DRIVING WHILE INTOXICATED IS A CRIME(and yes, you need a lawyer)


from Dave Kelly at http://www.mn-dwi.com. 
By definition a crime is any offense for which you can be punished by imprisonment or incarceration. Your personal freedom can be taken away. No one should face such a possibility without legal representation.
THE FIRST OFFENSE

This is a bad spot to be in.  Your license to drive is gone or at least limited (see below for more discussion ). The court has the authority to order you into an alcohol treatment program. You will at least have to attend a seminar or class on how alcohol affects your body and your driving. The first drunk driving offense, if your blood alcohol reading was less than .20%, is usually a misdemeanor, some say "only" a misdemeanor. Usually, however, an offender is charged with a whole list of misdemeanors, and each of which is punishable by a maximum fine of $1,000 and jail time of a maximum of ninety days or both. The list often includes the following: Fourth Degree Driving While Impaired, careless driving, speed hazardous, refusing the test, and driving while intoxicated.  "Driving While Impaired" usually means that you were driving with blood alcohol content of over .10 percent, or that you had over .10 percent blood alcohol within two hours of driving.  The first offense may become a gross misdemeanor (punishable by a maximum fine of $3,000 and a maximum jail time of a year, or both) under certain circumstances, which include having a child in the car and having a blood alcohol content of over .20 percent.
THE SECOND OFFENSE

Now you're in really big trouble. If you have reached this point, you should immediately get an evaluation as to whether you are chemically dependent. Let's face it, you may be an alcoholic. If you're not, have the evaluation and prove it. Unless you are reading this web page in jail, you are probably already being monitored electronically to make sure you consume no alcohol and being charged for the cost of the monitoring. The monitoring starts before you even go to court, and will probably continue for months afterward, except when you're in jail. The second offense in ten years is a gross misdemeanor (max penalty of $3,000 and a year or both), and now there are mandatory minimum punishments to worry about. The mandatory minimum is usually 30 days imprisonment or eight hours community work service for each day less than 30 days that you are ordered to serve in jail.  At least 48 hours of the jail time has to be served consecutively in a local correctional facility.
THE THIRD OFFENSE

New legislation passed in 2000 provides that if you have been driving while impaired within ten years of two prior offenses, the "court shall sentence" you to either: 1) a minimum of 90 days of incarceration, at least 30 days of which must be served consecutively in a local correctional facility or 2) a program of intensive supervision - intensive probation - which is to include serving at least six days consecutively in a local jail.  Everything we said about needing a chemical dependency evaluation after a second offense applies even more so here. It seems these penalties get more severe every time the legislature meets.
THE FOURTH OFFENSE

Thankfully, most of our clients never get to this point.  Please don't ever let it happen to you.  New legislation passed in 2002 provides that if you have been driving while impaired within ten years of three prior offenses, you are guilty of a felony.  First the statute says that you are to be sentenced to prison for at least three years and given a fine of not less than $14,000.00.  If the judge decides to stay some of the three years of time, there is still (if I'm reading this new statute correctly) a mandatory minimum sentence of "a minimum or 180 days of incarceration, at least 30 which must be served consecutively..." or a program of intensive supervision (a pilot program of intensive probation for repeat DWI offenders) that requires the person to consecutively serve at least six days in jail; and it appears also that the judge is required to include an order for long term electronic monitoring - which of course the Defendant will be required to pay for.