IMPLIED CONSENT HEARING – NO LICENSE SUSPENSION
In a breath test refusal hearing (implied consent hearing), the police sought to take away the client's right to drive for a full year because of an alleged refusal to submit to the breath test. At the hearing, Attorney Awad thoroughly cross-examined the arresting officer who admitted that the search warrant to draw blood, ordinarily reserved for after a person refuses the test, was prepared well before the client had a right to try to contact an attorney, as he requested. Since the warrant was complete before the client had a chance to talk to a lawyer, Attorney Awad successfully argued that the refusal to submit to the breath test was reasonable. The hearing officer for the Secretary of State agreed and ruled in favor of the client, saving his right to drive.