Good evening from Salt Lake City, Utah.

My name is David Elwell, and I have the good fortune to serve as the Director of the Utah Justice Foundation. We seek Justice for ALL in Utah, which includes criminal defendants, victims of crimes, and the rest of the citizens of Utah.

It is with pleasure that I write a few words tonight about one of our three newest online service programs at the Utah Justice Foundation. This is a free online service designed to assist those individuals who have received a DUI citation with making a timely request for a DMV Per Se Hearing.

What is a DMV Per Se Hearing?  It is an administrative hearing conducted by the Driver’s License Division (DLD) of Utah to determine whether the individual who received the DUI citation shall have his or her driver’s license suspended. Many people cited for DUI do not read the fine print of the citation. Therefore, they may not realize that, in most cases, they may continue to drive for up to 30 days pending a determination by the DLD at the Per Se Hearing as to the issue of suspension of the license.

The most important information provided in the fine print is that the person cited has only 10 days from the date of the citation in which to make written request for the Per Se Hearing.  If the 10 days passes without request being made to the DLD, then the individual’s driver’s license will be automatically suspended for the period of time required under Utah law.  For a table showing the DLR’s administrative suspension periods as well as other penalties imposed for DUIs in Utah, go to the Utah Justice Foundation website and click on the DUI Cases link in the left column.

After reviewing the table and other information provided with regard to DUIs in Utah, a person can click on the Quick Link in the right column of the page – Request a DMV Hearing – and they will be taken to a page of information on the Per Se Hearing, including a link to the DLD approved form for requesting a hearing.

The person can fill out the approved form, print it, and then fax or mail it as indicated on the form. For information on what to do next, a quick call to the Utah Justice Foundation will get all of the person’s questions answered.

By the way, if a person misses the 10-day deadline for requesting the Per Se Hearing, it is possible to request a “late hearing.” Give us call and we can discuss the possibilities as, of course, each case is different.

David Elwell aka
Eagle4Justice