An arrest and subsequent charge for DUI can be overwhelming and stressful. However, what is even worse is being found guilty of the offense. The consequences of a conviction are not only the short-term ones like incarceration or court fines and fees that you already know, but they extend to your personal and professional life, causing adverse effects in the long run. Luckily, if you learn about these consequences, you will be taking a huge step towards protecting yourself, your family, and the future because you will fight them by all means. This blog discusses the consequences you will face for a DUI sentencing.

Possible Jail Time

In California, the minimum and maximum jail time you obtain upon conviction depend on the number of prior offenses and the nature of your violation. When it is your first offense, it is classified as a misdemeanor. A conviction for the crime results in no more than six months in jail.

Similarly, a second drunk driving offense within ten years is a misdemeanor. If the court finds you guilty, you risk a potential ninety-six hours to twelve months in jail.

With a third DUI offense conviction within a washout period, the state will require you to spend a minimum of one hundred and twenty days in jail. The maximum jail term for the same criminal act is twelve months.

The consequences of a conviction will increase if someone sustains injuries due to drunk driving. A DUI causing damage will be charged as a misdemeanor based on the circumstances of the case. And when sentenced, your potential jail time will be five days to twelve months in jail. If a first drunk driving charge is filed as a felony, the jail time increases when sentenced. You will face a state prison sentence of between sixteen months to sixteen years.

Note that a first DUI felony offense is different from a felony DUI. A conviction for a direct felony drunk driving charge will result in state incarceration for sixteen, twenty-four, or thirty-six months.

As you can see from the above jail sentences, DUI is priorable, and the duration you spend in jail depends on the number of previous offenses and the existence of injuries. However, what stands out is that you risk spending time in jail when you are convicted of any DUI. Luckily, you can prevent spending jail or prison time by working with a defense attorney who understands these cases.

Hefty Court Fines and Fees

DUI is an expensive process considering the hefty fines you must part with when convicted. The same factors that increase jail time upon conviction will also increase your court fines.

A standard 1st DUI sentence within a lookback period ranges from $390 to $1,000. The same fine applies to the second, third, and subsequent drinking and driving charges. Penalty evaluation and fees can increase your fines to $3,600 for a first offense.

A second offense will see the penalty assessment costs increase the court fines to a total of $4,000. The total fines will rise to $18,000 for a third offense due to the additional penalty assessment fee.

However, the maximum court fines increase if aggravating factors like injury are present in your case. When someone sustains bodily harm due to drunk driving, the offense becomes a wobbler, and it is up to the prosecutor to decide whether to file it as a misdemeanor or felony. A misdemeanor 1st DUI offense with injury attracts fines of $390 to $5,000 upon conviction. If the injuries are severe or the victim loses their life, the offense is filed as a felony whose court fine ranges from $1,015 to $5,000. And when the offense is directly filed as a felony DUI, the court will impose monetary fines of $390 to $1,000 when proven guilty. Court fines plus penalty review fees can raise the total amount to $18,000.

Driver’s License Suspension or Revocation

When convicted of any drinking and driving offense, you will learn the consequences for your driving privileges. Like other penalties for the violation, the revocation period is tied to your previous crimes. A first DUI sentencing will revoke driving privileges for six months. A second sentence is twenty-four months, and a third one thirty-six months of license suspension A fourth and subsequent DUI attracts a suspension term of no more than four years. The suspension period where the drunk driving victim has sustained injuries ranges from twelve to thirty-six months. Nevertheless, if the offense is charged as a felony, a conviction increases the license suspension to no more than five years.

A license suspension can cause severe problems, including emotional toll and embarrassment because of relying on others when you need a ride and loss of ability to earn. Without a license, you will have problems going to work and can lose your job due to lateness, losing your livelihood. Fortunately, with the help of an attorney, you can apply for a restricted driver’s license to enable you to drive to work or school. A first-time offender qualifies for this restricted license within thirty days after the revocation, and it is valid for five months.

If you are a second offender, you will wait for ninety days before obtaining the restricted license, which allows you to drive to and from work for twelve months. If it is a third DUI within the last ten years, you will wait for no more than six months before you are eligible for a restricted license to allow you to drive to and from work or school.

You should note that factors like refusal to submit a sample for chemical testing or having a highly concentrated blood alcohol mass will result in more extended driving privileges suspension.

Mandatory Installation Of An Ignition Interlock Device (IID)

Another consequence of drinking and driving is the installation of an IID. For a first-time offender, it is not mandatory to install the device, but if the court orders so, you will install the gadget in your vehicle for six months. The device allows you to drive without restrictions, but it prevents the car from starting if it detects alcohol in your breath.

For a 2nd DUI conviction, the punishment will be the installation of an IID for twelve months and twenty-four months for a third or subsequent sentence. Additionally, when convicted for a misdemeanor DUI with injury, you will install the IID for six months, while for a felony DUI, you will have the device installed in your vehicle for a duration of 24 to 36 months.

When the court orders you to install an IID in your vehicle, the expenses will be coming out of your pocket. On top of these costs, the probation department will be monitoring the device. Monitoring is also associated with other expenses like rental fees, meaning you will incur huge expenses within the period the device will be installed in your vehicle. The longer you are required to install the device, the more the rental fees.

Once you install this device in your vehicle, you will be required to blow it every time you want to drive. If any alcohol amount is detected in your breath, the car will not start, and you can be forced to pay the towing fee. Again, you risk further driving privileges suspension by the DMV.

Probation Requirement

Instead of sending you to jail or requiring you to pay colossal amounts of monetary court fines, the judge will impose probation after a conviction. The probation depends on the number of priors. The court will impose summary probation for three years if convicted for a 1st DUI, although this can extend to five years. The court will require you to attend a mandatory DUI school or alcohol treatment for three months during the probation period. The duration of the school will extend to sixty hours or nine months if, at the time of arrest, you had a high blood alcohol mass of .20% or more.

The probation duration for a second DUI conviction is the same as that of a first DUI, although you will attend drug or alcohol treatment for eighteen to thirty months. The probation duration for a 3rd and subsequent DUI sentence within ten years is three to five years with a condition of mandatory DUI program for thirty months.

DUI school programs are intended for alcohol and drug abuse treatment to help you avoid alcohol or drugs if the judge believes you have an alcohol or substance abuse problem. These programs are beneficial, but the problem is cost. You will pay up to $400 as fees for the program, and if you skip your classes, you will be kicked out of the program. Failing to complete the program will result in probation suspension, forcing you to part with another fee to start the course afresh. These costs become a substantial financial burden for many individuals convicted of DUI.

Additionally, probation will come with other conditions like restitution if you injured someone during the drunk driving incident. Also, you will be required to attend Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings or take part in Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Attending these meetings can be embarrassing, especially if your friends or family learn about them, making your life more difficult.

Collateral Consequences

Jail time, license suspension, probation, mandatory installation of an IID, and payment of hefty court fines are the legal penalties of a DUI sentence. A criminal conviction for drunk driving can also cause non-criminal consequences in your future life. These consequences include:

  1. Loss of Employment and Wages

If the court imposes a jail or prison sentence during sentencing, you will likely lose your job. Many employers have provisions that allow them to fire workers convicted of any criminal charge. Therefore, if you currently have a job, a conviction will result in job and wage loss for the time you will be behind bars. Even if you are not sentenced to jail, your DUI case will take much of your time because you will need time to discuss the details with your attorney and attend court and DMV hearings. Without proper time management, you risk wreaking havoc on your employment, leading to job loss.

Also, if your job involves driving company vehicles like school vans, cabs, or delivery trucks, you will lose your job when convicted. This is because of the revocation of your commercial driver’s license and the fact that your employer no longer trusts you to drive safely.

  1. Criminal Record

Whether it is your first or you have multiple DUIs, a conviction will result in a criminal record for ten years. Unless the information is deleted, every employer who runs background checks on potential workers will come across it, disqualifying you from the job.

Finding an apartment will also become a problem for you because some landlords run background checks before allowing tenants in their buildings. With a record, housing becomes a problem.

Again, background checks are likely triggered when applying for college admission or financial aid. If you have a criminal history of drinking and driving, your college admission chances become slim because many institutions are reluctant to engage students with a criminal record.

  1. Increased Car Insurance Premiums

Your auto insurance company will classify you as a high-risk driver after learning about your DUI conviction. It means that the insurer considers your conviction a sign of poor decision-making and a high probability of causing an accident, leading to doubling or tripling your insurance premium to minimize the risk. Some companies will even cancel your automobile policy. Your premiums will be increased depending on your age, sex, driving record and experience, and location.

What happens leading to the increase in insurance premiums is that after a license suspension due to a DUI conviction, you will be required to obtain an SR22 certificate from your insurer to regain your driving privileges. You will request the certificate from your insurer, then send it to the DMV to reinstate the driver’s license. The SR22 form is proof of a high-risk driver, meaning your insurance rates will increase. Even with a reinstated license, you will continue to feel the cost of a conviction, which will cause emotional turmoil for you and your loved ones.

  1. Loss or Revocation of Professional License

If you are an occupation license holder like a doctor, a lawyer, or nurse, a conviction for drunk driving can trigger disciplinary action by the licensing board. The corrective action could mean loss or suspension of your professional license. Sadly, if you are looking to enter the profession, the record of a conviction will be used by the regulatory agency to deny your application for the license.

  1. Civil Damages

If a life was lost or someone sustained injuries during the drunk driving incident, the victim or their close family members could take civil action, seeking compensation for losses caused by the harm or death caused by your negligence. The civil suit usually comes after a DUI conviction because the injury claim relies on the conviction to prove your negligence. If a criminal court has found you criminally liable for drunk driving, the civil court is likely to find you negligent and order you to pay compensation.

The compensation you will be paying the victims depends on the losses they have suffered. Paying court fines combined with these damages means you will be paying thousands of dollars, straining your finances. You can even end up selling your home, vehicle, or assets to raise the money required for the civil damages.

  1. Personal and Professional Relationships

A conviction for a DUI charge will significantly affect how your colleagues or workers perceive you. Even if you try hiding it, these records are available to the public, and one way or another, people will learn of the conviction, which will stain your reputation and affect your work performance if you are lucky to keep the job. Your personal relationships will also receive a hit because you will be embarrassed that they will be treating you differently as they try to offer support during the challenging time.

Finally, the consequences of a DUI sentence, even for a first offense, are devastating, and you should fight the charges with everything you have to prevent a conviction. Luckily, arresting officers make many mistakes when investigating drunk driving offenses. For example, an officer needs probable cause before making a traffic stop. Therefore, if you believe the officer lacked a reasonable belief that you were driving under the influence, the car stop will be illegal, making all the evidence in the case inadmissible. This can force the prosecutor to withdraw the charges, avoiding the consequences of a sentence.

Also, the equipment used to test breath, urine, or blood samples is not always accurate, creating an opening to contest the results. However, you will need an experienced criminal attorney to make the jury doubt the accuracy of the results.

Multiple legal defenses are available to contest DUI charges and prevent a conviction successfully. All you need is to find an experienced attorney to represent you in your case.

Find an Experienced Criminal Defense Attorney Near Me

When charged with drunk driving in Los Angeles, you should not take the charges lightly, even if it’s your first offense. A conviction attracts serious consequences, some of them life-changing, which is why you need to prevent them by all means. At The LA Criminal Defense Law Firm, we have attorneys ready to review your case and mount proper defenses to avoid a conviction. With us by your side, you will worry less about the consequences above because we bring hope in the case. Call us today at 310-935-1675 for a free consultation.