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After you are taken into custody for DUI, you will be handcuffed and placed into custody. Depending on the type of test you choose (blood or breath) you will be driven to the police station, a hospital, the local jail or a detox center. The chemical test (breath or blood) will be administered at one of those places.
Your Cooperation During the Test
During the test, you will be asked to cooperate in the blood draw process (or in the case of a breath test, blowing into a machine under controlled circumstances). If you do not cooperate, or find that you want to change the kind of test you’re taking, the officer/administrator will fill out a form that you have refused the test and no other test will be offered. At this point, you can start learning the bus schedule.
Important Note: After the officer or test administrator asks you to select which kind of chemical test you want to take (breath or blood), if you respond instead that you want a lawyer, that response is also considered a refusal.
When Can You Request a Lawyer?
After you have been processed (meaning, after the officer has completed the papers and given you to the jail staff or detox staff).
What Happens After the Chemical Test
Assuming you get through the testing process, you may (in the case of a breath test) be given a DMV slip signed by the officer advising that your driver’s license is suspended. Do not forget to deal with that when you get out of jail (either call a qualified DUI lawyer or carefully follow the instructions on the DMV slip).
After the chemical test, you can be taken to jail or to a detox center. People who must post bond before getting out go to jail. People who do not, and who are just given a ticket, are most frequently dumped at a detox center. Jail is free, and pretty unpleasant. Detox centers make you pay up to $1500 for a couple of days (and you cannot get out of a detox center until that particular center determines that you are medically ready to be released). Detox centers are, in my opinion, more unpleasant than jail. In jail, there are fewer whiny residents and fewer pools of vomit and standing urine. So, if you are taken to a detox center, it’s a smart idea to try and negotiate your release to a relative (this is a conversation between you and the detox center, or call a DUI lawyer to do this negotiation for you).
Getting Out of Jail
You can get out of jail by posting bond. You cannot get out of a detox center until they say you can. The detox center makes money by keeping you longer, which for jails is the exact opposite. After you are released, if you haven’t already hired a DUI lawyer, that’s a good time to do so.
Colorado DUI attorney Shaun Kaufman regularly works to research the most effective, scientific methods for defending DUI and DWAI cases. Call Shaun Kaufman Law any time of the day or night, 24 hours a day, at 303-309-0430 or fill out the contact form on the right side of this screen.
