How Long Does It Take To Get Summons For Dui

Interviewer: What should someone wait to happen from the moment they are arrested for DUI in Pennsylvania through the next 30 days?

Leckerman: Initially, most Pennsylvania police departments do not issue a complaint at the time that you are arrested. By complaint, I hateful a document with the charges against the commuter who was arrested. What typically happens is the police officer will wait for blood tests results or delay filing the complaint, even if breath tests results are taken, and issue a complaint with a summons to announced at the preliminary hearing. The preliminary hearing is the kickoff courtroom appointment. The date to appear for the preliminary hearing typically won't exist for at least three or more weeks after the complaint is sent to the driver. Sometimes, there will exist a delay of even two or three months from the signal of arrest to the time the complaint and summons are sent to a driver.

When a person is arrested and taken dorsum to the police station, he or she is essentially going to exist asked to give one of three types of samples for chemic testing. The starting time would exist a breath sample for a breath exam motorcar. In Pennsylvania, there are many types of breath test machines that are used in each county and in each police department. In that location is no one standard jiff testing machine that has to exist used by constabulary officers.

When an officeholder is request for blood samples, typically that officer is going to have the driver taken to a infirmary in order to have a nurse or phlebotomist excerpt two vials worth of blood. Those claret samples are sent to the laboratory, which tin can either be a state laboratory or private laboratory. The blood analysis usually takes three or weeks to occur and the results aren't produced for approximately that period of time or sometimes longer.

Attorney Kevin Lekerman

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Rarely does a police officeholder ask for a urine sample. Urine is oft requested in situations involving a suspected drug DUI.

A driver in Pennsylvania does not take the right to decline to requite a blood, urine or breath sample when requested by a police force officeholder. Nonetheless, the police officeholder must still have probable crusade to abort the driver and take the commuter back to the police station or a hospital in social club to get breath samples or blood samples.

Interviewer: Is it a good idea to contact an chaser immediately?

Leckerman: Absolutely. Later on existence released from custody, almost drivers wait until they receive a complaint in the mail or a summons to announced in court before contacting an attorney. That is generally not a practiced thought, because certain steps should be taken in the beginning of every DUI instance. Investigation may be needed of potential witnesses. Those witnesses should be interviewed immediately concerning the events that took place. There may be the necessity to accept photographs of the scene where the investigation occurred or, if an accident occurred, the damage to the vehicle. In blow situations, in that location may be the need to get an accident reconstructionist to an accident scene earlier essential testify is lost.

Other times, the chaser can call the arresting police officer and persuade that officeholder not to charge the driver with sure criminal offenses. Additionally, if the driver refused to requite a blood, breath, or urine sample, then the attorney can persuade the arresting officer to non notify PennDOT of the driver's refusal. This would save the driver an boosted twelve months of license suspension period, provided that the officer agrees not to send the DL-26 refusal form.

Interviewer: Does the complaint and summons e'er beat the lab result for blood or urine?

Leckerman: Yes. Often a complaint volition be filed without the lab results. Typically, the blood test results volition be revealed at the preliminary hearing.

Interviewer: What happens at the preliminary hearing?

Leckerman: At the preliminary hearing stage, the attorney will have the opportunity to speak with the officer additionally about the charges and perchance the officer will agree to withdraw certain charges in the complaint or the entire complaint itself, if appropriate. Otherwise, the attorney will be able to cross examine the officer and whatever other witnesses that are presented at the hearing. The preliminary hearing is for the prosecution to institute likely cause that the charges in the complaint were justified. Much less testify has to exist presented by the prosecution equally opposed to the testify that must exist presented at an actual trial. At an actual trial, the prosecutor has to put evidence on the record that would be able to captive someone of a DUI charge beyond a reasonable incertitude.

Interviewer: And so what I am getting out of it is that it could be a huge nasty surprise. Is it most of the time that the blood or urine results are revealed at the hearing and not earlier?

Leckerman: If the chaser does not contact the police officer ahead of fourth dimension, and so you volition not observe out what the blood test results are prior to the preliminary hearing. And then, in my cases, I will e'er call the officer before the preliminary hearing in gild to find out what the blood examination revealed. Virtually of the time I do hear back from officers. Occasionally, I won't get to speak to the officer until the preliminary hearing. Even so, knowing what the lab results are prior to the preliminary hearing helps a client sympathize the potential penalties.

The blood test results or breath examination results will decide what the level of penalization may exist if you are convicted for a DUI. At that place are three tiers of penalty. If your blood exam results are in the highest tier, then you will be facing exponentially higher penalties depending on how many prior DUIs you have.

Interviewer: Are there times when the lab results are non fix by the time of the hearing?

Leckerman: Sometimes, the blood test results are not bachelor at the preliminary hearing. This ofttimes occurs when the country laboratory is used to clarify a blood sample. In that case, if I had been in bear upon with the police officeholder, I often ask the officer to contact me prior to the preliminary hearing with the blood test results. If I don't hear from that officeholder, and then I will try to contact him to confirm the results hadn't been received and and then I'll enquire for the preliminary hearing to be continued. Otherwise, information technology is a waste of time to go without the blood tests results being available.

Interviewer: The other important matter I heard is that you can potentially, past talking to the law, in the correct situation, mitigate the damages before yous even get to that first hearing, maybe even in some cases getting rid of the need for information technology at all.

Leckerman: Right. Occasionally immediate intervention by an attorney can foreclose a complaint from existence issued, or certainly mitigate the charges that are going to be placed in the complaint.