Criminal DUI Court Proceedings

Criminal DUI Court Proceedings

Criminal Court Proceedings Criminal DUI charges will state that you were impaired while driving and that your BAC was at least 0.08% at the time you were driving. You will face these charges in a court of law, separate from the administrative DMV hearing, where you have the right to a jury trial. You also have the right to have your California DUI attorney represent you here, as he did at your DMV hearing. In a criminal case, certain elements must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt by the prosecutor and those elements depend on the type of crime. For a California drunk driving case, the elements are:

Driving
a vehicle
while under the influence
or in violation of the per se laws.

Per se is an alternate way of stating that you were driving with a BAC of 0.08% or greater. If the prosecutor cannot prove all of these elements the ruling must be made in your favor. In addition, if there is any reasonable doubt to any of these elements, not just the statement in its entirety, the criminal charges against you will be dropped. However, if the prosecutor is able to prove all the elements, you will be found guilty of the charges and various punishments will be imposed on you. You could face a license suspension (unrelated to the DMV suspension), fines, jail time, probation, mandatory attendance at alcohol-related classes and programs and you may be required to install an ignition interlock device on your vehicle.

The punishments will increase if: