Most people are aware that a DUI offense can have various negative consequences including Driver’s license suspension (though it may be possible to continue driving with an ignition interlock device (IID) installed), Fines and Mandatory alcohol program. However, the possibility of serving jail time is likely the scariest consequence of a DUI conviction or DUI probation violation. It is not always clear when a DUI can land you in jail.
How long you go to jail for drunk driving in Utah depends on your blood alcohol content (BAC) and whether you have previous drunk driving convictions. The penalties for a DUI conviction in Utah range from no jail time to as many as five years in prison. But even if you escape jail, you could face a number of other penalties for drunk driving in Utah. These penalties could include license suspension, probation, fines, and mandatory alcohol treatment. You will also face many DUI costs of which you were likely unaware.
DUI Penalties in Utah
In Utah, the courts take drunk driving seriously. Even for a first offense, you could face probation, fines, traffic safety school, and alcohol treatment. The penalties get progressively worse if you receive subsequent convictions or if your BAC rises above certain thresholds. The DUI penalties in Utah based on the number of previous convictions you have are as follows:
No Prior DUI Convictions
If you have no prior DUI convictions and your BAC was at or above 0.08% but below 0.1%, you could face:
• Up to six months’ probation
• A maximum fine of $300
• Mandatory traffic safety school
• Possible alcohol treatment
If you have no prior DUI convictions and your BAC was 0.1% or above but below 0.16%, you could face:
• A one-year driver’s license suspension
• Up to six months in prison
• A maximum fine of $5,000
• Mandatory traffic safety school
• Possible alcohol treatment
If you have no prior DUI convictions and your BAC was 0.16% or above, you could face:
• One-year driver’s license suspension
• Up to six months in prison
• A maximum fine of $5,000
• Mandatory traffic safety school
• Possible alcohol treatment
One Prior DUI Conviction
If you have one prior DUI conviction and your BAC was at or above 0.08% but below 0.1%, you could face:
• Up to 12 months driver’s license suspension
• Up to six months in prison
• A maximum fine of $2,500
• Mandatory traffic safety school
• Possible alcohol treatment
• One-year ignition interlock
If you have one prior DUI conviction and your BAC was at or above 0.1% but below 0.16%, you could face:
• Up to 12 months driver’s license suspension
• Up to six months in prison
• A maximum fine of $5,000
• Mandatory traffic safety school
• Possible alcohol treatment
• One-year ignition interlock
If you have one prior DUI conviction and your BAC was 0.16% or above, you could face:
• Up to an 18-month driver’s license suspension
• Up to five years in prison
• A maximum fine of $10,000
• Mandatory traffic safety school
• Alcohol treatment
• One-year ignition interlock
Two or More Prior DUI Convictions
If you have two or more prior DUI convictions and your BAC was at or above 0.08% but below 0.1%, you could face:
• Up to a 12-month driver’s license suspension
• Up to two years in prison
• A maximum fine of $5,000
• Alcohol treatment
• One-year ignition interlock
If you have two or more prior DUI convictions and your BAC was at or above 0.1% but below 0.16%, you could face:
• Up to an 18-month driver’s license suspension
• Up to five years in prison
• A maximum fine of $10,000
• Alcohol treatment
• One-year ignition interlock
If you have two or more prior DUI convictions and your BAC was at or above 0.16%, you could face:
• Up to an 18-month driver’s license suspension
• Up to five years in prison
• A maximum fine of $10,000
• Alcohol treatment
• One-year ignition interlock
First, Lawyer can review the circumstances of your case and determine if it is possible to create reasonable doubt as to your guilt. Perhaps the arresting officer did not follow proper protocol. Maybe the breathalyzer used to capture your BAC was not properly calibrated. There are dozens of potential ways to call your guilt into question. If it looks as if the prosecution has unassailable proof of your guilt, a lawyer can negotiate with the state to knock your DUI charge down to a lesser charge. Everyone who gets a DUI immediately goes to the “this is the end of the world” extreme, but in reality, DUI’s are charged against all different types of people, and there are definitely folks who you know who have gone through this but have not made their battle publicly known. So the primary thing to know is that you’re not the first person that has gone through this and that people have made it through these circumstances before without it ruining their lives.
Getting one DUI charge doesn’t make you an alcoholic, a bad person, or a low-life. On today’s roadways, police officers generally do not show mercy to anyone who has had even one drink, some marijuana earlier in the day, or, on certain occasions, those drivers who are just taking their medications as prescribed. In short, getting a DUI is a lot easier than you think. If and when it happens, you just have to be ready. For a first-time DUI, an officer does not have to book you into jail and often times, if you are respectful to the officer, he will bring you home after he has processed the DUI so that you can at least sleep in your own bed. Your car will always be impounded when you’re arrested on suspicion of DUI, so getting that back should probably be your first priority, as the bill can rack up quickly if it sits there too long. If you are booked into jail on your first DUI, it is smart to try to bail out as quickly as possible. Bail on a first DUI generally will be $1,000, and you can, therefore, get a bail bond for about $100, or you can post the full amount, which means that it will all be returned to you at the conclusion of the case. One tip here is that if you are eventually convicted of a DUI (under a 0.15 BAC), you will have a mandatory minimum of 24 consecutive hours in jail. Therefore, if you’ve been in jail for let’s say 20 hours and then bail out, you will not be given credit for that.
It may be wise to sit there for 4 more hours to get the full 24 hours in, which may mean you don’t have to go back to jail later on. Once you are out of jail and you’ve retrieved your car, the best thing you can do is call a DUI attorney. It’s actually wise to call a DUI attorney before you’ve decided whether to take the breath test at the station as well, but here we’re focusing on what to do after you’ve been arrested. Most times when you leave jail or after you’ve been dropped off by the officer, you do not have a court date in your hand yet. You will receive a summons in the mail in the weeks or months following the arrest, which will tell you what your first court date is and what court it will be held in. Again, sometimes this summons comes during the week of the incident and sometimes you have to wait and wait for it to arrive. This depends on several factors, one of which is whether you did a breath test or a blood draw. Blood draw cases have to be sent to be tested and then the results are returned to the prosecutor’s office. This means that your summons in a blood draw case will generally take longer. Just because the summons might take a while to get to you, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to just sit back and do nothing after the arrest, as there is also the Department of Licensing side to a DUI case.
When you get arrested for a DUI you will generally be given a form showing you how to request a Department of Licensing (DOL) Administrative Hearing. This hearing must be requested within 20 days of arrest, regardless of what is happening with your criminal case, so there is a reason to get moving on talking to a DUI attorney once arrested. If you do not request a hearing within this 20-day time period, and your breath test was over the legal limit, your license will be suspended automatically starting 60 days after the incident date. While you don’t technically need an attorney for the DOL hearing, to not have one is to basically throw away the money for the hearing ($375.00) as these are complex hearings where legal issues need to be understood and argued. An attorney can talk to you about what happened while it is fresh in your memory and can even help you submit the DOL hearing request. Essentially, the defense for your DUI can start long before the criminal charge is filed.
In addition to the benefits of having things fresh in your mind and having an attorney there to help you with the DOL hearing from the beginning, there are another few benefits to getting an attorney on board right away. There may be investigative items that need to be looked into which will disappear with time. An attorney might want to have you get started with a drug and alcohol evaluation right away. An attorney may want to start preparing pretrial motions for your case so that they can put the prosecutor on notice of issues right off the bat. These are just a few of the reasons to consult an attorney right away, but the main reason this makes sense is that you’re usually going to be paying an attorney a flat fee for representation, so why not get your money’s worth and have him or her help you throughout? It should be the same cost either way so let your attorney work for you from the get-go. A DUI charge is a daunting task, but having a trusted attorney on your side throughout makes you realize that this won’t be the end of your life as you know it.
An arraignment is the act of bringing a defendant to court and formally reading the charges against him or her. It is at this point that you enter your plea: guilty or not guilty. However, that’s not the only jail time you will serve if you are convicted. All DUI crimes in Utah come with jail time. How long you are in jail depends upon the severity of the crime with which you were charged. Upon being arrested on a DUI charge, you will be brought to the police or Sheriff’s station for processing. If you are injured in a crash related to a DUI, you will be brought to the hospital first, and then processed upon your release.
Once you arrive at the station, you will likely be ordered to take a chemical test to measure the amount of suspected alcohol or drugs in your system. After that, you’ll be read your rights and questioned. You can have a lawyer present for this, if you so choose. From there, your driver’s license will likely be taken away, and you will be given a temporary license in its place. You will be informed that your license is to be suspended, however you have ten days to fight the suspension. You may want to consider retaining a lawyer to help you fight this. Living without a license is incredibly stressful, especially when trying to get to work and back. And the last thing you need is to be charged with driving without a license. While you may be held in a jail cell during this process, this is local prison, not a prison for hardened criminals. If this is your first DUI-related conviction, or if your last DUI-related conviction was more than 10 years ago, you will be sentenced to a minimum of 48 hours in jail, up to but not exceeding six months. Time served will be in a local prison, rather than a state prison and you can usually serve your time in the same city of your arrest. A DUI defense lawyer may be able to work out a negotiation in your favor. For instance, he or she may be able to convince the court to supplement your 48-hour jail sentence with a five-day work release instead.
If, however, this is your second or third offense, the punishments may be more severe:
• Second DUI Offense – Up to a year in a local jail
• Third DUI Offense – Mandatory six months to a year in a local jail
• Fourth (or More) DUI Offense – Up to 3 years in state prison
If you have four or more offenses, it no longer matters if they were within the last ten years. You can be sentenced to up to three years in jail, even if it has been ten years since your last conviction.
DUI Attorney Free Consultation
If you’ve been charged with a DUI in Utah, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.
8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C
West Jordan, Utah
84088 United States
Telephone: (801) 676-5506
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