What Factors Might Enhance Or Aggravate A DUI Charge?
Aggravating factors, as they relate to a DUI, all center around safety. The consequences of driving under the influence are severe, with potential jail time even if you exceed the speed limit by 100 miles an hour.
If your blood alcohol level is double the legal limit, you can expect to get jail time. If you become involved in an accident, you can be treated more harshly. In Los Angeles County, for a first-time DUI, you are typically looking at being put on probation for three years. There will also be a $390-$1,000, plus the penalty assessment.
If you get the minimum $390 fine, you will have to pay over $2,000 once they add the 200% penalty assessment. You are also going to have to complete an alcohol abuse program. The first-offender program is three months long.
There can be other fees associated with the case, and you can be given jail time if you are considered a danger to the public. If you are being charged with a second offense, there is a mandatory minimum of 96 hours in jail.
There is a mandatory minimum of 180 days in jail on a third offense. On a fourth offense, you will be charged with a felony, and you will be looking at state prison time.
DUI Causing Injury
Probably some of the biggest things that cause problems in DUI cases are when people get hurt, and the worse the injury, the worse the problem is. If somebody gets seriously injured, the person charged with the DUI can also be charged with a felony DUI.
They can also add a great bodily injury allegation that makes the case a strike. It makes it an automatic felony. You can't ever get it off of your record, and you're looking at prison time if you have a GBI allegation. It's a three-year enhancement.
So, when somebody's injured, you have a real big problem. One defense to that is that you didn't cause the injury. Sometimes, the people cause the injury themselves. Other times, a third party causes the injury.
Other times it's just simply nobody's fault. So, that sometimes can be a defense, and obviously, you want to use that if you're hit with a GBI allegation because it causes a big problem for you.
Type of Dangerous Driving
Another issue they look at and aggravates DUI cases is how fast you're going because speed kills, and if you're going very fast, it makes you a lot more dangerous. The danger is one of the big things in DUIs that is trying to be avoided.
So, if you're going fast, swerving out of control, evading the police — anything that has a high degree of dangerousness — is going to be something that the courts and prosecutors look at when they consider aggravating or enhancing a DUI charge.
If you kill somebody while drinking under the influence of alcohol, that's probably the most significant aggravation. In Los Angeles County, the prosecutors — the District Attorney's office — have a policy that if somebody's drinking and driving and they drive and kill somebody, they're going to charge that person with second-degree murder.
The person will be spending fifteen to life in prison under those circumstances. Sometimes you can get those cases mitigated down to vehicular manslaughter or some other charge, or even maybe defend it depending on the circumstances. But, you start to feel how aggravating factors can come up in DUI cases.
The problem with it is people say, I want to drink. I want to have a good time. Your most significant issue is that you put the rest of the people on the road at risk when you drink and drive, and if you hurt somebody or kill somebody, that's when the authorities will have to step in and say, wait a minute.
We are going to show everybody else what we do when people kill other people and are selfish and drink and drive, but we're also going to punish you for what you did. One of the biggest things they're looking to do is punish the individual who is drinking alcohol and driving.
When facing an aggravated or enhanced DUI case, it's crucial to seek legal help. An experienced attorney who has handled these cases before can provide reassurance, knowing the defenses to these enhancements and how to mitigate them.
Sometimes, there's no defense to your actions in a DUI case, and the best course of action is to mitigate the situation. This can be done through various means, such as presenting character letters and sharing the other side of the story that the police may have yet to consider in their investigation. If you're facing an aggravated or enhanced DUI case, it's important to seek legal counsel. I've been practicing law for twenty-five years, with a track record of success in these cases.
We prefer to get the case dismissed right from the beginning. If we cannot get the case dismissed, we are looking to get you a reduced charge. My law firm has been doing this for 25 years. We are known all over Los Angeles County. We know the judges and the prosecutors. We know how to check the machine's calibration records used to test you and which things can affect breath testing.