Timothy J. Kucharski - DUI and Criminal Defense Attorney

Upon being arrested for DUI, the police officer is required to read certain advisements to the arrested individual. Those advisements are found on the top portion of the back of BMV Form 2255, which each DUI arrestee should have a pink copy of in his possession. After being arrested for DUI and having been read the advisements, the arrestee is informed that he has two basic options: 1) he may submit to blood/breath/urine test of the officer's choosing for the purpose of determining the alcohol level in his body, or 2) he may refuse to submit to the requested test. Either option leads to certain immediate consequences under Ohio's Administrative License Suspension laws (ALS). The results are spelled out in the two graphs below (one for testing over the legal limit and the other for refusing to be tested).

It is important to understand that the ALS suspension is entirely a civil matter. The suspension the arrestee receives under the ALS following his arrest for DUI has nothing to do with the criminal DUI charges and potential penalties he is also facing. In essence, if the arrestee is convicted of DUI, he will have been punished twice for the same conduct: once in the civil ALS arena and again with the DUI criminal penalties.

	1^st refusal w/in 5 years	2nd refusal w/in 5 years	3rd refusal w/in 5 years	4th + refusal w/in 5 years
On-the-spot license suspension	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Length of license suspension²	1 year	2 years	3 years	5 years
Occupational driving privileges³	After 30 days	After 90 days	After 1 year	After 3 years⁴

² Period of suspension is enhanced by the number of prior refusals within the previous 5 years from the date of the present refusal to date of prior refusal. R.C. §4511.191(E)(1)(a)-(d)

⁴ This person is not entitled to driving privileges if he has refused to take a chemical test and within seven years of filing the instant privileges petition, has both pled guilty or been convicted of three or more DUIs and has refused three or more chemical tests. R.C. §4511.191(I)(1).

	1^st offense w/in 6 years	2nd offense w/in 6 years	3rd offense w/in 6 years	4th + offense w/in 6 years
On-the-spot license suspension	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Length of license suspension²	90 days	1 year	2 years	3 years
Occupational driving privileges³	After 15 days	After 30 days	After 180 days	Not Permitted

² Period of suspension is enhanced by the number of DUI and DUI-related convictions within the past 10 years. The 10 year period is from the date of the instant test to the date of the previous convictions. R.C. §4511.191(F)(1)-(4).