WHAT IS THE DRIVER’S LICENSE SUSPENSION PROCESS IN KANSAS AFTER A DUI?
How the suspension works is the state is going to look at two different things. They are going to look at the number of DUIs you had in the past, and they are going to look at the BAC that you had at the time you were arrested on this. Basically, if you took the breath test and if you did take the breath test, what was the result? If it is between the 0.00% and a 0.08%, you will not lose your driver’s license. If it is between 0.08% and 0.15%, and it is a first time DUI, then you are going to lose your license for thirty days with six months of ignition interlock device after that. If it is over 0.15% or you have any number of DUIs; if you have a second DUI, you are going to lose your driver’s license for a year. The number of DUIs you have in the past will be the number of years you need to have an ignition interlock device installed.
It works as if it is 0.08% to 0.15%, first time DUI; you have a lower license suspension. Anything above that, if you are either at 0.15% or higher or you have a DUI in your past, you are looking at a year of license suspension. Kansas went that way, the exact formula for a long time that is how it works. Recently, here in the last couple of years, Kansas has allowed people to get their driver’s license back sooner, so you had over 0.15% or is a second time or more, so you will lose your license for a year. Say you had to have your ignition interlock device installed for a year after that. Kansas allows you to file a DC1015 form, which is a request to reinstate your driving privileges, but just restricted to having an ignition interlock device installed in your car and a few other restrictions.
If it is 0.15% or higher, then you will lose your license for forty-five days. Then you are going to have to be able to serve the rest of your year’s suspension with an ignition interlock device installed. If you refuse the test, then what they do is instead of being able to get your license back after forty-five days, you have to wait ninety days. You can get the ignition interlock device installed early and you can drive without having to wait that full year. I know that is super complicated but there is no other way to explain it. Other lawyers call me once a week asking me how that works, and that is just how it is, it is very complicated.
What About Ignition Interlock Devices?
Anytime you get a DUI you either lose your administrative hearing or you get a conviction, you will have to have an ignition interlock device if you had ever wanted to get your driver’s license back, it is required. The shortest length of time that you can have an ignition interlock device installed in your car is six months and that is only on a first time DUI and that is only if you blow between 0.08% and 0.15%. Anything after that, you are talking at least a year and most likely close to two years for your ignition interlock device. Those are run by private companies most of the time. You lease or rent it by the month. Most companies are going to charge you $150 to $200 to put it in and they are going to charge you from $70 to $80 a month depending on how often they have to calibrate or maintain it.
Alternative Or Diversion Programs Available To DUI Offenders
It just depends on the person’s criminal history, the specific facts in the case of what their lawyer is able to get worked out with the prosecutor. Kansas has very tough DUI laws. It is actually against the law in Kansas for a prosecutor to amend a DUI charge to a lesser charge. For example, if you got the charge in Missouri and you say it was a first time DUI, you should have been charged with the DUI, your lawyer goes over and talks to the prosecutor, sometimes they can get it amended to a careless driving or something like that. In Kansas, that is against the law. Prosecutors cannot do it.
As far as deferred adjudication, that is a southern term mostly in Texas, but they call it a diversion. A diversion is basically a bargain for an agreement between the prosecutor and your lawyer, which is essentially a contract. It says, “You are a good person, you made this mistake but we want to give you a chance to show that you can continue to be a good person and not make mistakes like this”, so they will generally have you do some drug and alcohol counseling, do an evaluation, pay some money, go to a MADD victim impact panel, like a place where families of people who got hurt by DUI drivers, and jump through some hoops and then with the intention that you show that you can be good for a year, that they just dismiss the case against you.
As far as alternative program goes, because Kansas’ law is so tough, a lot of states do not have mandatory jail sentences when it comes to a DUI. Kansas has even on a first time DUI. So, the person has never been in trouble before in their life. If they are guilty of a DUI, they have to go to jail. So, there are alternate programs. The way most statutes or ordinances are written in some cities shows that you have to be in continuance custody for forty-eight hours. There are some programs that are not like what they call CWIP (Community Weekend Intervention Program). It is a way to not have you actually is in a jumpsuit in a jail, but still gets credit for being in custody, so you never actually have to go to jail but you go to a hotel instead. That is a program that can satisfy that mandatory minimum requirement of custody, but a lot of people do not go to jail. Generally, that is about as far as resolving them with some sort of an alternative plan.