Is it really a second DUI?
A DUI is charged as a second offense when it happened within 10 years of an earlier offense that led to a conviction for a DUI, a DUI with injury, or a “wet reckless.” The 10 years runs from the date of the earlier offense to the date of the new one.
Check the dates carefully. The closer the prior is to 10 years old, the more it can help in negotiations, and sometimes the prior doesn’t count at all.
You have 10 days from getting the suspension notice to ask for a DMV hearing. On a second offense, the DMV suspension is a year, so the hearing matters even more. My flat fee includes it.
What a second DUI can mean
The law sets a range for each consequence. With probation, which is how most second DUIs are resolved:
- Custody: at least 96 hours, served as two blocks of 48 hours. (The law also allows 10 days instead.) Without probation, the minimum is 90 days.
- Probation of 3 to 5 years.
- A DUI program of 18 months (or 30 months in some cases).
- A fine of about $2,000 once the added fees are counted.
- A license suspension: one year from the DMV after the arrest, and two years after a conviction. Refusing a chemical test makes the DMV’s part longer: a two-year revocation on a second refusal.
High blood alcohol, a child in the car, or a collision can add more. A second DUI can also be charged as a felony if the earlier DUI was a felony, or if someone was hurt. Felony DUI.
The 96 hours in Sacramento
Sacramento judges generally require the 96 hours to be served in jail, not on the Work Project or home detention. Exceptions are rare and take a very good reason, like serious health problems.
The rest of any custody time can usually be served out of custody, and residential treatment can count too. How to serve DUI jail time without going to jail.
What I aim for
The order is the same as for any DUI: a dismissal first, then a reduction, then the smallest and most convenient sentence. A second DUI changes the weight of each step.
Look hard at the evidence
Every DUI comes down to three questions: was the stop lawful, can they prove you were driving, and can they prove you were impaired? A second DUI doesn’t make any of those easier for the prosecution. The three questions in every DUI.
A reduction matters more
Getting a second DUI reduced to a wet or dry reckless avoids the repeat-DUI minimums: the 96 hours, the 18-month program, and the two-year suspension. That’s worth working hard for. One catch: a wet reckless still counts as a prior if there’s another DUI within 10 years.
The age of the prior
A prior that’s 9 years old reads very differently to a prosecutor than one from last year. It’s one of the strongest negotiating points in a second DUI.
A smaller, easier sentence
When the DUI stands, I work to keep the custody time to the minimum, get the rest served out of custody, convert the fine to a couple of days of work, and time the start so you can plan around it.
While your case is open
On a second DUI, the judge will often want you doing something while the case is pending: AA meetings, an alcohol program, sometimes intensive outpatient treatment, and in more serious cases a continuous alcohol monitoring bracelet. A case can stay open for months, so those conditions can be a real burden. I argue against the ones that aren’t needed.
Starting some of that work on your own, at your own pace, can help in other ways too. It shows the DA and the judge you’re taking it seriously, and it isn’t an admission of guilt. If it’s too early to concede anything, I hold it back until it will help.
Your license
A second DUI conviction brings a two-year suspension, but many people can keep driving with an ignition interlock device: a breath tester that has to be passed before the car will start. When you can apply and how long the interlock stays on depend on your case, and I’ll walk you through it. If the conviction involved only drugs, the wait is 12 months, because an interlock tests only for alcohol.
Winning the DMV hearing, or getting the charge reduced, can avoid most of this. The DMV hearing and your license.
DUI Treatment Court
When a repeat DUI can’t be beaten on the defense, Sacramento’s DUI Treatment Court can be a good path: about 18 months of treatment, sobriety, and regular court check-ins, in exchange for avoiding much of what a repeat DUI would otherwise bring, especially time in custody. It isn’t automatic, and the DA has a big say in who gets in. I go to every progress hearing with my clients. More about DUI Treatment Court.
What it costs
My flat fee for a misdemeanor DUI is the same whether it’s your first or your second, and it includes the DMV hearing. See my fees.
Questions
Will I go to jail for a second DUI?
With probation, a second DUI carries at least 96 hours in custody, and Sacramento usually requires that part in jail. Most or all of the rest can often be served out of custody. And if the charge is reduced, the minimum may not apply at all.
Does an old DUI count?
Only if it happened within 10 years of the new offense. A wet reckless within 10 years counts too.
Do I have to go to court?
For a misdemeanor DUI, usually not. I go to the hearings for you. You’ll need to serve any custody time yourself, and I’ll help you plan when.