Practice Area
The officer took your license and handed you a notice of revocation. You have seven days to fight it. Our DUI flat fee includes your DMV hearing.
A DUI arrest starts two proceedings. The criminal case in county court may take months. The DMV case under Colorado’s express consent law is designed to move quickly: it exists to revoke the licenses of drivers with an excessive BAC and drivers who refuse testing, while giving them an opportunity for a hearing first.
Colorado criminal defense
Your first conversation is free, and it’s with an attorney.
Your information stays private.
Not a call center.
We know both sides.
Your criminal defense attorney
Bradley E. Smith
Founding Partner
Criminal Defense Attorney
Former Deputy District Attorney in Mesa County and Denver Assistant City Attorney. More than six years as a U.S. Navy officer overseas, in Japan, East Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from CU Boulder. Licensed in Colorado state and federal courts.
That prosecutorial background matters in a specific way. Prosecutors triage. They decide which cases are worth the trial calendar and which ones are better resolved. A defense lawyer who has made those decisions knows what moves them — a suppression issue the officer can’t survive, a witness who won’t hold up, a discovery gap that never gets filled.
We look for those first, before anyone talks about a plea.
Every DUI case is built from the same pieces, and each one can fail:
Free consultation with a lawyer. Tell us what happened. We'll explain the charge, what you're facing, and your options.
Police reports, body-camera and dash-camera video, test records, and witness statements. We look for what the officer got wrong, and what the report leaves out
ask the court to throw out evidence that was gathered illegally, and we negotiate with the prosecutor from a position of strength
If the prosecutor won't be reasonable, we're ready to put your case in front of a judge or jury
We look at all of it. Then we decide, with you, whether to file motions, negotiate a reduction, or try the case.
The order below is the shape of most Colorado criminal cases. Where your case sits in it determines what can still be changed.
You will be advised of the charges, usually within 48 hours. You do not have to explain yourself to anyone, and you should not. The single most common way a defensible case becomes a difficult one is a statement given before a lawyer was involved.
The court sets bond considering the charge, your record, your ties to the community, and any perceived risk. Bond can be argued, and bond can be reduced after it’s set. A lawyer at that hearing is the difference between a number and an argument.
In any domestic violence case, a mandatory protection order issues immediately. It can bar you from your own home and from contact with your family. It can be modified — but only through the court, never by agreement with the other party.
We obtain everything the state has: reports, body camera footage, dispatch audio, lab results, officer histories. We also build what the state didn’t bother to — witnesses they never interviewed, video they never pulled.
Suppression of an unlawful stop, an unlawful search, or an involuntary statement can end a case outright. Several of our dismissals came at or immediately after a motions hearing.
Most cases resolve. Some should not. We prepare every case as though it will be tried, because that preparation is what produces the better offer — and because when a case should go to a jury, we are ready.
Recent outcomes in impaired-driving cases.
Jury acquitted our client of DUI and DWAI (drugs) despite a reported THC level of 27 ng/mL.
Jury acquitted our client of DUI/DWAI, swerving, and open container after 15 minutes of deliberation.
Jury acquitted our client of DUI and DWAI; he kept his commercial driver’s license.
Reduced to careless driving with no jail at the pretrial readiness conference.
Client granted a deferred judgment and sentence.
One week before trial, after a motions hearing.
Results depend on the specific facts and legal circumstances of each case. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome.
Unedited, from our Google profile. Traffic and impaired-driving matters are among the cases these clients hired us for.
Reviews are published on Google by the people who wrote them. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
These come up in almost every DUI call: what a first offense actually carries, what happens to your license while the case is pending, and what it costs to fight it. The answers below are general — your stop, your test, and your record decide how they apply to you.
Seven days from the day you received the notice of revocation. If the notice was mailed, it’s treated as received three days after mailing. Request the hearing in writing, or have a lawyer do it for you.
Usually, yes. If you request the hearing on time, you can typically drive on a temporary permit until the hearing decision, as long as your license was otherwise valid. Check your status with the Colorado DMV to be sure.
If you don’t appear, you’re likely to lose. When we represent you, we prepare you for the hearing and handle it with you.
Yes. A medical marijuana card allows you to use marijuana; it doesn’t allow you to drive impaired. But the prosecutor still has to prove impairment, and a THC blood level alone doesn’t prove it.
Call a lawyer right away. The DMV must consider a late request if it comes with a sworn statement explaining why it was late, though it isn’t required to grant it. Early reinstatement with an interlock may also be available.
Yes. Our DUI representation is a flat fee, and it includes your DMV hearing at no additional cost. We’ll quote your fee at the free consultation.
