Memorial Day weekend means increased DUI checkpoints across El Paso County. If you’re stopped, you have 7 days to protect your license. Here’s what to expect.
A DUI arrest in Colorado sets two separate legal processes in motion simultaneously. One is a criminal case that moves through the court system. The other is an administrative proceeding with the Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles that will revoke your driver’s license if you do not act within days of your arrest. Most people focus on the criminal case and miss the DMV deadline entirely.
If you have been arrested for DUI in Colorado Springs or anywhere in El Paso County, the clock starts the moment you are released from custody. This article walks through what actually happens, in the order it happens, from the night of the arrest through sentencing.
The Arrest: What Law Enforcement Is Building
A DUI arrest begins with a traffic stop, a checkpoint, or an accident investigation. Once an officer suspects impairment, the encounter follows a documented sequence. The officer will conduct field sobriety tests, which are standardized physical exercises used to assess coordination and balance. Performance on these tests, along with the officer’s observations about your appearance, speech, and behavior, will be recorded in detail in the police report. That report becomes a central piece of the prosecution’s case.
Under Colorado’s express consent law, codified at C.R.S. § 42-2-126, every person who drives in Colorado has already consented to chemical testing if a law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe they are driving under the influence. You will be asked to take either a breath test or a blood test. You can choose which type of test to take, but you cannot refuse testing entirely without consequences.
If you take a breath test and the result is 0.08% BAC or higher, or if you refuse to test, the officer will confiscate your license on the spot and issue you an Express Consent Affidavit and Notice of Revocation. This document serves as a temporary seven-day driving permit. If you choose a blood test, your blood is drawn and sent to a lab. The DMV notice will not arrive until the lab results come back, which often takes several weeks. Your seven-day window to request a hearing begins when you receive that letter.
After the arrest, you will be transported to the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center for booking. You will be held until you post bond or are released on a personal recognizance bond depending on the circumstances. You will receive paperwork including a summons with your first court date.
The Seven-Day DMV Deadline: The Most Urgent Thing You Face
Before you think about the criminal case, address the DMV matter. You have seven calendar days from the date of your arrest to request an Express Consent hearing with the Colorado DMV. That deadline includes weekends and holidays. It is the shortest administrative hearing request deadline in the country.
If you miss the deadline, your license is automatically revoked on the eighth day and you have no right to contest it. For a first-offense DUI with a BAC at or above 0.08%, that revocation runs for nine months under C.R.S. § 42-2-126. For a first-offense refusal, the revocation period is one year and carries additional consequences.
To request the hearing, visit mydmv.colorado.gov and use the Driver/ID Services tab to find the appointments and hearings link, or request in person at a Colorado DMV office. You can also reach the DMV Hearings Office at 303-205-5606.
The DMV hearing is entirely separate from the criminal case. It focuses only on whether the administrative revocation should stand, based on factors such as whether the stop was lawful, whether probable cause existed, and whether chemical testing procedures were followed correctly. The hearing is worth requesting even if you believe the outcome may not go in your favor. It creates an opportunity for your attorney to cross-examine the arresting officer under oath, which can produce testimony and admissions useful in the criminal case.
DUI vs. DWAI vs. DUI Per Se: Which Charge Are You Facing?
Colorado has three distinct impaired driving charges under C.R.S. § 42-4-1301, and the distinction matters for penalties and defense strategy.
DUI (Driving Under the Influence) applies when a person is substantially incapable of safely operating a vehicle due to alcohol, drugs, or a combination of both. A BAC of 0.08% or higher creates a legal inference of DUI.
DUI Per Se applies when a chemical test shows a BAC of 0.08% or higher, regardless of whether the driver appeared impaired. The BAC result alone is sufficient.
DWAI (Driving While Ability Impaired) applies when a person’s ability to drive is impaired to the slightest degree by alcohol or drugs. A BAC between 0.05% and 0.079% creates a legal inference of DWAI. DWAI carries lighter penalties than DUI but is still a criminal offense and still goes on your permanent record.
DUID (Driving Under the Influence of Drugs) applies to impairment by marijuana, prescription medications, or other substances. Colorado’s permissible inference limit for marijuana is 5 nanograms of delta-9-THC per milliliter of whole blood, though impairment can be charged even below that level based on observed behavior.
One critical fact that surprises many people: Colorado has no statute of limitations on prior DUI and DWAI convictions for purposes of calculating repeat offenses. Every prior conviction, no matter how old, counts. This is why being charged as a first-time offender matters. If there is any prior conviction in your history, even from decades ago, prosecutors will use it.
The Criminal Case: How It Moves Through El Paso County Court
Your first court appearance in El Paso County is the arraignment, also called the advisement, at the El Paso County Combined Courts located at 270 S. Tejon in downtown Colorado Springs. At the arraignment, the charges are formally read and you enter a plea. In most DUI cases, the initial plea is not guilty, which preserves your options while the defense investigates the case.
After arraignment, the case moves into the pretrial phase. Your attorney will request discovery, which includes the police report, body camera footage, dashcam footage, field sobriety test records, breath test calibration records or blood test chain of custody documentation, and any other evidence the prosecution intends to use. This material forms the foundation of the defense analysis.
Pretrial conferences follow, at which the prosecutor and defense counsel discuss the status of the case and any potential resolution. In El Paso County, DUI cases are taken seriously by the District Attorney’s office. Prosecutors there have significant experience with these cases and will evaluate the strength of the evidence, the defendant’s BAC, any aggravating factors, and the defendant’s history before making a plea offer.
If the case does not resolve at the pretrial stage, motions hearings may be held to address legal issues such as the legality of the traffic stop, the admissibility of chemical test results, or whether field sobriety tests were properly administered. A successful suppression motion can significantly weaken the prosecution’s case or result in dismissal.
If no resolution is reached through negotiation or motions, the case proceeds to trial. Because a first-offense DUI is a misdemeanor in Colorado, guilt or innocence is decided by a jury of six under C.R.S. § 18-1-406(2), not twelve. A defendant can request fewer jurors but not more unless the charge is elevated to a felony. Trial is a resource-intensive process but is sometimes the right choice depending on the evidence.
First-Offense Penalties Under Colorado Law
For a first-offense DUI conviction with no aggravating factors, the penalties under C.R.S. § 42-4-1307(3) are as follows:
| Penalty | Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Jail | 5 days to 1 year | Mandatory 5-day minimum can be suspended if defendant completes alcohol evaluation and Level I or II treatment |
| Fine | $600 to $1,500 | Court has discretion to suspend |
| Community service | 48 to 96 hours | Cannot be suspended |
| Probation | Up to 2 years | Typically supervised with monitored sobriety |
| License revocation | 9 months | Separate from DMV administrative revocation |
| Alcohol evaluation | Required | Level I or II treatment as determined by evaluation |
Two aggravating BAC thresholds create mandatory consequences that courts cannot waive. If your BAC was 0.20% or higher, a minimum of ten days in jail is mandatory and cannot be suspended under any circumstances. That is a hard statutory floor, not a guideline. If your BAC was 0.17% or higher, Colorado designates you a Persistent Drunk Driver (PDD), which triggers mandatory installation of an ignition interlock device for at least two years and mandatory enrollment in a Level II alcohol education and treatment program. The 0.17% PDD threshold and the 0.20% mandatory jail threshold are separate triggers with separate consequences that can apply simultaneously.
The total real-world cost of a first-offense DUI in Colorado, including fines, court costs, attorney fees, increased insurance premiums, alcohol education program costs, ignition interlock installation and monitoring fees, and potential lost income during jail time or community service, regularly exceeds $10,000.
License Revocation and Getting Back on the Road
A first-offense DUI conviction triggers a nine-month administrative revocation of your driver’s license under C.R.S. § 42-2-126. A first-offense refusal triggers a one-year revocation.
Early reinstatement with a restricted license is available under C.R.S. § 42-2-132.5. After completing a portion of the revocation period, you may be eligible to reinstate with an ignition interlock device installed on your vehicle. The interlock requires you to pass a breath test before the vehicle will start and records your test results. The interlock period for a first DUI is generally one year following the revocation period.
If you are designated a Persistent Drunk Driver, the interlock requirement extends to at least two years. Interlock vendors charge installation fees and ongoing monthly monitoring fees, which are the driver’s responsibility.
Military personnel at Fort Carson, Peterson Space Force Base, Schriever Space Force Base, and the Air Force Academy face additional consequences beyond the state court and DMV processes. A DUI conviction can affect security clearances, base driving privileges, and in some cases military career progression depending on rank and command policy.
What a First-Time DUI Conviction Means Long-Term
A DUI conviction in Colorado is permanent. Unlike many other offenses that may be eligible for sealing after a waiting period, DUI and DWAI convictions under C.R.S. § 42-4-1301 are specifically excluded from Colorado’s record sealing statutes under C.R.S. § 24-72-706. The conviction stays on both your criminal record and your driving record indefinitely and will appear on background checks for employment, housing, and licensing purposes for the rest of your life.
It also counts forever for purposes of repeat offense enhancement. Colorado does not have a lookback period that wipes prior DUI convictions from the record after a certain number of years, as many other states do. A second DUI is a second DUI no matter when the first one occurred.
The Defense Perspective
A first-time DUI is a serious charge, but it is not an automatic conviction. DUI cases involve technical evidence, constitutional protections, and procedural requirements that must all be met for a conviction to stand. Common defense challenges include the legality of the traffic stop, whether the officer had sufficient probable cause for the arrest, the reliability and calibration records of breath test equipment, the chain of custody and lab procedures for blood tests, whether field sobriety tests were administered correctly, and whether the right to counsel was properly honored during the encounter.
Brian B. Boal is a former Deputy District Attorney in El Paso County. He handled DUI cases from the prosecution side and has represented defendants in El Paso County courts since 2007. Understanding how the 4th Judicial District handles these cases specifically, who the prosecutors are, how judges approach sentencing, and what the realistic range of outcomes looks like in Colorado Springs is directly relevant to building a defense strategy that works in this courthouse.
If you have been arrested for DUI in El Paso County, call Boal Law Firm at (719) 203-6339. The DMV deadline moves fast.