Glossary of Legal Terms
List of Abbreviations, Synonyms, and Definitions
When you are charged with an Illinois DUI, a lot of acronyms and legal jargon are thrown around. Jerald Novak & Associates believes that you should be fully informed about your DUI case. It is impossible to be fully informed if your attorney is speaking in jargon. I have provided a list of common DUI terms. If there are other terms that you are not familiar with, stop your attorney, and ask them to explain.
Administrative Hearing - Driver’s License hearing. This affects only your driver’s license and is different from your DUI charge.
Administrative Hearing Officer - The judge for the driver’s license hearing.
Alcohol test - This refers to blood, breath, or urine test
BAT Van - Breath alcohol test van
BlAT - Blood alcohol test
BrAT - Breath alcohol test.
Breath test - This is the large breath test machine that gives you a number result and is not the hand held preliminary breath test.
Cereal Malt Beverage - 3.2 Beer, not liquor store beer
CDL - Commercial driver’s license
DC-27 form - Officer’s certification of failure or refusal of alcohol test. The DC-27 form is also referred to as the "pink sheet" or the "officer’s certification".
DC-28 form - Law enforcement officer’s certification of breath test failure for minor with alcohol test of .02 or greater. The DC-28 form is also referred to as the "pink sheet" or the "officer’s certification".
DL - Driver’s license
DMV - Department of Motor vehicle (Driver Control Division of Illinois Department of Revenue)
DUI - Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. This is different from the administrative hearing/driver’s license hearing this may be referred to as the court case, traffic case, criminal case, or ticket.
DWI - Same meaning as DUI. Driving while intoxicated
LEO - Law enforcement officer
MVR - Motor vehicle record
PBT - Preliminary breath test - hand held machine used for probable cause purposes only.
"Per se" Law - A type of law which can be violated based upon an alcohol test result unless the alcohol test is properly challenged.
Contact a Lake County and Northern Cook County DUI Lawyer
If you have been charged with Driving Under the Influence or any other criminal offense, please contact Jerald Novak & Associates. I don’t just say I can help with your Illinois DUI defense, I prove it.
