Public safety is a top concern for every state when it comes to DUIs. This shared concern has led to the active involvement of interest groups like Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, who have significantly contributed to the increase in penalties and the enhancement of law enforcement's capabilities to apprehend those who drive under the influence.

It's a sobering fact that to be charged with a DUI in California, you don't necessarily have to be drunk. The state's DUI laws are among the most stringent in the nation, reflecting a zero-tolerance approach to unsafe driving practices.

California's strict DUI regulations become evident when individuals with prior DUIs from other states attempt to obtain a driver's license in California. The state requires these individuals to meet the same requirements as any California driver with a DUI before they are allowed to drive.

For example, I saw one person who had gotten a second-time DUI in another state and hadn't done any alcohol program. In California, for a second time DUI, you have to do an 18-month alcohol program, a massive pain in the neck, and it costs a lot of money and time.

The bottom line is that the DMV informed that person that if they don't complete the program, they cannot drive in California and will never be able to visit the state. So, there's no question that, compared to other states in the nation, California DUIs are one of the most difficult to deal with.

Punishments for California DUIs

California's DUI laws are not to be taken lightly. A fourth-time DUI can escalate to a felony, carrying a potential three-year prison sentence. If the DUI results in serious injury, a three-year enhancement is added, making the consequences even more severe.

That three-year enhancement is typically a significant bodily injury allegation that causes the DUI to become a strike, and the person has that conviction on their record forever. What it boils down to is that the legislature, prosecutors, and judges are tired of people putting others' lives in danger by driving recklessly on the road in Los Angeles and throughout California.

So, they will send people to jail or prison. They will impose harsh sanctions on them for not drinking alcohol during the probationary period. They'll put scram bracelets on them while the pending case is in effect, so they can't injure anybody.

It's typical in Los Angeles courts that when somebody is charged with a DUI and they have a high blood alcohol level or it's a second time DUI, that person will be ordered to do AA meetings while the case is pending every day if they want to be released on their recognizance. Otherwise, the judge will order them to post bail and release them from custody. So, DUIs in California are adamant.

What are the Consequences?

The implications of a DUI in California are stark. If a DUI results in a fatal accident, the driver can be charged with murder. This is a chilling reminder of the potential consequences of driving under the influence.

Many people don't realize that if you're drinking and driving and you kill somebody out on the road, the prosecutors in Los Angeles, and even throughout California, can and will charge you with murder. Second-degree murder, you'll be looking at 15 to live.

You'll have to serve 85% of 15 years before you'll be eligible for parole, and in reality, you could never get out if the Parole Board didn't let you out. It used to be that drivers who killed people had to be proven that they knew or reasonably should have known that it's dangerous and people can die if you drink and drive.

So, they would have to prove to the prosecutors that those drivers took an alcohol course that taught them about the dangers of alcohol. All of the courts in Los Angeles and throughout California read first-time DUI people and even second-time DUI people an admonishment that says if you drink and drive and somebody dies, you will be charged with murder. This is called the Watson Warning.

It used to be that you had to know that you could kill somebody, which would be used to supply the malice necessary for a murder case. In other words, you could apply that the person was malice because they just drove anyway with alcohol in their system.

What they're trying to get you to do is think before you even start drinking, and if you're going to have to drive, set things up before you're in an intoxicated state so that you're not going to put yourself in a position to drink and drive and potentially injure or kill somebody.

Now, I'm seeing the shift that if somebody is drinking and driving and they kill somebody, the prosecutor's first move is to charge them with second-degree murder. The theory they are using to do it is that everybody in society knows by now, because of all the news media and just commonsense, that if you drink alcohol and drive, you stand a good chance of getting in an accident, hurting somebody, or killing somebody.

So, good people with no record who just went out to have a good time are charged with murder. The unfortunate aspect is that it's often unclear whose fault the accident is. Still, in DUI cases, there's another harshness of the California DUI laws: there is a presumption in the law that if you were drinking and driving and an accident occurs, it's presumed that you're the one who is at fault or caused the accident.

Now that presumption can be rebutted, but obviously, your criminal defense attorney is going to have to use their skills to show that the accident was somebody else's fault. Therefore, the death or the injury was caused by another person or another event, or a circumstance. That's how you get rid of these murder charges or felony DUI charges.