The implied consent suspension is actually half of a document that relates to when someone is suspected of DUI. In Arizona, the person would be suspected of DUI if the officer had enough probable cause to believe the person was driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs, vapor releasing substances, a combination thereof, or if they were someone under the age of 21 with alcohol in their system.
The officer would likely provide them an admin per say implied consent affidavit document, which would actually deal with two separate aspects of the law, one of them having to do with the admin per say, the other dealing with implied consent.
License Suspension Under The Admin Per Se
The admin per say law basically states that if someone was suspected of DUI and they consented to the blood, breath, and/or urine test requested by the officer, then their license would be suspended for 90 days. In most cases, there would be no driving for the first 30 days of those 90 days, and the person could get a restricted license for the next 60 days.
There might be some exceptions to that rule depending on whether the person had an in state or out of state license and whether or not they had previously been suspected of DUI.
License Suspension Under Implied Consent
The implied consent law is a separate law that states, if the person refused to consent to a blood, breath, and/or urine request from the officer after being suspected of DUI, then their license would be suspended for one year, and of that one year it would be possible to get a restricted license after the first 90 days of no driving at all.
The restricted license would allow the person to drive to and from work, home and school, with an ignition interlock device and SR-22 high risk insurance.
Your License Could Be Suspended Even If You Are Guilty
Arizona law has determined that failure to consent or failure to outright consent, would be considered a refusal, so the person would then lose their license simply for refusing, regardless of the outcome of the case itself.
It is possible the person may ultimately be found not guilty or innocent of the DUI itself, but their license would still be suspended for one year simply because they were suspected of DUI and failed to consent to the blood, breath, and/or urine test requested by the officers at the time of the arrest.
Whether the person was requested to do a blood, breath, and/or urine tests would be at the discretion of the officer, but they would lose their license for one year if they refused to take the requested test. The officer would then very likely go and get a warrant, which would likely be signed off by a judge, and it would allow the officer to take the blood test by way of force if necessary.
Incapacitated People Do Not Need To Give A Breath Sample Or Consent To A Blood Test
A provision in the law states that someone who was incapable of a refusal, because they were unconscious or in some other way incapable of refusing, would not be punished for that refusal.
The argument has yet to work, that the person was too drunk to understand what they were doing, or to understand they were being asked to consent and therefore they were on part with someone who was incapable of refusal. The court has stated they would not reward someone whose argument was they could not consent because they did not understand what was being asked because they were so drunk.
Someone whose blood alcohol content was so high that they did not really understand what was going on so they did not consent to a blood, breath, and/or urine test, would end up with a one year license suspension for refusing, because of the specific law written into the Arizona revised statutes by the Arizona legislature, specifically saying that an unconscious person was incapable of refusal.
For more information on Implied Consent License Suspension, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you’re seeking by calling 480-900-0384 today.
