Residential Alcohol Treatment: An Alternative To Jail

A DUI conviction can have devastating consequences
including jail time, loss of employment where driving is required, a DUI
conviction on your record, loss of license, large court fines and costs for an Orange County DUI Attorney. Although most first-offense DUI convictions in
Orange County don’t result in jail time if there is no accident, excessive
speed, child in the car or other aggravating circumstances, a defendant with a
prior DUI conviction within ten years requires mandatory jail time.

In the
Orange County courts the length of the jail sentence depends on many factors including
how many prior DUI convictions the defendant has within the past ten years,
what the defendant’s blood-alcohol content was, whether there was an accident
or injury, whether there was any bad driving, how the defendant behaved towards
the police and others, and other aggravating or mitigating circumstance. These
are some of the factors that your DUI Lawyer in Orange County discusses with the judge when it comes to settling a
DUI case.

Typically,
in Orange County, a second-offense DUI will be punished by 60 to 150 days in
the Orange County jail. A third-offense usually draws between 120 and 240 days
in jail, and a fourth-offense is almost always charged as a felony and is given
a year to 16 months in the California state prison. While jail or prison time
is very hard to avoid for a third or fourth offense, a skilled DUI defense attorney can often persuade an Orange County
judge to allow for an alternative to jail in the case of a second-offense DUI.
One of the alternatives most favored by Orange County judges is treatment for
the defendant in a residential alcohol treatment facility.

A
residential alcohol facility is a live-n facility where residents are required to
remain sober and attend extensive group and individual counseling for alcohol
addiction. Usually, the residents are encouraged or required to go to work or
do volunteer work. The cost of these facilities varies greatly and it is the
defendant who is responsible for paying. The length of time required in the residential
alcohol treatment facility is subject to negotiation but typically a judge will
give day-for-day credit toward the jail sentence. So, for example, if the
District Attorney agrees to settle a second-offense DUI for 90 days of jail
time, the judge may be convinced by the defendants Orange County DUI lawyer to allow the defendant to do 90 days in a residential
treatment facility instead.

If you face
charges for a DUI in Orange County, call The Law Offices of EJ Stopyro at (949)
559-5500 for a free and confidential telephonic consultation with an
experienced ORANGE COUNTY DUI defense
lawyer. You can also visit us at www.ejesquire.com.
We have offices at 32072 Camino Capistrano, 2^nd floor, San Juan
Capistrano, CA 92675 and at 1901 Newport Blvd., Suite 350, Costa Mesa, CA
92627.