With the holidays well under way and the biggest celebratory night of the year fast approaching, it is important to drink responsibly and act sensibly in order to avoid beginning the New Year with a new Orange County DUI conviction. As a driver, you have a responsibility to act with extreme care and caution, not only to yourself, but also to other motorists and pedestrians around you. Accordingly, it is important for a driver to be aware of how California defines a DUI, as well as, the dispositive factors that indicate whether a driver has or has not committed an Orange County DUI in order for that driver to act responsibility.
In California, a DUI is the crime of driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. A person can be prosecuted for an Orange County DUI if they are found to have operated a vehicle with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 percent or greater. Whereas, any person under the age of 21 found operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol content of 0.01 percent or greater will have committed a DUI. However, when prosecuting an Orange County DUI the state of California has the burden of proving the alleged offender operated the vehicle and had a blood alcohol level of 0.08% or greater at the time of incident.
Typically, an alleged Orange County DUI offender will be charged with a misdemeanor violation for their first, second, or third DUI offense. However, there are certain circumstances, which require an Orange County misdemeanor DUI to be upgraded to a felony violation. An alleged Orange County DUI offender can be effectively charged with a felony DUI when they have; (1) committed a crime or neglected his or her legal duty, (2) been involved in an accident that injures or kills another person, or (3) been arrested of their fourth DUI violation within ten years.
Although an Orange County DUI may be classified as a misdemeanor or a felony, please note that the punishment for an Orange County DUI is primarily dependent upon the number of prior DUI convictions a driver has received. For example, the minimum penalties of a driver convicted of their first Orange County DUI are; 48 hours of jail time, fines (ranging from $390-$1000), three years informal probation, three months in an alcohol education program, court restriction of the offender’s drivers license for three months, and DMV suspension of the offender’s drivers license for six months. Whereas, a driver convicted of a second or third Orange County misdemeanor DUI or felony DUI are faced with harsher minimum penalties that include increased fines, increased jail time, and longer probationary periods.
Without question Orange County DUI charges are serious matters and if left in the wrong hands these charges can be very difficult to overcome. Fortunately, we at MacGregor & Collins, LLP, your Orange County DUI lawyers, have over 30 years of combined DUI criminal defense experience and are prepared to provide you unparalleled legal representation during this difficult time. Call us today at 949-250-6097.
