What if I refuse the breath test in a CA DUI?

More info at http://www.shouselaw.com/chemical-test-refusal.html 888.327.4652

California DUI law, like that of most other states, contains an "implied consent" rule. This law states that if you drive a car in California, and are lawfully arrested for a California DUI, you are deemed to have given consent to the chemical testing of your:

blood,


breath, or


urine (only in cases where you are suspected of driving under the influence of drugs).


Simply put, this means that you must submit to a chemical breath or blood test to determine the alcohol and/or drug content in your body after you have been lawfully arrested for a California DUI.

"After" is the operative word. The hand-held Preliminary Alcohol Screening (PAS) test that may be offered at the side of the road before you get arrested is not mandatory under this law. The PAS test is considered a field sobriety test (FST)...and FSTs are just tools to help the officer decide whether to arrest you for DUI.

This means that submitting to the PAS and then refusing to submit to a subsequent chemical test after your arrest will be considered a refusal.

A DMV hearing (called an Administrative Per Se or APS hearing) is conducted to determine whether the motorist willfully refused the blood or breath test. If you lose the hearing, the penalties and punishment for a chemical test refusal in California will include:

*A one-year driver's license suspension for your first DUI offense,


*A two-year license revocation for your second DUI offense within ten years, or


*A three-year license revocation for your third DUI offense within ten years.

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