Driving under the effect of drugs or alcohol (DUI) is considered a severe offense in California. DUIs and wet reckless charges are priorable offenses in the state. It means that the seriousness of your punishment after conviction will depend on whether you have a prior conviction for a similar or related offense in your criminal record. For instance, a 4th DUI charge means that you already have three other DUI-related convictions in your history. If convicted for the fourth time, you might face a more severe penalty, including a lengthy prison time, hefty fines, and loss of driving privileges. Therefore, if you face charges for DUI for the fourth time, it is advisable to seek the help of an experienced DUI defense lawyer. Your attorney might persuade the judge to dismiss or reduce your charges.
What To Expect When Facing a 4th DUI Charge
A DUI arrest in California begins with a DUI investigation. It could occur after the police pull you over for a traffic violation, or you were involved in an accident, and someone called the police to the scene. If the police have a probable reason to believe that you were operating while intoxicated, you will be arrested and charged with DUI under California VC 23152a.
After your arrest, the police will require you to submit to DUI testing. The test is mandatory and could lead to more criminal charges if you fail to submit to it. The test results will reveal your BAC. If the BAC is 0.08% or more, you will face the second DUI charge, under California VC 23152b.
The police will then look through your criminal record to determine the appropriate charge. As previously mentioned, DUIs are priorable crimes. It means that a prior conviction for DUI will determine your current charges. Thus, if you have three prior DUI convictions in your record, the police will forward the information to the prosecutor, who then opens a 4th DUI charge against you.
Note that you can still face drunk driving charges in California even when your BAC level is not equal to or above the allowed legal limit. California VC 23152a only requires proof that the alcohol or drugs in your system impaired your ability to operate a vehicle to the point where you could not drive with enough caution as a sober person would. The court will also require the arresting officer to demonstrate that he/she had probable cause for your arrest.
A 4th DUI offense occurs when you are arrested for DUI and have three other DUI convictions in your criminal record that occurred within ten years. If one or more of your previous DUI convictions happened more than ten years ago, the current offense would not qualify as a 4th DUI charge.
Generally, a 4th DUI offense is a felony, which means that a conviction is likely to be severely punished with a longer prison time and heftier penalties than the first, second, or third convictions. Therefore, it is advisable to prepare to fight your charges in court. The help of a competent DUI attorney goes a long way in ensuring that the court doesn’t find you guilty of the 4th DUI charge.
In a criminal trial, the judge relies on the evidence presented by both the prosecutor and defense to conclude the case. Thus, the jury will expect the prosecutor to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you have at least three previous DUI sentences or any other alcohol-related conviction within ten years. Here are some of the convictions that could count as priors in this case:
- A conviction under California VC 23152a for driving under the effects of drugs or alcohol
- A conviction under California VC 23152b for operating a vehicle with a Blood Alcohol Concentration of .08% or more
- A conviction under California VC 23103.5 for wet reckless
- Any DUI-related sentence that occurred out of state but could meet the qualifications of a conviction for any of the above crimes
- A record of expungement for any of these convictions
Additionally, the court will need sufficient proof to support the 4th DUI charge. Thus, the prosecutor will have to prove in court that you were operating a vehicle under the effect of drugs or alcohol or with a Blood Alcohol Concentration of 0.08% or more.
The court will also require the prosecutor to prove the existence of the three prior DUI-related convictions in your criminal record and demonstrate why they affect your current DUI charge. Prosecutors can easily find records of convictions from the state Department of Motor vehicles. Certificates of attendance and completion of court-ordered DUI programs are also available for district attorneys.
Penalties for To Expect After a 4th DUI Conviction.
As mentioned earlier, a 4th DUI offense is a felony in California. Thus, you can expect severe penalties once convicted. California has both criminal and administrative penalties for offenders who are guilty of DUI-related crimes. The judge issues criminal penalties after you are found guilty as charged. California DMV gives administrative penalties. Note that administrative penalties are independent of the court’s ruling in your case. You can still face severe administrative penalties for drunk driving even if you are not found guilty of the offense in a criminal court.
Criminal Penalties
Criminal penalties for a 4th DUI conviction are under California VC 23550. The law provides all criminal consequences for drivers found guilty of any felony DUI offense in California. The gravity of the criminal penalties you’ll receive is based on your case’s facts and whether the previous criminal convictions were within a short period. The presence of aggravating factors, like excessive speeding and elevated BAC, in your case could heighten your criminal penalties.
If you are found guilty of DUI for the fourth time in ten years, these are the criminal penalties you are likely to receive upon conviction:
Incarceration
The worry for many people facing DUI charges is the time they are likely to face behind bars after conviction. In California, all DUI defenders are likely to spend some time behind bars, ranging from a few days to years. The length of time you could be incarcerated depends on the seriousness of your offense. Some people are sentenced to time in jail, which is considered better than prison time. But for a more severe crime like the 4th DUI offense, you might be sent to prison for a maximum of three years if found guilty.
Court Fines and Assessments
Fines are the financial payments you are ordered to pay after a conviction. Most criminal offenses carry a minimum and maximum fine that offenders must pay after a sentence. The judge determines the exact amount. California DUI laws are more stringent on the fines you are likely to pay after conviction. Therefore, expect to pay more if convicted of DUI for the 4th time in ten years. Your fine will range between $390 and $5,000.
Court assessments are also part of the money paid to the court by the offender after a conviction. The money is used to help fund the court building and services provided by the court. People convicted for DUIs in the state are likely to pay more in court assessments to compensate for the court’s efforts to process their driver’s license suspension, assess their criminal records, and fund DUI-related programs and other deterrent programs.
Felony Probation
Felony probation is granted in place of incarceration. Probation time could range between three to five years for fourth DUI offenders in California. Probation is a period of supervision in which you can serve part of your entire sentence out of prison. DUI offenders are eligible for felony probation under California laws. If the court sends you on probation, you will be referred to a probation officer, who will determine the conditions for your probation. Among those conditions is a requirement to abide by the law throughout the probation period, not move out of the state, and keep open communication with the probation officers.
DUI Program/School
You will also be required to enroll and complete a court-ordered DUI program if convicted of the 4th DUI offense. In the DUI School, you will be taking classes designed to discourage you from ever driving under the effect of alcohol in the future. Enrollment in the DUI program is mandatory, and you must attend the classes for a minimum of 30 months. During this period, you cannot take any alcohol or drugs until the program is complete. If found intoxicated while still in the program, it will be considered a violation of your probation.
If the court determines that you are addicted to either alcohol or drugs, you will be sent to a court-ordered alcohol/drug treatment program in the place of a DUI school. The goal is to ensure that you will never drink or use drugs again.
Driver License Suspension
DUI offenders in California are likely to face two types of driver’s license suspension for drunk driving: the administrative or per se suspension and the court-ordered suspension. Administrative or per se suspension is part of the administrative penalties you are likely to face after a DUI arrest. The judge orders the other suspension after conviction. The latter is usually longer than the administrative suspension and can seriously hurt your career and life. Thus, if you are found guilty of DUI for the 4th time in ten years, the court might suspend your driver’s license for a minimum of four years or revoke it permanently.
Mandatory Installation of an IID
An IID is a system that you can install in your vehicle to prevent you from starting it while intoxicated. It works like a breathalyzer in that you must blow into it before starting the car. If you’ve been drinking, your vehicle will not stop if the device detects some alcohol in your breath. DUI offenders in California must install IID systems in their vehicles to discourage a repeat of the offense. Installing an IID will be costly for you, frustrating, and inconvenient. However, you might have to fulfill one of the requirements after a 4th DUI conviction to have your driver’s license back sooner.
The DMV Hearing
After a DUI arrest, the police will keep your license and then give you an interim license that you can use for seven days. You will have ten days from the day of the arrest to request a DMV hearing if you want to safeguard your driving privilege. If you don’t make this request, the DMV can revoke your license for a maximum of four years.
When the four years are over, you will only be able to apply for a license afresh to continue driving in the state. It means that you will take a new driving test and pay a driver’s license application fee, just the same as a new applicant. But since the revocation of your license was due to a criminal arrest, DMV will request you to provide proof of completing the court-ordered alcoholic program, DUI School, or probation. The DMV will also require you to install an IID once you manage to obtain a license. Note that the installation of the IID system and all the maintenance costs that come with it will be your responsibility.
If you request a hearing within ten days of your arrest, the DMV will ensure that one of its officials will be available to conduct the hearing. DMV hearings are usually informal, not like criminal trials. The outcome of the hearing will determine the status of your driver’s license. Thus, it is advisable to have an attorney by your side to ensure you are not losing the case.
Your attorney will help in several ways, like ensuring that your rights in a DMV hearing are safe from violation.
Habitual Traffic Offender Status
A conviction for a 4th DUI offense could also result in registering yourself as a habitual traffic offender. The judge might order you to register for three years after conviction.
After a DUI conviction, you might be allowed to drive on a restricted license or with an installed IID system in your car. Even so, you are still considered to be operating on a suspended or revoked license, which is a separate offense punishable by 30 days of jail time and a maximum fine of $1,000.
Penalty Enhancements
If you face charges for a 4th DUI, you might be subject to penalty enhancements upon conviction. Penalty enhancements would affect your case if there were aggravating circumstances in your 4th DUI charge. The severity of these enhanced penalties is determined by the aggravating factor involved, your BAC level at the time of arrest, your criminal history, and whether there were fatalities or injuries in your case.
The following are some of the penalty enhancements you can expect:
- Eighteen additional days on your prison time if you refused to yield to chemical testing after an arrest.
- Sixty additional days if you were caught speeding excessively or driving recklessly. The court will consider a speed of 30 mph above the set speed limit for highway driving excessive speeding.
- A maximum of ninety additional days if you were driving with a child below 14 when you committed the offense. You could also face a separate charge for child endangerment, which carries a six-year prison penalty. If found guilty of child endangerment, you will not be subject to this penalty enhancement.
- Two additional years of prison time if you caused an injury while operating under the effect of drugs or alcohol — The judge could give you up to six additional years if the injury was severe and an extra year for every victim injured in the accident. This enhancement comes with an additional fine of $5,000.
- A maximum of four additional years for DUI manslaughter, plus a fine of not more than $10,000 — If your case’s circumstances support a gross vehicular manslaughter charge, you’ll receive an additional six years to your prison time.
- You could also be penalized for Watson murder if you caused a fatality while driving under the effect of drugs or alcohol. The prosecutor only needs to prove in court that you had received a Watson warning beforehand that causing the death of another person while driving while intoxicated could result in murder charges. For this, you will receive additional 15 years or life in prison, plus a fine of $15,000 and a charge for second-degree
Find a DUI Defense Attorney Near Me
If you face DUI charges for the fourth time in ten years in San Fernando Valley & Los Angeles, CA, it helps to understand your charges’ implications and the penalties you could receive if convicted. The help of an experienced DUI defense attorney is indispensable at a time like that. Your attorney will advise, guide, and represent you in court to ensure you obtain a favorable outcome from your case. At The Law Offices of Ross Howell Sobel, we could even design a solid defense to compel the court to reduce or drop your 4th DUI charges. Call us at 818-582-2350, and let us review your case.
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