DUI Speed Enhancement: Mandatory Jail

Being arrested and convicted of a DUI in Orange County can bring severe DUI penalties, including time in the Orange County jail, thousands of dollars in court fees and DUI Lawyer in Orange County fees, loss of your driver’s license, and the completion of an ALCOHOL PROGRAM.  Of course the harshness of the penalties will depend on factors such as whether you have any prior DUI convictions within the past ten years, whether anyone was hurt, whether there was an accident, and what your blood-alcohol concentration or BAC was.

For most first-offense DUI’s where the driver has no prior DUI convictions and where there was no accident or injuries or other aggravating circumstances, a defendant’s DUI Attorney in Orange County can easily secure a no-jail deal in exchange for pleading guilty to a DUI. However, there are circumstances where the District Attorney must impose some jail time, even for a first-offense DUI.

California Vehicle Code Section 23582, known as a DUI speed enhancement, requires that a court impose a MINIMUM of 60 days of jail time. In order for this enhancement to apply, the District Attorney must prove that the driver: 1) is guilty of a DUI; 2) That during the course of the DUI the driver drove 20 miles per hour over the speed limit on a surface street or 30 miles per hour over the speed limit on a freeway; and 3) that the driver drove in a reckless manner. If the jury finds all three elements to have been met, then the court MUST impose at least 60 days in the Orange County jail.

It is important to note that the speed enhancement doesn’t apply just because a driver was DUI and was driving the requisite 20 or 30 miles per hour over the speed limit. The third element must also be present—the driver must have been driving recklessly. The fact that a driver was drunk, driving and speeding does NOT prove recklessness. To prove recklessness, the DA must show other conduct, such as intentionally swerving, racing, or playing bumper tag with another driver. Reckless driving means driving with a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of others. It means that you are engaged in risky conduct and you know or should know and appreciate this risk.

So, in order to avoid this speed enhancement, your Orange County DUI Attorney must show some reasonable doubt that you were driving drunk (either too impaired to drive safely or with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08% or more), that you were exceeding the speed limit by 20 or thirty miles per hour (did the cop have a working radar or was it an educated guess?), or that you were driving in a reckless manner. Often, if your Orange County DUI lawyers  can convince the DA that they can show reasonable doubt, the DA will offer to drop the speed enhancement in exchange for the driver’s guilty plea to the DUI charge. In the case of a first-offense DUI this often means the difference between 60 days of jail and no jail at all.

If you want to talk to experienced DUI Lawyer for free about DUI law and defenses, call The Law Offices of EJ Stopyro at (949) 559-5500 for a confidential telephonic consultation. You can also visit us at www.ejesquire.com. We have offices in Costa Mesa and at 32072 Camino Capistrano, 2^nd floor, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675.