DUI FELONY PROSECUTION
A felony DUI, if charged in Los Angeles, is a very serious DUI case with a possible sentence in the California State prison. To avoid being sentenced to state prison, please contact Los Angeles DUI Attorney who handled many Los Angeles DUI cases including Los Angeles Felony DUI cases. A Los Angeles DUI felony means one of 3 things:
- That Los Angels DUI driver had more than 3 DUI cases within the past 10 years (counting arrrest date to arrest date);
- That he has a previous felony DUI within the past 10 years;
- Or that the Los Angeles DUI driver was arrested after an accident where someone was injured.
Any DUI case can have serious consequences because of how it can affect a job, immigration status, an ability to drive, possible jail sentence, or even affect on professional license, such as a nursing license or doctor’s license. And yet, most Los Angels DUI cases are misdemeanors, even with an accident. This is because even a DUI with injury is a “wobbler”, that is, it can be a felony or misdemeanor depending on the prosecutor’s wim. But if you are arrested for any DUI, including felony DUI in Los Angeles, you must take it very seriously and contact Los Angeles DUI attorney for a consultation. Los Angeles DUI Attrorney’s intial consultations are free, so please call now.
The most serious DUI is a DUI felony with injuries.
Not all DUI with accident are felonies. But when the injuries are severe, the District Attorney can file a special allegation, pursuant to Penal Code 12022.7, known as the “great bodily injury” allegations (“GBI”). This allegation is a very serious charge, because
- It adds an additional possible prison term of 3 years (or even 5 years for injury resulting in paralisis, or 5 years if the victim is over 70 years of age, or up to 6 years if the victim is under 5 years of age).
- A conviction under Penal Code section 12022.7 will this DUI a “strike” offense under the three-strike laws in California.
- A conviction under PC 12022.7 will make the DUI conviction, a “violent strike” conviction. Because California separates strikes into 2 categories (violent and serious), it is imporant to know the different. A violent strike conviction is much worse than a “serious strike” because, upon conviction, if the DUI will be characterized as a “violent felony”, which is a special class of “strike offenses” they are only eligible for 15% credit for good behavior when the person is serving a state prison sentence. Most persons who serve prison sentences are released after serving 50% of their time. However, with a violent felony classification, a person has to serve 85% of his time to be released from prison.
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- The Rules Under One Earnes Prison Credits Changed With Violent Strikes Now Eligible To Earn 33% Credits (instead of prior 15%) with similar credit “improvements” to other convictions.
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But even without the special allegation, Los Angeles DUI with injuries will carry significantly higher punishment than a regular DUI due to license consequences. A conviction of a DUI with injury can can result in a driver’s license revocation from 1 to 5 years.
If you have a DUI felony on your record and it has been less than 10 years since that offense and you are arrested for another DUI, you will most likely be accused of felony DUI even when your new offense factually woudl be a misdemeanor DUI.
For example, a person who has a first-offense DUI felony conviction from 8 years ago will be charged with a DUI felony despite there is no accident and the blood alcohol level is very low on the new DUI case. The legal authority for this charge comes from California Vehicle Code section 23550.5 which authorizes such DUI felony filings.
Los Angeles DUI attorney has great success fighting Los Angeles DUI cases and reducing them from felonies to misdemeanors. Los Angeles DUI attorney specializes in handling DUI cases that are difficult or involve special circumstances, such as high blood alcohol level, accidents, presence of minors, excesive speed, or DUI felony accusations. Los Angels DUI Attorney can negotiate with the prosecutors and get DUI dismissed or reduced or involve no jail time despite very bad facts. Please call our office at (818) 921 7744 to talk to one of the best DUI defense attorney in Los Angeles. We are able to provide quality representation at an affordable rate and we are always waiting for your call.
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