limited purposes, such as work, doctor appointments, Alcoholic Anonymous, school and day care.

A disposition of court supervision is a means to avoid the driver’s license revocation and also possible jail time. With a court supervision disposition, you plead guilty to the DUI offense but the judge withholds entering a judgment of conviction and puts you under a supervision order for a given period of time.

If you obey the supervision order, which typically includes paying fines, completing alcohol counseling, attending a Victim Impact Panel and staying out of trouble, the charges are dismissed. You are not therefore convicted of DUI. 730 ILCS 5/5-6-3.1; Kirwan v. Welch, 133 Ill. 2d 163, 139 Ill. Dec. 836, 549 N.E.2d 348 (1989)

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Most are aware that it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle in the state of Illinois while under the influence. If you are convicted of Driving Under the Influence (DUI), your driver’s license will be revoked. 625 ILCS 5/6-205(a)(2)

A revocation is a termination of your present driver’s license and driving privileges. 625 ILCS 5/1-176 In order to reacquire the legal authority to drive, you must apply for a new driver’s license through an administrative hearing with the Illinois Secretary of State.

You cannot make application for a new license immediately. For a first conviction, you must wait one year. For a second conviction that occurs less than 20 years after the first conviction, you are required to wait five years.

A third conviction, no matter how many years it occurs after the second one, entails a waiting period of ten years. 625 ILCS 5/6-208(b) A fourth conviction, including out-of-state convictions, makes you ineligible to apply for a license for your entire life, if any of the offenses occurred after January 1, 1999. 625 ILCS 5/6-208(b)4); 92 Illinois Administrative Code §1001.420(o)

A DUI that is dismissed, or reduced to reckless driving, or a successfully completed court supervision do not count as convictions. Therefore, every DUI arrest might not count against you for purpose of determining at what point you are eligible to apply for reinstatement.

Someone with one DUI conviction may apply for a Restricted Driving Permit (RDP) (also known as hardship license or work permit) after 30 days. Following a second or third conviction, there is a one-year waiting period before you can apply for an RDP. A person with four or more convictions cannot request an RDP.

You must also consider the effect of a statutory summary suspension (SSS). An SSS is entered at the time of a DUI arrest when you are asked to take a breath or blood test and either refuse to do so, or register above the legal limit of .08.

Forty six days after you are served with the summary suspension notice, your driver’s license will be suspended for between six months and three years, the length of which depends upon how many prior DUIS you have on your record and on whether you took or refused the test at the time of the most recent DUI.

A suspension is a temporary withdrawal of driving privileges for a specific period of time. 625 ILCS 5/1-204 When the period of time ends, the suspension terminates.

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The Illinois Driver’s Licensing law provides a number of behaviors that will result in a revocation of your driver’s license, in accordance with 625 ILCS 5/6-205. The revocations under this law are known as mandatory, which means that if it is proven that you engaged in the prohibited conduct, the Illinois Secretary of State, the administrative agency that administers the driver’s license laws, is required to revoke your license.

Mandatory revocations include a conviction for Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol (DUI), commission of a felony in which a motor vehicle was used, leaving the scene of a crash involving death or personal injury (a three year revocation under 625 ILCS 5/6-208(b)), three convictions for reckless driving, a drag racing or street racing conviction, aggravated fleeing or eluding a police officer, two convictions for illegal transportation of alcohol if you are a youthful offender (under 21), any conviction for a traffic violation, the commission of which was the proximate cause of death of any person, reckless homicide and a second conviction for driving on a revoked license where the revocation was due to a previous reckless homicide conviction.

In 2003, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the reckless homicide law is unconstitutional. People v. Pomykala, 203 Ill. 2d 198, 784 N.E.2d 784, 271 Ill. Dec. 230 (2003) The Court held that because the reckless homicide law shifted the burden of proof to the defendant to prove he was not reckless, it violated due process by creating a mandatory presumption of reckless conduct.

In response to this ruling, the Illinois General Assembly, made up of the Illinois State Senate and the Illinois House of Representatives, amended to DUI law to provide for aggravated DUI. Under 625 ILCS 5/11-501(d)(1)(F), aggravated DUI occurs when a person, while violating the DUI law, is involved in a motor vehicle, snowmobile, ATV or watercraft crash that results in the death of another person, if the DUI was the proximate cause of the death.

Any aggravated DUI is a felony. For an aggravated DUI involving a single death, the offense is a Class-2 felony with no chance of probation absent “extraordinary circumstances”. Additional deaths elevate the minimum and maximum jail time. 625 ILCS 5/11-501(2)(G).

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We have provided effective advice and assistance to thousands of clients facing driver's license suspensions and revocations, both in Illinois and out-of-state, including students from area colleges and universities.

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