DWI Laws for Minors in Kansas

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DWI Laws for Minors in Kansas: What Happens After the Hearing?

June 24, 2010
Author: Chris M. Alexander

Kansas DWI laws prohibit you from operating any vehicle within the state if you are a minor and are under the influence of alcohol. According to the DWI ‘per se’ law, you will be prosecuted for DWI if your BAC is of 0.02 or more. You can be charged under both the per se DUI provision as well as the operating the vehicle under the influence provision of the Kansas DWI statute. In the case of ‘per se’ DWI cases, the prosecution need not prove impairment during trial.

If you are a juvenile above 14 years old but below 18 years old, you will be charged with a DWI and tried in an adult court instead of a juvenile court. If you are involved in a DWI, you will be sentenced for a period of ten days in a juvenile detention facility. The court will either revoke or suspend your driving privileges. If you are convicted, your sentence can increase up to one year. Your license might not be suspended; instead you might get restrictions on the driving privileges.

However, if you are a minor and are involved in a DWI in Kansas, it is unlawful. When arrested for suspected DWI, the enforcement officer will tell you take a breath or blood test. If your BAC is found to be 0.02 or more, you will not face any criminal penalties instead only your driving privileges can be suspended. If the BAC is between .02 and .08, then your license will be suspended for 30 days for the first offense and one year on any subsequent occurrence. If your BAC is at 0.08 or above, your license will be suspended for a period of one year.

Administrative Hearing

If you are arrested for a DWI and you are a minor you will face serious consequences. To avoid an automatic suspension of driving privileges, you must request an administrative hearing within 10 days of the day you were arrested for suspected DWI. The administrative hearing can be requested in order to challenge the suspension of your driving privilege at the court.

When an administrative hearing is requested, it is better if your Kansas DWI lawyer is present to help in requesting it. If the court decides to grant you a hearing, it will give you a permit to drive provided you have surrendered your driver license at the DMV of Kansas. The permit enables you to drive until 15 days after the decision from the hearing is mailed to you. However, if you fail to request for a hearing or are unable to request for the hearing within 10 days from the date the Notice of Suspension is issued to you, your hearing will be denied. Then you will not be able to appeal in the future. An inability to request a hearing will lead to the suspension of the license commencing on the 15th day after the arrest.

What happens after the Administrative Hearing?

If you lose the administrative hearing, your driver license will be suspended depending on your previous five-year driver record. The license will be suspended effective 15 days after the final order of the hearing officer being mailed from the Department of Revenue to your address. If you are convicted during the past five years for any kind of alcohol-related law enforcement offense, you will be revoked for one year. However, if there had been no earlier conviction during the past five years, then the suspension will be for 30 days. The 30-day suspension is followed by a 60-day restricted driving privilege. If the suspension is upheld at the administrative hearing, you can petition the circuit court for further review.

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