A DUI arrest is a frightening experience that can immediately impact a person’s freedom, financial resources, and driving privileges. The hours following a DUI arrest move fast, pitting you against an aggressive prosecution team. Driving under the influence carries serious penalties in California under Vehicle Code 23152. Because enforcement is so strict, you need to act fast as soon as an arrest happens. If you are not well represented, you could face jail time, large fines, and a suspended license.
Thankfully, you do not have to fight these charges alone. The experienced defense attorneys at CCLG: Los Angeles Criminal Attorney provide the strong legal representation you need. We know all too well the ins and outs of California DUI law and how police officers work. Protecting your constitutional rights starts with challenging the evidence against you. Below, we break down key information to help us achieve a successful result in your case. Call today and construct your defense strategy.
The DUI Offenses are Covered by the Vehicle Code of California
California DUI laws are based on age, who was driving, and what they had in their system. The first step to winning the case and saving your license is knowing exactly what you have been charged with. They include the following:
- Standard DUI and the “Per Se” Law (CVC 23152(a) & (b))
CVC 23152(a) makes it illegal to operate a motor vehicle while drunk. It does not require the state to present a specific chemical blood alcohol reading but only evidence that your physical and mental faculties were not as they would be if you were alert, sober, and capable of operating a motor vehicle.
The prosecutor does not have to use a breathalyzer to charge you. If an officer believes that your driving, balance, or speech is impaired, that is all it takes for an arrest. An officer has sufficient evidence to arrest a driver and initiate a criminal investigation if he/she observes erratic driving, slurred speech, or a complete lack of lane position.
The law is different in this respect under CVC 23152(b) because only a mathematical threshold is being tested, not any discernible physical defect. The prosecution needs only to establish that a driver’s Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) was at or above 0.08 percent at the time of driving and does not need to prove that you, the driver, was actually impaired or making bad decisions while operating a vehicle. This particular charge is 100% dependent on the chemical test results and is based on your blood alcohol level at the station, whether the result comes from a breath, blood, or urine sample.
Driving with a perfect record and performing a perfect reading on the side of the road is not enough to avoid an arrest when your reading level is 0.08 percent or higher. Typically, both subsections are charged at the same time, giving prosecutors multiple avenues to obtain a criminal conviction in court. They will make a scientific analysis of the results of a breathalyzer test, and they will also use evidence from witnesses about your conduct before the stop as evidence of your guilt.
- Underage DUI and Zero Tolerance (CVC 23136 & 23140)
California has a zero tolerance policy for drivers under the legal drinking age of 21. Section 23136 of the CVC makes it a civil violation for an underage driver to be at a BAC of 0.01 or higher. This provision does not require the state to prove the minor was physically impaired. It requires the underage driver to have a nearly alcohol-free system. This small amount of alcohol in the body can be readily detected at the roadside with a preliminary alcohol screening test. Even consuming a minimal amount of alcohol-based cough syrup, cold medication, or incidental products can trigger a positive reading under this strict threshold.
A separate violation of underage operation of a vehicle with a BAC of at least 0.05 percent is created under Section 23140 of the CVC. If you violate this particular law, you will be required to:
- Attend a state-approved alcohol education program
- Pay significant fines
- Have your driving privileges suspended for one year
The laws in effect here deal with minors driving under age only, but law enforcement officers have general authority to charge minors with standard adult DUI laws if they determine that their impairment warrants such a charge. The prosecutor will actively pursue the standard misdemeanor charge when the underage driver demonstrates impairment or has a blood alcohol content over 0.08 percent, putting the underage driver in the same dire situation as an adult offender would be in if he/she made that same mistake.
- Commercial and Passenger-for-Hire DUI (CVC 23152(d) and (e))
The commercial vehicles that commercial drivers use daily are huge, heavy, and quite destructive, and come with all sorts of responsibilities. Section 23152(d) of the CVC requires that commercial drivers with a commercial driver’s license (CDL) must not have a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of more than 0.04 percent. This provision does not require a commercial driver to have a BAC under 0.04 percent when operating a commercial vehicle. It also applies when the driver of a commercial vehicle is driving a standard personal vehicle (where the 0.08 percent limit applies).
To secure a conviction under this strict provision, the prosecution must demonstrate that you were driving a commercial vehicle and that your blood alcohol concentration was at or above 0.04%. The consequences of a conviction are harsh and often lead to the complete and permanent loss of your commercial license upon a second conviction.
Section 23152(e) of the CVC applies similarly to those who are actively operating a taxi, limousine, or ride-share service, for example, Uber or Lyft. This is a statutory rule that the driver must have a BAC under 0.04 percent when there is a paying passenger in the car, but not when the driver is completely off duty. Your blood alcohol level during the offense is determined by law enforcement using chemical test results obtained within three hours of your driving to establish a rebuttable presumption of guilt. Once convicted, you are barred from working for large ride-sharing services, and that’s an income opportunity you’ve lost forever.
- Driving Under the Influence of Drugs (DUID) (CVC 23152 (f))
Driving while intoxicated by any drug is a crime under Section 23152(f) of the CVC and covers a very broad range of drugs that impair a person’s ability to drive. Illicit drugs, for example, cocaine or heroin, certain over-the-counter allergy medications, and legally prescribed drugs like Vicodin and Ambien are considered impairing drugs. A prescription is no excuse if the drug affects driving. This law requires prosecutors to prove that a drug impaired your physical or mental driving ability, rather than relying on a set legal limit in your bloodstream.
Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol violates California Vehicle Code Section 23152(f). Doing so carries severe legal consequences, making it critical to avoid driving if your abilities are impaired in any way. Just one beer plus a prescription sleep aid can be extremely dangerous.
Drug-related investigations require detailed evaluations by specially trained Drug Recognition Evaluators (DREs). These officers conduct a systematic 12-step evaluation analyzing pupil size, resting pulse rate, and muscle rigidity to assess drug impairment. The prosecution applies these subjective assessments in conjunction with the blood toxicology analysis to a series of factors that make you incapable of driving fully aware and cautious, like a sober person.
- DUI Causing Injury (CVC 23153) and Watson Murder
The severity of a DUI charge increases substantially when driving while intoxicated results in a traffic infraction that directly causes bodily injury to another individual.
A DUI causing injury is a wobbler under Section 23153 of the CVC, meaning that the crime can be charged as a misdemeanor or felony at the prosecutor’s discretion. This statute does not automatically apply when an accident occurs. If you were impaired, the state must prove the following:
- You were driving while impaired
- You committed a second traffic violation
- The action was a proximate cause of another person’s bodily injury
In determining the ultimate charge, the prosecution extensively considers your previous criminal history as well as the medical severity of the injuries that you have inflicted upon the innocent victim. If you are convicted of a felony under any provision of this statute, you will be subject to a long prison term, financial restitution to the person or persons injured, and a criminal record under California’s Three Strikes Law.
Repeat offenders who cause deadly accidents on the road face a much tougher legal environment. Under the landmark California Supreme Court ruling in People v. Watson (1981), 28 Cal. 3d 910, repeat drunk drivers who cause fatal accidents can face second-degree murder charges under Penal Code Section 187. A formal Watson Advisement, in which the court clearly advises the defendant that driving while under the influence of alcohol is a high-risk activity to the safety of human life, is given at all previous DUI sentences.
Your signature on this advice in court will make it official that you know that driving while impaired is deadly. The signed acknowledgment then serves as evidence of implied malice, that you were consciously indifferent toward human life, if you later cause a fatal crash.
Penalties for Misdemeanor and Felony DUI Convictions
Repeat offenders are harshly penalized. The more DUIs you accumulate in the past 10 years, the more severe the penalties will be for your 11th. If the conditions of your arrest are not contested in criminal court, you will be required to serve a prison sentence, pay high-dollar fines, and have limited probation conditions that will dramatically change your personal and professional life.
The California system of sentencing for drug offenders is progressive and based on a ten-year lookback period. The CVC calls for imposing a number of burdensome penalties specifically designed to dissuade future violations in the event of a first-offense conviction. A first offense is severely punished by the following court-imposed requirements:
- A county jail sentence for six months or less
- Fines between $390 and $1,000, which are significantly higher with mandatory penalty assessments
- A mandatory six-month driver’s license suspension is imposed, though offenders can often apply for restricted driving privileges through the DMV or by installing an approved ignition interlock device (IID)
- Requirement to attend and complete a court-mandated alcohol education course of 3-9 months’ duration
Penalties are harsher with each conviction. Section 23540 of the CVC requires ninety-six hours in jail for a second offense and a longer alcohol education program (up to thirty months) and extended license suspension. If you get convicted for a third time in ten years, the court considers you to be a serious public safety danger.
Facing a third DUI conviction means you are dealing with a repeat misdemeanor charge, leading to strict mandatory minimum penalties and tighter restrictions. A third-offense DUI conviction carries severe statutory consequences, and judges impose stringent penalties, including:
- Confined for at least 120 days and up to one year
- Exorbitant fines and court fees exceeding several thousand dollars in total costs
- The need to wear an Ignition Interlock Device for at least two years
- The DOT designation of a “habitual traffic offender” (HTO)
Aggravating Factors and Sentence Enhancements
Charges are carefully considered, and the specific factors surrounding your arrest are carefully assessed by judges and prosecutors to see whether they qualify for aggravated sentences. All of these aggravating circumstances can turn a simple misdemeanor into a much more serious offense, resulting in a much longer jail sentence and a longer probation term. The court will apply the maximum possible statutory penalties in your case because of the presence of these factors. If the prosecution demonstrates any of the following specific factors, the court will impose aggravating circumstances that are mandatory:
- Under California Vehicle Code Section 23578, registering a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.15 percent or higher at the time of chemical testing empowers the court to impose enhanced penalties and longer mandatory alcohol programs.
- Section 23577 of the CVC provides additional jail time for refusing to take a mandatory post-arrest blood/breath test when requested by law enforcement.
- If the speed at which the vehicle is operated is more than twenty miles per hour over the posted speed limit on a street (or thirty miles per hour over the posted speed limit on a freeway), then it is considered operating a motor vehicle at a willful speed. Excessive speeding exceeding the limit by 20 mph on surface streets or 30 mph on freeways constitutes reckless driving enhancements.
- Section 23572 of the CVC makes it a graduated crime to transport a minor passenger under the age of fourteen in the vehicle during the offense.
Transporting a minor under 14 years of age is a totally different child endangerment law, which can be enforced in tandem with your underlying DUI sentence. Serious drunkenness and excessive speed strongly suggest a flagrant disregard of public safety, making it clear that prosecution must seek jail enhancements.
The Implied Consent Law and DMV APS Hearings
When a person is charged with a DUI in California, he/she will face two types of legal proceedings:
- A criminal court case
- An administrative action against the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)
Implied consent law means that you are highly affected by whether you participate in chemical testing, so it is essential that you contest license suspensions right after your roadside arrest for a criminal offense.
Consequences of Refusing a Chemical Test (CVC 23612)
The implied consent law under Section 23612 of the CVC requires any driver lawfully arrested for DUI to submit to an evidentiary blood or breath test at the time of arrest. This provision does not require a driver, who is not on probation to perform a roadside Preliminary Alcohol Screening (PAS) breathalyzer before an actual arrest. It requires only that a lawfully arrested driver submit to post-arrest testing.
Adult drivers who are not on probation can legally refuse to take the roadside breathalyzer, but refusing the post-arrest breathalyzer can have serious administrative and criminal consequences.
The CVC will suspend your driving privileges immediately if you violate Section 23612. A refusal means you will be ineligible for a restricted hardship license for a year, and you will not be allowed to get a hardship license thereafter. If you refuse a second time in 10 years, you will lose your driving privileges for the next two years. In addition to the administrative penalty, your refusal is used against you in criminal court, and prosecutors will make every effort to prove your non-compliance was done with full knowledge of what you were doing.
How to Request and Utilize a DMV Administrative Hearing
Driving under the influence is an administrative action that begins with an arrest, separate from any criminal court action. The arresting officer confiscates your physical driver’s license and issues a pink temporary license valid for 30 days. This pink slip is your official Notice of Suspension and officially begins a long countdown that will impact the future of your driving privileges in the state.
You have a 10-day period from the date of your arrest to contact the Department of Motor Vehicles and request an administrative per se hearing. If the state does not schedule this important hearing within the specific 10-day period, your license will be automatically suspended at the end of the temporary period without a hearing. Timely requesting a DMV hearing triggers a stay of suspension, allowing you to legally maintain your driving privileges while your attorney challenges the administrative case. At this hearing, a hearing officer reviews the legality of the initial traffic stop, the constitutionality of the arrest, and the accuracy of the blood alcohol readings.
Effective Legal Defenses Against California DUI Charges
A careful examination of the arrest process, chemical testing, and the behavior of the arresting officer often provides many clues that there were problems. An effective Los Angeles defense attorney uses these weaknesses to cover up evidence, negotiate favorable pleas, or get the case dismissed.
Some of the legal defenses your attorney could use are:
Challenging the Traffic Stop and Probable Cause
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires law enforcement officers to have a valid legal reason, or “reasonable suspicion,” to lawfully begin a traffic stop. An officer may not stop a vehicle for any reason just because they have a hunch or a general assumption that the driver is a suspect. They have to state a particular traffic offense or describe in detail a driver’s erratic conduct, which is clearly visible and legally justifiable, to stop the vehicle on the road.
A stop executed without legal cause violates your Fourth Amendment rights. Your defense counsel can file a motion to suppress evidence under Penal Code Section 1538.5. If the court grants this motion, the prosecution loses key evidence, frequently resulting in a full dismissal of the charges.
Challenging Field Sobriety Tests (FSTs)
Standardized field sobriety tests are heavily relied upon by law enforcement officers to obtain subjective evidence of physical and mental impairment on the roadside. There are scientific flaws in these physical coordination exercises, for example, the walk-and-turn and one-leg stand, which often lead to highly incorrect conclusions. These are assessed routinely by officers with extreme personal bias, and any natural clumsiness or severe nervousness is regarded as a clear indicator of the person being intoxicated.
Officers use the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)-published Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST) guidelines to evaluate field sobriety tests. These guidelines are intended to serve as a best-practice framework for law enforcement training and administration but are not evidence of guilt on their own and should not be used as such.
A driver’s overall performance on these physical tests can be strongly affected by external environmental factors. Simple balancing exercises are extremely difficult for completely sober people because of the uneven side of the road, street lighting, proximity to very busy streets, and highly undesirable weather. Moreover, underlying medical conditions, inner ear issues, physical fatigue, and even the wrong shoe can severely impair your ability to perform these unnatural physical tasks in accordance with the officer’s precise instructions. These factors will make it easier to challenge the officer’s subjective conclusions and demonstrate that it was not impairment but environmental or physical causes that led to your poor test results.
Find a Criminal Defense Lawyer Near Me
Handling a DUI arrest demands immediate response and action from a DUI attorney, especially since the Administrative Per Se hearing deadline is 10 days from the date of arrest, and the financial consequences of a DUI conviction (under CVC 23152) can be very harsh. An effective defense strategy is essential to safeguarding driving rights and personal freedom. CCLG: Los Angeles Criminal Attorney has extensive experience defending DUI cases. Call our office today at 323-922-3418 and get more than you deserve by getting a free consultation.
