Next Steps After a Colorado DUI Arrest

Stop Talking. Save Your Paperwork. Write Everything Down.

A Colorado DUI arrest is engineered to generate evidence against you while your judgment is still impaired by the experience itself. The first 24 hours after release determine how much of that evidence the prosecution gets to use and how much your defense gets to attack. Do these things first:

1. Stop talking to anyone except a defense attorney.

That includes friends who weren't there, family members who want to help, coworkers who are curious, and especially anyone from the police department or the District Attorney's office calling to "clear up a few things." Your right to remain silent does not end at the jail door — it follows the case all the way through. Statements made in the first 24 hours regularly become the most damaging evidence at trial.

2. Save every piece of paper.

The pink Notice of Revocation is the most important document the officer handed you — it is what triggers the seven-day DMV clock. Also keep your release paperwork, any bond receipts, the citation, any property-receipts, and any business cards. Do not throw anything away. If you signed something at the jail and were given a copy, save that copy.

3. Write down everything you remember — while you still remember it.

Where the stop happened. What time. What the officer said when he or she walked up. What you said in response. Whether you were asked to perform roadside maneuvers and what the surface and lighting were like. How long the stop lasted before the arrest decision was made. Who else was at the scene. What you ate, drank, or took (including prescriptions) in the hours before driving. What was on dashboard cameras and body-worn cameras. Write it out as a private memo to your future lawyer — it is protected by attorney-client privilege once you retain counsel, and it will be the most reliable record available six or eight months later when motions are litigated.

4. Do not post anything on social media.

Not about the arrest. Not about the police. Not about how you feel. Not about how it shouldn't have happened. Not in private groups. Not in DMs. Discovery in a criminal case routinely includes social-media subpoenas, and posts written in frustration become Exhibit 1 at trial. If you have already posted something, leave it up — do not delete — and tell your lawyer about it as soon as possible. Deletion can be charged separately as evidence tampering.

5. Call a Colorado DUI defense attorney.

This is the only decision in the first 24 hours that opens options instead of closing them. The Law Office of Daniel H. Kyser offers free, confidential initial consultations. Daniel personally returns calls, typically within one business day, and can begin work on the seven-day DMV deadline immediately. 303-831-6111.

The DMV Deadline Is the Most Time-Sensitive Decision in the Case

A Colorado DUI arrest triggers two parallel proceedings that run on different tracks with different rules and different deadlines:

• The criminal case — filed by the District Attorney in County Court (misdemeanor) or District Court (felony), proceeds over six to eighteen months, requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and can end in jail, probation, fines, classes, alcohol monitoring, and a permanent conviction.
• The DMV express-consent revocation — an administrative action by the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles under C.R.S. § 42-2-126 and C.R.S. § 42-4-1301.1. Preponderance of the evidence. Penalty is loss of driving privileges, separate from anything the criminal court does.

Most first-time DUI defendants lose their license not because of the criminal case but because they missed the DMV deadline. The DMV hearing window closes in seven days; the criminal case takes months to resolve. Request the DMV hearing first.

How to request the DMV hearing

The Notice of Revocation has instructions on the back. You can mail or hand-deliver the request to the address listed, or your attorney can request it on your behalf. Bring or include payment of the hearing fee (currently $25 by check or money order). If you request an in-person hearing, the arresting officer is subpoenaed to testify under oath about the traffic stop, the field sobriety tests, the chemical test, and the arrest decision — producing sworn testimony that becomes some of the most valuable cross-examination material in the criminal case months later. Even if the hearing does not save the license, it produces evidence that often saves the criminal case.

Other 7-day priorities

• Preservation requests. Body-camera and dash-camera footage retention windows are short — sometimes as short as 90 days for some departments. A formal preservation request issued in week one is often what makes the footage available in month six.
• Bond compliance. Any pretrial bond conditions — alcohol monitoring, abstinence, check-ins, no-driving orders — take effect immediately. A violation can mean re-arrest and bond revocation.
• Professional-licensing review. If you are an FAA-certificated pilot, the 60-day self-reporting clock under 14 C.F.R. § 61.15 begins at the motor-vehicle action — usually at the DMV revocation, not at the arrest. If you are a healthcare professional with a DORA license, the trigger structures are different. If you are a security-clearance holder under SEAD-3, the rules differ again. Do not make any disclosure until you have coordinated with counsel.

Build the Case — Don't Just React to It

Within roughly 30 days of arrest, the criminal case will hit one or more of these milestones:

• First court appearance / advisement. The court formally notifies you of the charges and your rights. Most cases do not require a plea at the first appearance. Bond conditions, pretrial supervision, and (if applicable) the mandatory protection order are addressed.
• Discovery. The prosecution provides the police report, the chemical-test results, the maintenance and calibration records on the testing device, body-worn-camera and dash-cam footage, officer training records, and dispatch audio. The defense reviews everything in detail.
• Motion strategy. Once discovery is in hand, the defense identifies which motions are worth filing — suppression of the stop, suppression of the chemical test, motions in limine on prior conduct, motions to dismiss. The strongest DUI defenses almost always begin with a motion.
• Plea-versus-trial assessment. Based on the evidence, the defense and the client decide whether to push for trial, negotiate a structured resolution (deferred judgment, DWAI plea, treatment-conditioned diversion), or hold to a plea-versus-trial decision until later in the case.

For Colorado professionals — FAA-certificated pilots, DORA-licensed clinicians, security-clearance holders, attorneys, federal contractors, teachers — the charge structure at resolution matters as much as the sentence. A misdemeanor that triggers a professional-license consequence can do more damage than a felony that does not. Resolution strategy is engineered around the specific reporting trigger you are trying to avoid.

The First-30-Days Playbook

• Day 1. Free confidential consultation. Initial case-strength assessment. Identification of the DMV deadline and any professional-license reporting clock.
• Days 2–7. File the DMV express-consent hearing request. Issue body-camera and dash-camera preservation requests to every involved agency. Identify witnesses. Begin to map the regulatory framework around your career.
• Within 30 days. Attend first court appearance with you (or in your place when permitted). Obtain initial discovery. Subpoena the arresting officer to the DMV hearing — cross-examine under oath. Identify motion candidates.
• Throughout. Direct attorney access. No paralegal-run case. Daniel personally handles every court appearance, every motion, and every plea negotiation.

Common Questions in the First Few Days After a Colorado DUI Arrest

Background Reading for the Hours You Have Before the Hearing

This page is the action checklist. If you want the deeper background — the rights primer, the case-law framing, the way Colorado's express-consent law actually works — the longer narrative guide is here:

• The First 24 Hours After a Colorado DUI Arrest — deeper narrative guide.
• Colorado DUI & DWAI Defense — Practice Overview
• Felony DUI in Colorado — Fourth DUI Penalties
• Colorado Traffic Stops and Fourth Amendment Suppression
• Special Message to My Professional & Executive Neighbors

Cases Handled Across the Front Range and Statewide

Daniel personally handles DUI and DWAI cases statewide, with concentrated practice across the Front Range:

• City and County of Denver — Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse
• Arapahoe County — Arapahoe County Justice Center, Centennial
• Aurora — three-county jurisdiction (Arapahoe, Adams, Douglas)
• Lakewood — Jefferson County Courthouse, Golden
• Lone Tree — Christensen Justice Center, Castle Rock
• Centennial, Greenwood Village, Highlands Ranch, Parker
• Adams County, Douglas County, Jefferson County, Weld County