Quick Answer
What Should You Do Right After a DUI in Colorado?
After a DUI in Colorado, the most important thing to understand is that two clocks start at once, and the short one is the one most people miss. You have just seven days to request a DMV hearing to protect your license, separate from the criminal case. Beyond that deadline, the moves that matter are simple: know the two facts your lawyer needs, understand what you are actually charged with, and do not wait. What you do in the first 48 hours shapes the whole case.
The seven-day clock that has nothing to do with court
Your license is on its own track, and it moves faster than the courtroom. After a DUI arrest you have seven days to request a hearing with the Colorado DMV under the Express Consent law, or the revocation takes effect automatically. A first DUI carries a nine-month revocation, and a first-time refusal carries a full year (Colorado Department of Revenue). In practice, a restricted license with an ignition interlock is usually available within about a month.
There is one move at that hearing most people never make. “It’s important that people request the police officer’s presence at the DMV hearing,” Prager says, because the case can be dismissed when the officer does not appear. He has also won these hearings on the merits, when an officer could not recall the case, or when the driver was never given a proper express-consent advisement. Requesting the officer costs nothing and can end the license case before it starts.
Know the two facts your lawyer needs first
When you call a defense attorney, two facts unlock almost everything about your case. “The most important information I need from them is whether or not they did a chemical test, and where it happened,” Prager says. “With that information, I can give them pretty much the entire lay of the land.” The test result tells him your likelihood of jail. The location tells him which court, which DA, and which judge. Write down what you remember while it is fresh, especially the timeline of the stop and whether you took a breath or blood test.
Understand what you are actually charged with
Colorado splits impaired driving into DUI, the top charge, and DWAI, the lesser one, and the difference often turns on a number. A breath or blood alcohol result at or above .08 is a “per se” DUI, proven by the number alone. That makes it a harder case, but not a hopeless one. “A .08 is a tougher case at trial, but it’s defensible if everything is done right,” Prager says, and a marijuana case gives you even more room, because it can be challenged on conduct. Knowing which category you are in tells you whether the fight is for a dismissal, a reduction to DWAI, or a deferred outcome.
Do not sit on it: the first 48 hours decide your leverage
The single most damaging thing you can do is nothing. “Sitting on it, wasting time, that’s the biggest mistake,” Prager says. “Every second matters.” Hiring early means a lawyer can start building mitigation before your first court date, which is exactly when the prosecutor and the judge form their first impression of you. With a 92 percent guilty-disposition rate across Colorado impaired-driving cases in 2024 (Colorado Division of Criminal Justice), the cases that end well are usually the ones where the defense started early.
What a realistic outcome actually looks like
Knowing the realistic range keeps you from panicking, and from overpaying for false promises. For a clean first-time case, the news is often better than people fear, and a good lawyer can often do better than the obvious DWAI. Prager has uncovered evidence that turned cases into deferred judgments, and even reckless-driving pleas, results most lawyers do not get. “I have gotten deferreds on that fact pattern,” he says of a first-time case. The one thing he will not promise is diversion: formal diversion is basically never offered on a Colorado DUI, so the leverage comes from the evidence and the negotiation, not from a program you apply into.
If you do not live in Colorado
If you were arrested here but live elsewhere, you do not have to relocate to handle the case. “Most of the time, they’re allowed to appear virtually until the plea hearing,” Prager says, and “probation is transferable, and on a first, in-home detention is transferable.” Your lawyer files a motion for virtual appearances, a plea is usually taken in person, and sentencing alternatives can often be served in your home state.
If you were arrested for a DUI in Colorado, the seven-day license deadline and the criminal case are both already running. Getting your story in front of a defense lawyer who has worked the other side of these cases, before you talk to anyone else, is the highest-value thing you can do today.