What Happens After DUI Arrest Kentucky

The First 48 Hours

You have been released from custody and you are holding a uniform citation with a court date on it. The anxiety is real, but the next two days are about organizing information, not making legal decisions. Here is what to do before your arraignment.

Retrieve your vehicle. If it was towed, the citation or the arresting agency should have the tow company's name. Contact them and get your car before daily storage fees accumulate. Bring your registration and a valid form of ID.

Organize your paperwork. You received documents during the booking and release process. Gather all of them and put them in one place:

• The uniform citation (this has your court date, time, and the specific District Court location)
• Any bond or bail documents
• Chemical test results or refusal documentation
• Your property release form
• Any temporary driving documents issued at release

Write down everything you remember. While the memory is still fresh, write a detailed account of the traffic stop, field sobriety tests, arrest, and any chemical testing. Include the time of day, the location, what the officer said, what you said, and the sequence of events. This is not for social media — it is for your own reference and for any attorney you consult later.

Do not discuss the case publicly. No social media posts about the arrest, the officer, the charges, or your plans. No conversations with friends at work about what happened. Anything you say or post can become evidence.

What the Citation Tells You

The uniform citation is the most important document you have right now. It contains:

• Your arraignment date and time — this is your first court appearance, usually within a few days of arrest
• The District Court location — tied to the county where the arrest occurred
• The specific charges — DUI first offense (KRS 189A.010), plus any companion charges like speeding, failure to maintain lane, or open container
• Whether a chemical test refusal was recorded — this detail drives several downstream consequences

If a refusal is noted on the citation, expect the judge to order a pretrial license suspension at arraignment. That suspension is separate from anything that happens with the criminal case, and you will have a 30-day window to file a motion for judicial review if you want to challenge it.

Arraignment: What Actually Happens

The arraignment is a short procedural hearing, not a trial. The judge reads the formal charges, sets bail conditions if they have not already been set, and asks how you plead.

For a first-offense DUI, the standard approach is to enter a not guilty plea. This is not a statement that you did nothing wrong — it preserves your ability to review the prosecution's evidence (police reports, breathalyzer calibration records, dash-camera footage, body-camera footage) before making any decisions about how to resolve the case.

If a chemical test refusal is on record, the judge will order the pretrial license suspension at this hearing. You must surrender your physical license to the court clerk. If you do not surrender it, the judge will order it seized.

Bond conditions set at arraignment may include restrictions on alcohol consumption, travel limitations, or in some cases, a requirement to use an alcohol monitoring device. Violating bond conditions can result in arrest and additional charges.

The Decisions Ahead

After arraignment, the case enters a pretrial phase where several paths open up:

Pretrial conferences — meetings between your attorney (or you, if self-representing) and the county prosecutor to discuss the evidence and negotiate. This is where charge amendments (like reducing DUI to reckless driving) are discussed.

Diversion eligibility — in Jefferson County only, a structured diversion program may allow dismissal of the charge. This has a strict 45-day application window from arraignment and specific eligibility requirements, including a BAC below 0.15 and no test refusal. Most other Kentucky counties do not offer DUI diversion.

Ignition interlock application — if you need to drive during the suspension, you can apply for a restricted license through the Kentucky Ignition Interlock Program immediately after arraignment. This involves submitting Form TC 94-175 to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

The 30-day refusal challenge window — if your license was suspended at arraignment due to a chemical test refusal, you have 30 days to file a motion for judicial review. Miss this window and the suspension stands.

Each of these has its own timeline, and several of them overlap. The court case and the license process run in parallel, not in sequence.

The Kentucky First-Offense DUI Guide lays out all of these deadlines on a single timeline, so you can see which administrative actions need to happen alongside each stage of the court case.

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