Joliet DUI Charges: What Refusing or Testing Changes

Refusal and failed test, side by side

Illinois sets different waiting periods before a suspended license can come back. These are the periods for a first offender, taken from 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1(a). Each runs from the day the suspension takes effect, not the day of the arrest.

The same law lists longer periods for a driver who is not a first offender: 3 years after a refusal and 1 year after a failed test. A first offender is someone with no earlier DUI conviction or supervision, and no earlier summary suspension, in the five years before this offense (625 ILCS 5/11-500).

What Jeff reads first

Many Joliet cases start with a stop by the Joliet Police Department. Before anything else, Jeff reads the sworn report the officer sent to the court and the Secretary of State. If you refused, the breath test refusal page goes through what the officer must have told you first. If you took the test, the breath test problems page and the field sobriety tests page cover where these results can be questioned.

Both tracks run at once. The criminal charge is one case. The suspension is a separate civil process, and the statutory summary suspension guide explains how they differ. Getting the license back later is covered in license reinstatement.

A sworn report that has a problem

The officer's sworn report is the document that triggers the suspension. Under 625 ILCS 5/11-501.1(d), it certifies that a test was requested and that you refused, or took one that showed 0.08 or more, or showed the presence of a drug. The Secretary of State then confirms the suspension by mail. If the report is missing information or was completed in error, the Secretary of State does not confirm it. Under subsection (h), the report is sent on to the court, with a copy returned to the agency that issued it, identifying the defect.

That does not make the problem go away on its own. It does mean the report is worth reading line by line, with the dates and the officer's statements next to your own account.

Two clocks that start together

After a Joliet stop, the court date on the ticket and the suspension date are not the same date. The court date is for the criminal case. The suspension takes effect on the 46th day after notice. Put both on one calendar the day you get home, then add day 90 as the last day to ask for a suspension hearing.

Jeff keeps those three dates at the top of every Joliet file for that reason. If a date has passed, call anyway so Jeff can tell you what is still open in your case.

The courthouse is in your city

Joliet is the Will County seat. The Will County Courthouse at 100 W Jefferson St hears the case, and the Circuit Clerk of Will County is in the same building. That makes Joliet the easy case for logistics. It does not make it a simple case for your license, which is why the dates matter more than the address.

A small part of Joliet lies in Kendall County. If your arrest happened on that side, the case belongs in Yorkville instead. Look at the court named on your ticket. For the full local picture, see Areas We Serve: Joliet, the Joliet criminal and DUI page and the courthouse guide.

Reviewed by Jeff McCarthy, Attorney, Inspired Law Group, 136 E 9th St, Lockport, IL 60441.