St. Mary License Suspension Lawyer

St. Mary License Suspension Attorney

There’s something about a drunk driving arrest that many people in St. Mary Parish don’t realize until it’s too late.

In Louisiana, a  DWI arrest triggers two separate cases. The criminal case you expect moves through the courts on one track, and a license suspension case moves through the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles on a completely separate track.

Your license could be suspended even if you have to drive to a boat dock, offshore staging yard, or refinery for work. A DWI arrest can put your job at immediate risk.

The DWI Defense Center LLC is Louisiana’s only exclusively DWI firm. Troy Broussard has handled over 1,000 DWI cases. He holds NHTSA Standardized Field Sobriety Testing certification and is a certified operator of the Intoxilyzer 5000, which is the breath test instrument Louisiana law enforcement uses to generate the evidence against you.

Contact us and tell us your arrest date. We will tell you exactly where you stand and what we may be able to do to keep your license valid.

St. Mary Parish License Suspensions

Under La. R.S. 32:667, the arresting officer seizes your license at the scene and hands you a temporary receipt. That receipt is your driving permit. You typically have 30 days to submit a written request for an administrative hearing to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. Miss that window, and the suspension begins automatically.

What the suspension means on paper is one thing. What it means for your household is another. If your job requires a commercial driver’s license, the stakes are higher still. A CDL disqualification does not just suspend your personal driving privileges. It ends your ability to work in your current role until the matter is resolved, and in St. Mary Parish’s marine transport and energy sectors, that resolution may come after the job has already been filled.

Suspension periods under La. R.S. 32:667 include:

• BAC .08 or above, first offense: 180-day suspension
• BAC .08 or above, second or subsequent offense within 5 years: 365-day suspension
• BAC .15 or above, first offense: 2-year suspension
• BAC .15 or above, second offense: 4-year suspension
• First refusal: 1-year suspension
• Second or subsequent refusal within 10 years: 2-year suspension
• Refusal where a fatality or serious bodily injury occurred and the driver’s intoxication is determined by a trier of fact to be a contributing factor: 1-year suspension, no hardship license eligibility
• Under 21 with BAC .02 or above: 180-day suspension

The administrative hearing is the primary mechanism available to challenge the suspension before it takes effect. If you contact an experienced St. Mary DWI lawyer within 30 days of your arrest, we can file the request that keeps your temporary permit valid until the hearing concludes.

What Troy Broussard Looks for in a St. Mary Parish License Suspension Case

As we prepare your license suspension defense, we may consider:

• The officer’s sworn report. This document triggers the entire suspension process. If the officer failed to properly advise you of your rights, administered the test outside the required protocol, or omitted a required element from the report, the foundation of the suspension may be defective.
• The Intoxilyzer 5000 administration itself. Troy is a certified Intoxilyzer 5000 operator. He knows the required observation period, the calibration standard, and what a valid test looks like from the operator side.
• The field sobriety testing sequence. Troy holds NHTSA Standardized Field Sobriety Testing certification. The SFST protocols are precise. Deviations in how the walk-and-turn, one-leg stand, or horizontal gaze nystagmus tests were administered can undercut the officer’s conclusions about impairment, and that affects what the administrative law judge sees.
• The 30-day filing deadline itself. Filing the hearing request within 30 days of your arrest keeps your temporary driving permit valid until the hearing concludes.
• Parallel hardship license eligibility. While the hearing challenge is pending, we assess whether a restricted license with ignition interlock is available as a fallback. Both tracks run simultaneously so you are not waiting on one to resolve before the other begins.

We will answer your  questions about the process and possible outcomes so you are confident about what to expect.

FAQs About St. Mary Parish License Suspension Laws

I was arrested for DWI in St. Mary Parish. Do I need to act right now, or can I wait?

You typically have 30 days from the date of your DWI arrest to request the administrative hearing , but you should not wait that long to consult an attorney.

What happens at the Division of Administrative Law hearing?

An administrative law judge reviews the evidence of the stop, the officer’s sworn report, and the breath test or refusal record. We attend on your behalf and present every available challenge to the proposed suspension. If the judge rules in your favor, the suspension is lifted. If not, appeal options may exist.

Does filing for the hearing let me keep driving in the meantime?

Yes. Filing the hearing request within the 30-day window extends your temporary driving permit so you can legally drive until the hearing concludes.

Can I get a hardship license to keep driving during a suspension?

A restricted license for work and essential travel may be available for eligible first and second offenses, provided you install an ignition interlock device. Eligibility depends on the nature of the offense and your BAC or refusal record. We assess hardship license eligibility at the same time as the hearing challenge.

Your License Matters: Contact the DWI Defense Center Today

You have one opportunity to request the administrative hearing that can prevent automatic suspension of your St. Mary Parish driver’s license. That window is typically 30 days from your arrest date.

The DWI Defense Center LLC is Louisiana’s only exclusively DWI firm. Troy Broussard has been a member of the National College for DUI Defense since 1997, holds certification as an Intoxilyzer 5000 operator, and has defended DWI cases throughout Louisiana for decades.

Contact us today for a confidential consultation. Tell us the date of your arrest and we will tell you exactly how much time you have to file a hearing request and how we may be able to help you keep driving.