DUI Defense

Protecting Your Rights After a DUI Arrest

If you’ve been arrested for DUI in Springfield, Sangamon County, or anywhere in Central Illinois, you are facing two separate fights at once: a criminal case that can mean jail time and a permanent record, and a civil license suspension that starts ticking the moment you’re released. W. Scott Hanken has defended DUI cases in Sangamon County for more than 37 years, including time spent as a prosecutor handling these exact cases for the State. That former-prosecutor perspective is what informs every defense strategy on this page.

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A Former Prosecutor on Your Side

W. Scott Hanken spent part of his 37-year legal career as a Sangamon County prosecutor handling DUI cases from the government’s side. That experience now works for the people he represents: he knows exactly how local police build a DUI case, what evidence prosecutors lean on, and where that evidence is most often vulnerable to challenge.

A DUI arrest can put your driver’s license, your job, and your freedom at risk — but an arrest is not a conviction. Every case starts with the same question: did the police follow the law at every step, from the initial stop through the chemical test? When the answer is no, that failure can become the foundation of your defense.

Attorney Hanken has been voted “Best Attorney” by both the Illinois Times (Best of Springfield) and the State Journal-Register (Reader’s Choice), holds an Avvo 10.0 “Superb” rating, and has been recognized by Super Lawyers among Illinois’s top-rated DUI/DWI attorneys. He has earned 270+ five-star Google reviews and 340+ five-star FindLaw reviews. His office sits at 1100 S. 5th Street in Springfield, inside the historic Mary Bryant Home for the Blind, a short walk from the Sangamon County Courthouse where most local DUI cases are heard.

What Counts as a DUI in Illinois?

Illinois law allows a DUI charge two different ways: a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or higher, or driving while impaired by alcohol, drugs, or a combination — regardless of your exact BAC.

This means you can be arrested for DUI even with a BAC below 0.08% if an officer believes alcohol affected your ability to drive safely. The legal thresholds in Illinois are:

• 0.08% — the per se legal limit for drivers 21 and older
• 0.04% — the limit for commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders operating a commercial vehicle
• 0.00% (zero tolerance) — for drivers under 21; any detectable trace of alcohol can result in license consequences

Field sobriety tests and officer observations can support a DUI arrest even when a chemical test result is unavailable, low, or contested — which is one reason DUI cases are rarely as clear-cut as the arresting officer’s report makes them sound.

DUI Involving Drugs, THC, or Prescription Medication

Illinois treats drug-impaired driving the same as alcohol-impaired driving — and a valid prescription is not a defense if the medication affected your ability to drive.

Drug-related DUI charges in Sangamon County typically arise from:

• Prescription medications that impair driving ability, even when legally prescribed
• Cannabis use — legal under Illinois law, but illegal to combine with driving while impaired
• Drugs found in the vehicle during a traffic stop
• Heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and other controlled substances
• Combined alcohol-and-drug impairment

For cannabis specifically, Illinois uses a THC-based threshold rather than a breathalyzer-style measurement: a driver is presumed impaired at 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood, or 10 nanograms per milliliter in another bodily substance. Because there is no roadside “breathalyzer” equivalent for THC, cannabis DUI cases often rely heavily on officer observations and field sobriety performance — both of which are contestable.

A first-time drug-related DUI conviction can carry fines up to $2,500, license suspension or revocation, mandatory drug and alcohol education, probation or community service, and possible jail time. Aggravating factors — an accident causing injury, or a minor in the vehicle — can increase the charges further.

Your Rights During a DUI Traffic Stop

You have the right to remain silent and to refuse roadside field sobriety tests and the preliminary breath test — without penalty.

Here’s what that means in practice:

• You must provide your driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance when asked.
• You are not required to perform field sobriety tests or take the handheld roadside breath test. You can decline both.
• An officer can still arrest you based on other observations even if you decline these tests.
• Once arrested, Illinois’s implied consent law requires you to submit to an official chemical test (breath, blood, or urine) at the station. Refusing this test triggers an automatic license suspension separate from your criminal case.
• Anything you say to police can be used against you. The safest response to questioning is to stay calm, provide your identifying documents, and ask to speak with an attorney before answering further questions.

Representing yourself in a DUI case is legally allowed but rarely advisable. DUI law turns on small procedural details — how a stop was initiated, how a test was administered, how evidence was documented — and those details are exactly what an experienced defense attorney is trained to evaluate.

Penalties for a First-Time DUI Conviction

A first DUI in Illinois is typically a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail, fines up to $2,500, and a minimum one-year driver’s license revocation.

Beyond the criminal penalties, a first-time conviction carries consequences that often outlast the case itself:

• Court costs and fines stacked on top of the statutory fine
• Lost wages from required court appearances
• Lost income during any period of license suspension
• Increased auto insurance premiums — sometimes dramatically, and sometimes resulting in policy cancellation
• BAIID costs — if a Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device is required in your vehicle, installation and ongoing monitoring costs are paid by the driver
• A permanent driving record entry — in Illinois, a DUI conviction stays on your driving record for life

First-time offenders who have no prior DUI and have never previously pled down to reckless driving may be eligible for Court Supervision — a deferred judgment that, if completed successfully, keeps the DUI off your conviction record even though the arrest itself remains part of your history.

When a DUI Becomes a Felony

Certain circumstances elevate even a first DUI arrest from a misdemeanor to a felony charge.

Factors that can result in felony DUI charges include:

• A prior DUI conviction on your record
• Driving on a license that was already suspended or revoked at the time of arrest
• No evidence of valid motor vehicle insurance
• An accident that caused great bodily harm or death

Felony DUI cases carry significantly higher stakes than a standard first offense — longer potential prison sentences, larger fines, and consequences that can follow you for the rest of your life. If any of these factors apply to your arrest, getting experienced counsel involved immediately is critical.

Statutory Summary Suspension: Protecting Your License

Your license is not suspended the night of your arrest — Illinois law gives you a window to fight the suspension before it takes effect, but that window is short.

A DUI arrest triggers two separate proceedings:

1. The criminal case — filed by the State’s Attorney’s office, addressing potential jail time, fines, and a conviction
2. The statutory summary suspension — a civil action by the Illinois Secretary of State targeting your driving privileges, independent of the criminal outcome

If you take a chemical test and the result is over the legal limit, your license faces a 6-month suspension (first offense). If you refuse the chemical test, the suspension extends to 12 months. In either case, the suspension does not take effect immediately — it automatically activates on a fixed number of days after you’re served with the Notice of Suspension, giving you a brief but critical window to act.

During that window, your attorney can file a Petition to Rescind the Statutory Summary Suspension, forcing a civil hearing where the legality of the stop, the arrest, and the warnings you were given can all be challenged. Winning that hearing throws out the suspension entirely while your criminal case proceeds separately.

If the suspension can’t be rescinded, many drivers qualify for a Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP), which allows continued driving — to work, school, or anywhere else — provided a Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device (BAIID) is installed in the vehicle.

Penalties for a Second, Third, or Subsequent DUI

Penalties escalate sharply with each subsequent DUI — a second offense carries mandatory jail time, and a third moves the charge into felony territory.

A second DUI within 20 years of the first triggers mandatory jail time under Illinois law, with no exceptions. Certain factors can increase penalties at any offense level, including a blood alcohol concentration of 0.16% or higher, a minor passenger in the vehicle, an accident that injures another person, or driving a vehicle known to be uninsured.

If you’ve been arrested for DUI more than once, the stakes of your case are categorically different from a first offense, and the defense strategy needs to reflect that from day one.

How We Fight DUI Charges

DUI cases are defensible, and a thorough review of the evidence often reveals weaknesses the arrest report doesn’t show.

Common defense strategies include:

• Challenging the traffic stop itself — if the officer lacked a legal basis (reasonable suspicion) to initiate the stop, every piece of evidence gathered afterward may be suppressible
• Scrutinizing field sobriety test administration — these tests are highly subjective and easily affected by terrain, weather, footwear, and medical conditions unrelated to impairment
• Challenging chemical test procedures — breath, blood, and urine tests are governed by strict administrative rules; errors in calibration, observation periods, or documentation can make results inadmissible
• Raising a rising-BAC defense — alcohol absorption takes time, meaning a driver’s BAC at the moment of driving may have been below the legal limit even if a later test at the station was higher
• Addressing prescription or legal-substance use that did not actually impair driving ability

Acting quickly matters. Dash-cam footage, witness memories, and physical evidence all degrade with time, and the deadline to challenge your statutory summary suspension is measured in days, not months.

Frequently Asked Questions

We’ve answered the most common questions about Illinois DUI charges — what happens immediately after an arrest, how license suspension and revocation work, defense strategies, case timelines, and how fees and communication work with this office — in detail on our DUI FAQs page.

Schedule Your Free Consultation

A DUI arrest moves fast — evidence can disappear, and the deadline to challenge your license suspension is measured in days. The sooner an experienced defense attorney is involved, the more options you have.

Call W. Scott Hanken at (217) 544-4057 or contact the office online to schedule a free, confidential consultation. The firm serves clients throughout Springfield, Sangamon County, and Central Illinois.

📍 1100 S 5th St, Springfield, IL 62703 ☎ (217) 544-4057 🌐 hankenlaw.com

This page is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is unique — contact W. Scott Hanken directly for guidance on your specific situation.