Implied Consent Law in a Virginia DUI (Part A)

If you are arrested for a Virginia DUI and brought back to the police station, you will be asked to submit to a breath or blood test to determine your blood alcohol content or BAC level. Whether you realize it or not, you have already given your consent to this test due to Virginia's implied consent law. If you do not comply with the officer's request for this test, there will be serious consequences in addition to your Virginia DUI charges.

When did I consent to this?

When applying for your Virginia driver's license you signed a lot of legal documents. In one of these you agreed that in exchange for the privilege of driving on Virginia's roads, you agree to submit to a chemical test if you are arrested for a Virginia DUI.

Virginia statutes clearly state:

Any person, whether licensed by Virginia or not, who operates a motor vehicle upon a highway ...in the Commonwealth shall be deemed to have consented to have samples of his blood, breath, or both blood and breath taken for a chemical test to determine the alcohol, drug, or both alcohol and drug content of his blood, if he is arrested for violation of §§ 18.2-266, 18.2-266.1 or § 18.2-272 or of a similar ordinance within three hours of the alleged offense.

This means that even if your license was not issued in Virginia, you are still required to comply with Virginia's implied consent law if you are driving on Virginia roads.

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• If you want to try to get your license back, you have less than 5 days to hire a lawyer.
• Your trial date is almost always less than 2 months from the date you were charged and, thus, waiting just 14 days to hire a lawyer could severely handicap your defense

• Who is going to be my lawyer at trial?
• What are his/her qualifications?
• Are they AV rated? "AV" = Highest rating possible for Legal Ability and Ethics
• Are they a former prosecutor?
• Where did they prosecute?