Gaylene Ricketts was going through a field sobriety test on a late November night when an officer noticed her pupils were different sizes.
Police pulled Ricketts over for allegedly running a stop sign in El Reno. She consented to the field sobriety test but refused a blood alcohol content test. She was booked for a DUI.
After Ricketts got out on bond, she went straight to the hospital. She was having a stroke.
Several months later, the district attorney declined to file charges due to her medical episode. But today, Ricketts still suffers the consequences.
She has paid more than $2,000 in fees, attended hours of drug and alcohol abuse counseling, and continues to blow into an ignition interlock device to start her car.
All without criminal DUI charges or a positive test for drugs or alcohol — much less a conviction.
Two Sides to the Law Cause Confusion
In Oklahoma, being booked for a DUI can potentially open two cases, criminal and administrative.
Declining to take a BAC test results in administrative consequences under the implied consent law, which gives the state permission to test for alcohol concentration and other intoxicating substances upon arrest for any acts occurring on the road.
Upon a first refusal, a person’s license is revoked for at least 180 days. To be reinstated, they must complete the Impaired Driver Accountability Program and undergo an alcohol and drug substance abuse course. Those measures are separate from any potential criminal consequences.
University of Oklahoma law professor Michael Smith is an expert on the separation of the two laws and previously worked as a prosecutor. He said defendants often don’t know which consequences stem from which violation. He said agencies can also be oblivious to the separate effects.
“I do find that a conviction or even an arrest can come with a lot of these administrative consequences that prosecutors aren’t often aware of because those are sort of unrelated to the criminal proceeding,” Smith said. “They sort of go on in the background elsewhere with the state administrative agency.”
Smith said the two tracks of law are separated for efficiency and simplicity.
The standards for prosecuting administrative and criminal offenses also differ, which Smith said reflects what’s at stake. A state education document on implied consent law states that criminal litigation is more serious than civil litigation, granting a criminal defendant more rights and protections than a civil defendant.
In this case, Smith said, a license revocation is less of a deprivation than a loss of liberty or money, which is why safeguards are much lower.
Oklahoma law also establishes a difference in the burden of proof between the types of laws. In criminal prosecutions, the state must prove the infraction beyond a reasonable doubt. For administrative consequences, officers only need to show reasonable grounds to believe a person was operating a vehicle while under the influence.
“So you may have a DA that looks at a case and goes, ‘I can’t prove this beyond a reasonable doubt,’ but the Service Oklahoma standard is much less,” said Brian Morton, a driver’s license attorney. “It’s the lowest standard that we have in the law, and that’s kind of a quirk in our driver’s license case law or statutes. They don’t even have to prove that she was, in fact, driving under the influence.”
For a refusal-based revocation, Christina Dukeman, the director of communications at Service of Oklahoma, said the criteria are based on whether the officer had reasonable grounds to believe the person was driving under the influence, if they were arrested, whether they refused the test, and if they were informed of the loss of driving privileges if they refused.
Ricketts was informed of the potential consequences when she refused to take the test, but she came from a family of law enforcement officers who often told her not to agree to take the test if pulled over. Her past medical issues were more reason to decline, as she was worried her medication would be used as evidence against her.
“Attorneys and police officers always tell their families, ‘Don’t do that. Don’t ever submit to more tests than what’s necessary,’” Ricketts said. “But the problem is you’re guilty if you refuse the test, but you’re guilty if you take the test if you have some kind of medical problem.”
“The entire process is upside down and backwards. The facts should determine the outcome of the administrative process, too.”
Gaylene Ricketts
Ricketts previously had a stroke and is a two-time cancer survivor. The officer stated in his affidavit that Ricketts admitted to taking a muscle relaxer. Ricketts claims she didn’t take the medication, and it was just in her purse. Yet it raises concerns for her and others on prescribed medications, she said.
“If somebody is on treatment or they’re disabled or if they’re a diabetic and if the officer accuses them of being under the influence, even if they’re under control and are fine with the car, you automatically are assumed guilty,” Ricketts said. “If you refuse the blood test, which is what I did because I was doing the sobriety test, you have to pay all these fees and go through this process in order to drive.”
Every state prohibits the use of substances, including legally prescribed medication, if it causes an impairment when operating a motor vehicle, according to the National DUI Authority. The law focuses on the ability to operate a vehicle, not on possessing a prescribed drug.
A positive BAC test confirming the use of a prescription medication after a DUI arrest can be used as evidence in a criminal case, yet refusing to test still results in administrative consequences.
“The entire process is upside down and backwards,” Ricketts said. “The facts should determine the outcome of the administrative process, too.”
Service Oklahoma’s Role in License Revocations
Service Oklahoma directly handles licensing services in the state, including suspensions and revocations. The Oklahoma legislature formed the agency in 2022 to combine license and vehicle registrations into one state agency.
Independently owned tag agencies turned into licensed operators and expanded services to include license issuances, transfers and other services. Although many states use a hybrid model of privately owned businesses and state agencies, most have not required both services at every location.
Licensed operators still make up a large share of total operations. Out of the 265 Service Oklahoma locations, 234 are licensed operators, according to a report from the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency.
The LOFT report found that more operators allow services to reach more rural areas, but the lack of centralization can lead to inconsistent customer service and differences between state and private operator experiences.
Ricketts experienced that firsthand as her case unfolded.
“The people at Service Oklahoma, because we went back so many times, knew who I was,” Ricketts said. “I was like, ‘It’s me again,’ and they’re just like, ‘I can’t believe what you’re going through.’ I mean, they work for Service Oklahoma, and they’re like, ‘We didn’t know that it did that.’”
Dukeman said the framework is set up to address public safety concerns and meet statutory requirements for the implied consent law. There is no way around the process if the driver does not challenge the revocation when given the chance, she said.
A petition against a license revocation must be filed within 30 days. Missing the filing deadline waives a person’s right to a court hearing.
During Ricketts’ 30-day period, she was still awaiting the outcome of her criminal prosecution. After communication with Service Oklahoma, she believed her criminal case would affect the outcome of her administrative case.
A decision not to file criminal charges doesn’t automatically resolve the separate license action, Dukeman said.
Harsh Implied Consent Laws Exist Across the United States
Forty-nine of the 50 states have separate penalties for refusing a BAC test under an implied consent law. Wyoming repealed its implied consent law in 2011 and adopted a more aggressive approach.
Instead, the state uses a no-refusal policy, which allows law enforcement officers to immediately contact an on-call judge for a warrant to conduct a BAC test. After obtaining the warrant, refusing to submit to the test could result in criminal charges such as obstruction of justice.
In other states such as Alaska and Minnesota, a refusal can result in a misdemeanor charge.
In Tennessee, officers and medical professionals may use force to administer the test with a warrant. The administrative consequences also increased this year in Tennessee. If a person refuses a BAC test, the first offense increases from a one-year license revocation to 18 months compared to only 180 days in Oklahoma.
Smith said implied consent law is a bit overbroad, and lawmakers, including in Oklahoma, seem fine with it.
“It can lead to outcomes that are kind of overbroad given the goals,” Smith said. “The goal here seems to be to encourage people to submit to these tests, presumably because we want to catch them if they’re driving under the influence, but if they’re not driving under the influence, that seems to be a bit of an overextension given the purpose of the law.”
What Smith calls an overextension of the law affects Oklahomans like Ricketts tremendously. The reinstatement process uprooted Ricketts’ life, and it took an emotional toll.
“Even though I was not pressed with any type of violation criminally, the mugshot was still out there,” Ricketts said. “It kills your reputation, and it’s been humiliating the whole way.”
Raynee Howell is a general assignment reporter for Oklahoma Watch. Reach her at rhowell@oklahomawatch.org
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