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Hello, I'm Stephen Hamilton board certified in criminal
defense in Lubbock, Texas and the South Plains. Today's video
tip is blood test and contesting your driver's license. If you've
been arrested or someone you love has been arrested for a
DWI, the very first thing that's critical is what we call the
driver's license hearing. Now, typically, we have 15 days from
the day you were arrested to request the hearing. And that's
if we either gave a breath sample and we're above the legal
limit or we refuse to give a breath sample. But what happens
if the officer requested, and you gave, a blood sample instead
of a breath sample? All right, if that's the case, then the
timeframes are a little bit different. Right now in Texas,
and let me say this, March 25th 2011 these are the timeframes.
Our legislature meets. They can change these timeframes. So it's
important that you call me if you have a pending DWI and a
driver's license issue so I can tell you if there's been any
changes in the timeframes. But right now the law says that if
they take your blood, they should not confiscate your Texas
driver's license. Now, a lot of times I see officers make that
mistake. And so they take your driver's license and they give
you a temporary permit. It's absolutely critical that you
call me as soon as you can because we need to notify the
police department and try to get your physical driver's license
back before they send it off to the Department of Public Safety
or they destroy it. Basically, what happens is you're waiting
for those blood test results. The blood is sent to the
Department of Public Safety Lab and the lab is going to run the
blood. Now, if the results come back over a .08 blood alcohol
concentration, then the Department of Public Safety is
going to send you a letter, and here's what's critical, at your
last known address. So whatever was on your driver's license
they're going to send you a letter saying you have 20 days
to request a hearing. And if you don't do it within those 20
days, then your driver's license is going to go into an automatic
suspension. If your driver's license address is not where you
live, again, call me. Come in and see me because we can
request a hearing ahead of time and give them the right address.
They don't have to prove that it got to your right address. All
they've got to do is send it to the address that was on your
driver's license. So if you've moved or if you're going to
school and you don't have the right address, then at that
point in time you're not going to get notice, and that's why
you need to call me. That's it for today's video tip. My phone
number is 806-794-0394. This is what I do. If you have a blood
test case in Lubbock, Texas or the South Plains, call me.
We can help. Thanks for watching.