Can I drive at all while my DUI case is pending?

Usually yes, at first — because in Tennessee the arrest itself does not take your license.

Tennessee is not one of the states where the motor vehicle agency cuts your license off a set number of days after an arrest. Here, it takes a judge.

Then why do people lose their license long before the case is over?

Because a judge can decide a second, separate question early: whether you refused a breath or blood test after being arrested and properly warned what refusing would cost you. That decision can be made at your first court appearance, sometimes within days of the arrest. The law is written on the assumption it will happen before your DUI case is resolved. "The arrest didn't take it" is not the same as "I have a year."

If I beat the DUI charge, do I get the license back?

Not automatically. The refusal question is legally separate from the criminal case. Tennessee's highest court has upheld a license suspension for refusing a test against a driver a jury had already acquitted of drunk driving. Beating the charge and keeping your license are two different fights.

Can a judge let me drive in the meantime?

Sometimes. Tennessee law provides for a restricted license, with one route while a case is pending and another after a conviction. But nobody is entitled to one. You apply, the judge may say no, and a judge who says no has done nothing wrong.

What would a restricted license actually let me do?

Less than most people expect. Once your license is revoked — by a refusal finding or by a conviction — the law often requires a breath-testing device on your car, at your own cost, and after a DUI conviction it usually does. Where none is ordered, the permission covers a short, fixed list — work, probation, a court-ordered program, school for a full-time student, worship, medical care for a serious illness. Groceries, errands and the school run are not on it. The route while a case is still pending is a separate one, but the same tight limits on where and when you may drive can apply there too.

What is the mistake that makes all of this worse?

Driving before every step is finished. The judge's order is not a license. There are further steps with the state, a fee, and proof the device is installed, on a short deadline. Driving before that is still driving on a revoked license, and Tennessee courts have upheld the seizure and permanent loss of the car in that situation, with no conviction required.

About the Author

David G. Ridings is a Nashville criminal defense attorney, former police officer, and former prosecutor with nearly 40 years of experience in the Tennessee justice system. Known as “DrJudge,” he educates hundreds of thousands about their rights during police encounters.

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