What Can I Do to
Save My License?

There are a dozen factors that determine whether your license can be saved, and the weight of each one depends on the specific facts of your arrest. This is not the kind of analysis you can do on your own from a checklist. An experienced DUI attorney knows which arguments the hearing officer is likely to accept, which procedural failures matter most, and how to position your case for the best possible outcome — both at the DLD hearing and in the criminal proceeding that follows.

When you request a DLD hearing, you also have the right to require the officer who signed the affidavit and notice of arrest to appear and testify. This is one of the most valuable aspects of the DLD process — and one that most defendants completely overlook.

A DLD hearing gives you a preview of trial — an extraordinarily rare opportunity in criminal cases. You get to cross-examine the arresting officer under oath before the criminal case even goes to court. His answers, his inconsistencies, and his failures of recollection all become part of the record that Glen uses to build the trial defense. Other officers with relevant knowledge can also be subpoenaed.

Chemical test results are not infallible. You have the right to have the blood or breath sample independently retested. Testing errors — in collection, storage, calibration, or analysis — can produce readings that don’t accurately reflect your actual blood alcohol level at the time you were driving.

• Improper tube type used during blood collection can cause artificial elevation of BAC readings
• Improper storage conditions (temperature, time before analysis) can cause fermentation in the sample
• Breathalyzer calibration errors can produce readings skewed by ±.01% or more — significant at a .05% limit
• Medical conditions like GERD, acid reflux, or a ketogenic diet can falsely elevate breath test readings

Before an officer can stop your vehicle, Utah law requires specific, articulable reasonable suspicion that a crime or traffic infraction was being committed. A hunch, an anonymous tip without corroboration, or a vague feeling that something seemed “off” does not meet that standard.

If the stop itself was unlawful, everything that followed — the field tests, the breath test, the arrest — may be suppressible. At the DLD hearing, Glen challenges the officer on the specific legal basis for the stop, forcing him to justify it on the record.

Even if the stop was lawful, a DUI arrest requires a higher standard: the officer must have developed probable cause to believe you were actually impaired by alcohol or drugs at the time of driving. The totality of what the officer personally observed — driving pattern, odor, appearance, field sobriety test performance — must support that conclusion.

When the officer’s stated basis for arrest is thin, inconsistent, or procedurally defective, the arrest itself can be challenged — which undermines both the license action and the criminal case.

Utah law and the Department of Health rules impose strict timing requirements on chemical testing. Officers must observe the subject for a minimum of 15 minutes before administering a breath test to ensure no mouth alcohol is present. Blood draws must occur within specified timeframes. Testing outside these windows raises serious questions about the validity of the results.

If a blood sample was taken, it must be unambiguously identified as your sample from the moment of collection through analysis and storage. Every transfer must be documented. Every label must match. Any gap, any inconsistency, or any labeling failure raises the legitimate question: whose sample was actually tested?

• Unlabeled or mislabeled vials are a chain-of-custody failure
• Transfers between officers, lab couriers, and analysts must all be documented and signed
• Expired collection kits introduce contamination risk that may invalidate the sample

The DLD hearing is a legal proceeding, not a formality. Everything the officer says under oath becomes part of the record — and inconsistencies between his hearing testimony and his written report can be used to impeach him at trial. Fabrications, incorrect recollections, and procedural admissions all surface under skilled cross-examination.

Glen attends every DLD hearing for his clients, cross-examines the officer in detail, and documents every useful statement for use in the criminal defense that follows. The hearing is not just about the license — it is intelligence-gathering for the trial.