Guidebook to First 10 Days After Iowa DUI Arrest
This is everything you need to know in the first ten days as you try to recover from your drunk driving arrest.
First, if your car was impounded—it most times is not because officers since 2018 have been directed by the Iowa Supreme Court to allow a “park and lock option” for legally parked cars to prevent generalized police inventory searches—you must contact the impound and tow service to retrieve your vehicle. An officer typically will have the vehicle towed and impounded if there is no way to park it legally without moving it from its present location or the arrestee failed to produce proof of insurance.
Second, the jail provides every drunk driving arrestee with a collection of papers upon release. These papers include a DEFENDANT REPORT of the Iowa DOT Form 432013, Request and Notice Under Iowa Code Under Chapter Chapter 321J/Section 321.208. Make two copies of this form and put one in your glove box and one in your wallet. This is your license for 10 days from the date on this document if your privilege to operate a motor vehicle was revoked for a test failure or refusal. For Iowa residents previously valid to drive in the State of Iowa, the officer likely seized your license upon revocation if you refused to provide a bodily sample for chemical testing or provided a sample that tested above the presumptive level of intoxication in the State of Iowa. If you provided a blood or urine sample that has not yet been tested, the officer may not have issued a notice of revocation yet.
If you are an out of state licensed driver, law enforcement officers in Iowa have no legal right to seize an out of state license. That is a common mistake for new officers who may not have a lot of experience with out of state drivers. Sometimes officers also seize an otherwise valid Iowa license before a blood or urine test result shows a test failure. If they did either of those two things, your attorney can arrange for it to be returned to you by the records department. It might be temporary but even a month or two of driving can put food on your table while officers are awaiting test results.
For those out of state residents who have received a notice of revocation, your privilege to operate a motor vehicle in Iowa is still revoked after the ten day grace so don’t think you can drive on an out of state license in Iowa just because your retained your out of state license card.
Contact us for more information on that complex issue.
Third, if you are a resident of Iowa and your Iowa license was valid prior to the DUI arrest—called Operating While Intoxicated in the State of Iowa—you have just ten days to drive and get your affairs in order before the revocation goes into effect. You have some choices here you must make. If you wish to appeal the Iowa DOT revocation administratively, you and your lawyer may do so by filing Form 430234 Request to Appeal Loss of Driving/Registration Privileges. If you hire a lawyer after this date, there is no way to file this appeal after the deadline passes. So it is probably a good idea to hire an attorney before the 10 days passes. The date of your revocation is on the Form 432013 when you left the jail.
Fourth, if you are an Iowa resident, you may request a temporary restrictive license from the Iowa DOT—this is true regardless of whether you appeal your Iowa DOT revocation or not. An appeal of the revocation of your privilege to operate a motor vehicle and a temporary restrictive license are not mutually exclusive. You obtain a temporary restrictive license because you are revoked; you appeal the revocation because you may believe there were administrative defects in the process to revoke your license.
A temporary restrictive license will allow the licensee to drive anywhere in the State of Iowa, for any purpose, at any time, with restrictions as followed. To obtain a temporary restrictive license in the State of Iowa, you must be an Iowa resident, you must have installed in your vehicle an ignition interlock device from an Iowa Department of Public Safety-certified manufacturer, and you must also cause to be filed with the Iowa DOT an SR-22 certification that your insurance meets minimum Iowa requirements for liability insurance. Your insurance company may or may not be willing to file that SR-22 certification without you changing insurance companies. You must also pay a $200 civil penalty to Iowa DOT and it is a good idea to make an appointment at an Iowa DOT driver’s license station to obtain your temporary restrictive license. Navigate to https:www.iowadot.gov to pay your $200 civil penalty and make your appointment to obtain your temporary restrictive license.
Note that nothing regarding the administrative revocation of your privilege to operate a motor vehicle relates to your court dates in criminal court. For example, you need not wait for your court date to obtain a temporary restrictive license. Moreover, information on the internet that you must wait 90 days to obtain a temporary restricted license for test refusals or tests over a certain level are outdated. Contact the Iowa DOT to determine your eligibility to obtain a temporary restrictive license after reviewing your driving record. In most cases, a driver charged with Operating While Intoxicated in violation of Iowa Code § 321J.2 may immediately apply for a temporary restrictive license without a so-called “hard suspension” which was a creature of administrative DOT law prior to sweeping changes in 2018.
Pro-tip: you may find that the Iowa DOT does not yet have a record of your revocation when you navigate to iowadot.gov or speak to an Iowa DOT representative. Do not get a duplicate license if the officer has seized your Iowa license. If the law enforcement officer has seized your license, they almost assuredly have read to you a notice of revocation that indicates that your privilege to operate a motor vehicle has been revoked. That is sufficient notice that you are revoked even if the Iowa DOT does not yet have a record of it. Obtaining a duplicate license before the officer has uploaded their notice of revocation to the Iowa DOT site is not appropriate. Presenting the duplicate as proper identification to law enforcement or other persons may be considered false use of identification and driving after the ten-day grace with the duplicate is driving while revoked. Both false use of identification and driving while revoked are additional serious misdemeanors. Conviction for driving while revoked will double the length of revocation. You don't need more problems in your life.
You may not obtain a temporary restrictive license in the State of Iowa unless you are, or legitimately become, an Iowa resident. To show proof of your Iowa residency, you must typically produce to the Iowa DOT a lease or a mortgage showing your Iowa residency, a utility bill showing that you pay utilities of some kind at that residence, and a certified birth certificate or valid passport. Changes in residency may affect tax and other benefits. Contact an attorney and tax preparer in your original home state before making such changes.
Fifth-- and to be fair, this maybe should be number on your punch list: hire an experienced law firm that practices exclusively in the area of criminal defense with an emphasis in drunk driving defense. We're partial here to our business model but we do nothing else but criminal law all day every day. We don't represent drunk driving accident victims nor sue drunk drivers in personal injury cases. We think that would be odds with the protection and defense of our true passion-- defending those accused of committing the offense in the first place. This is not just a side hustle at our firm; it is our professional identity and we take that exclusive practice model absolutely seriously.
David A. Cmelik Law PLC is a statewide criminal defense law firm with the ability and licensure to practice law in all 99 of Iowa’s county courthouses. We practice exclusively in the area of criminal law with emphasis in the area of drunk driving defense and have done so for over two decades—from the Missouri River to the Mississippi River. If you have been arrested for drunk driving in Iowa, contact us for a free initial consultation.