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Originally Posted On: https://www.baronedefensefirm.com/blog/third-offense-dui-penalties-for-3rd-michigan-owi-laws/
Have you ever wondered what happens if you get convicted ofg a Michigan 3rd DUI? A 3rd Offense DUI is a potential disaster. Callers to our OWI law office want to know answers to questions like, “When will I be getting my license back after a 3rd DUI Michigan,” and “How long is license suspended for a 3rd DUI in Michigan” and even “What does DUI mean?”
What happens on your 3rd DUI? Just dealing with potentially losing your job and trying to pay higher insurance premiums is jarring to some Michiganders. Jail time is the most harrowing and worrisome 3rd DUI penalty that most clients fear. These felony crimes, however, can also result in vehicle forfeiture to the State, or license plate confiscation and immobilization of all vehicles owned by the client.
Analyzing the OWI Case Is the Starting Point to Avoid Jail Time
First, unless a person “wins” their 3rd DUI case, or has the charge downgraded somehow, there may be no such thing as “no jail time for 3rd offense DUI.” This section of this article discusses how much jail time for 3rd DUI offenders is possible if a non-DUI solution cannot be achieved.
Maximum Jail Time for Most MI DUI Third Offenses
Initially, unless you are a habitual felony offender, a 5-year prison term is the worst-case scenario. Fines can run into the thousands of dollars, too, with $5,000 being the highest possible fine. If you have prior felonies, then you could be looking at up to life in prison.
However, every MI OWI or OWVI case is unique, meaning that the case facts and issues (like the client’s demeanor and conduct during the arrest process) can be important. In fighting such cases, you do not want a new DWI lawyer or an inexperienced criminal defense lawyer who is not specially trained in OWI defense.
Defending an OWI 3rd offense Michigan prosecution. To give you an accurate picture of the quality of your pending case, our litigation team will need to know your exact motor vehicle history, relating to past criminal convictions in any state, or OWI reductions in Michigan. In addition, the dates of any prior impaired driving arrests, and dates of all convictions, must be known.
Your criminal defense attorney must know everything the prosecutor knows about your prior convictions or the chances of a succesful plea agreement will be severely diminished.
Our Clients’ Most Pressing Questions About Repeat DUI Conviction Penalties
Common “hot topics” that clients want to discuss in their FREE lawyer consultation include these 7 subjects:
- How much jail time for 3rd DUI or how long do you go to jail for 3rd DUI?
- What are the 3rd DUI in Michigan penalties?
- Is an interlock device available for restricted driving?
- Can any of my DUI convictions from other states be blocked from being used against me in Michigan?
- What types of aggravating factors may increase my minimum prison time?
- What does a 3rd DUI lawyer cost?
- Can my OWI charge be reduced to careless driving or reckless driving, to avoid the harsh impact of a 3rd DUI sentence and conviction?
Strategies for Fighting a 3rd DUI Charge – Details Matter
If a third offense OWI goes on your record, the shortest time of total driver license suspension is 1 year. For example, for any 3rd offender who has had a prior OWI revocation of his or her driver’s license within the prior 7 years faces an unavoidable 5-year total loss of the ability to reinstate Michigan driving privileges. That is another way of saying you can’t legally drive in Michigan for 5 years. Don’t attempt driving on a suspended licenser – a second arrest will spell big trouble for your future plans.
In addition, in certain cases (but by no means all cases) different defense strategies to the pending case must be tried. These will be custom case strategy plans that are tailored to the case facts. In each client’s case, these factors must be weighed, and positive information utilized (i.e., about the client and her or his family or work situation), to help our legal professionals find a creative, negotiated solution to a felony DUI case.
Over decades of working with many fine people who had never been arrested, I have learned to find out what is the most important freedom a client is not willing to give up. For example, a commercial truck driver will lose money if they can no longer drive for work. Whereas a public school teacher cannot afford to go back to jail. Our goal is to keep you from having any consequences, and we will fight hard for that conclusion in your case.
3rd DUI Consequences Including 3rd DUI Jail Time in Michigan
How much Jail Time for 3rd DUI? With some judges, our experienced OWI attorneys may be able to craft a probated sentence alternative that can eliminate even the minimum jail time for 3rd DUI, which is 30 days.
Certainly, though, not all cases are conducive to such favorable felony jail sentences. In some cases, based on errors made by police in the OWI case, our legal team members have been able to negotiate for a 3rd degree DWI reduced. This may be a reduction to a high-court misdemeanor (also called a gross misdemeanor or high and aggravated misdemeanor in some states).
Thus, your entire focus needs to be realigned to the task of locating a defense attorney, skilled and experienced in DUI defense, who knows every possible angle for attacking a felony charge like a DWI 3rd offense. This may be achieved by getting a third offense OWI changed or reduced to a different level OWVI or even a non-impaired driving statute. Your criminal lawyer near me must also have going to trial experience, because even though over 95% of cases never go to trial, if your case is in that other 5% you don’t want an attorney whose first trial case will be yours.
ting an OUIL 3rd offense Michigan. Such naïve questions show the complete lack of the serious threat a felony DUI 3rd offense poses to a person’s life, as he or she knows it. The operative word here is “felony” because every 3rd offense DUI is a felony if that person has two prior drunk driving convictions in his or her lifetime in any state. Michigan DUI laws were changed over 20 years ago to no longer have a “look-back” period, such as being within 10 years or 15 years.
Doers Michigan Use a Look Back Period to Determine DUI Sentencing?
Michigan’s legislators did consider differences between repeat offenders who had more than one OWI conviction in close succession to each other. Those who get all three convictions within 10 years will have a tougher time obtaining a favorable negotiated plea and an earlier restoration of driving privileges than a person who had three convictions spread out over a 25-year period.
By the way, prosecutors in the State of Michigan have national access to prior convictions in other states. It is of no consequence that your “other state” conviction was called DUI, DUII, OVI, OUIL, DWI, OUI, DWUI, OWI, OWVI, OMVI, DUIL, or driving UBAL. Your Michigan prosecutor will obtain certified copies of those convictions to use against you in the current 3rd DUI offense prosecution.
Call Today! FREE Consultation Lawyer and Receive Immediate Attention for Your Pending DUI Charges
Contact us 24 hours a day at our law firm’s easy to remember toll-free number, 1-877-ALL-MICH or 877-255-6424, for a free criminal case review. The Michigan attorneys near me at Barone Defense Firm travel the entire Great Lakes State, to help citizens in legal trouble in Michigan for alleged criminal law violations.
For your FREE lawyer consultation, call today to learn how to protect yourself from a possible unwarranted conviction. What do you have to lose, when the free legal advice with our litigation team’s criminal lawyers near me can answer many tough questions?
