Have you been arrested for DUI causing injury in Santa Ana, California? A conviction for this violation can result in a jail term, the loss of your driving permit, the payment of hefty fines, and an increase in your insurance cost. To avert the repercussions of a Driving Under the Influence with an Injury charge, it is critical to get legal counsel.
We, at California Criminal Lawyer Group, have a solid foothold in Santa Ana, where we assist drivers facing serious charges like yours. In this article, you can find helpful information about DUI charges and how you can fight the charges against you.
DUI With Injury According to California Law
VC 23153 governs DUI Causing bodily Injury in California. In general, the code stipulates that it is illegal to operate an automobile impaired by drugs or alcohol and inflict injury on someone else by operating recklessly or illegally. This offense can be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony, based on the conditions.
According to the law, a motorist could be impaired by drugs or alcohol if he or she meets three criteria. To begin, the motorist is regarded to be intoxicated if their capacity to drive is compromised due to alcohol intoxication. Secondly, a motorist is regarded under the influence if their blood alcohol concentration or BAC is higher than 0.08%.
Third, the motorist is regarded as intoxicated when their ability to operate is affected due to the use of a certain drug.
To be found guilty of Vehicle Code 23153, you should have injured another person while operating illegally or recklessly. Essentially, this indicates that you have to be responsible for the injury on top of facing DUI charges.
Arrest Process For DUI Causing Injury
The majority of "DUI with injury" proceedings begin when police officers are alerted of a vehicle accident involving bodily injury. When the authorities arrive at the scene of the accident, they need to have reasonable cause to detain you. Should you flee the scene following causing an accident, you will face hit-and-run charges. If you stay on the accident scene, the officer could request you to perform a set of FSTs as well as a breath test to see if you were intoxicated.
Failing to undertake a chemical test could result in harsh sanctions for the suspected DUI offense. You also potentially face a revocation of your driver's license for one year. If the breath tests as well as the FSTs show that you had been inebriated, you’ll be detained and processed at a police station in your jurisdiction. You can obtain your release by posting bail. When you are released, the police will give you a quote for upcoming court proceedings as well as pink documentation that will act as your temporary driver's license.
DUI defendants in California can get a limited driving permit after having an IID installed in their cars. If alcohol is identified in your breath, an ignition interlock device operates as a breathalyzer does and prevents your vehicle from starting. You will be able to drive your vehicle without any restrictions when you have an IID restricted driver's license. The duration for utilizing this kind of license depends on your traffic history.
Elements of DUI with Injury
It is the prosecutor's burden, as with any other criminal proceeding, to establish each component of the offense beyond a shadow of a doubt. The three elements of VC 23153 are as follows:
- You violated California's Driving While Intoxicated (DUI) laws
- You were showing illegal or careless behavior while driving
- Another person was injured as a result of your unlawful or reckless behavior
The first two components are usually harder to establish than the last element, and thus are more susceptible to be contested in a DUI with bodily injury case. As a result, they are covered in greater depth below.
You Violated California's Driving While Intoxicated (DUI) Laws
As previously stated, this condition can be met in one of three ways:
- The motorist's ability to drive their car was affected as a consequence of alcohol intoxication
- The driver's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was higher than 0.08 percent; or
- The motorist's capacity to drive their car was affected as a consequence of drug usage
It's easy to establish if someone's blood alcohol level is more than 0.08 percent. The motorist will be subjected to a blood or breath test, and his or her blood alcohol content (BAC) will be determined. If your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is greater than 0.08 percent, California law considers you to be impaired by drugs and alcohol. It makes no difference whether you have a higher tolerance or you were not impaired in any way. Even though no test is available or the BAC is less than 0.8%, you can still be deemed to be under the influence.
If you can't operate a vehicle like an ordinary sober individual in similar circumstances, you're said to be impaired. Establishing that a motorist was under the influence is much harder in this situation, and there is a range of arguments that could be raised in your defense.
Throughout many circumstances, there seem to be a lot of valid justifications for why the accused seemed to be inebriated. Somebody can look to be under the influence due to a health issue or even fear as a consequence of getting pulled over.
You Demonstrated Negligent or Illegal Behavior While Driving
Because you've been implicated in a DUI that led to an injury doesn't imply you will be held legally responsible. According to the statute, you have to inflict the injury while also breaching the vehicle code or acting recklessly.
Many people believe that this condition is satisfied only because they have been inebriated. While operating a vehicle while inebriated is both negligent and unlawful, this offense necessitates further illegality or recklessness. For instance, running a red light while drunk.
On the other hand, it's possible to picture a situation whereby a drunk driver is struck by a sober car that was speeding. If the sober motorist is injured during the accident, the inebriated motorist could be charged with DUI Causing Injury. In this case, though, the drunk driver was not to blame for the injuries.
Even though a DUI conviction would be valid, the more severe DUI Causing Injury conviction would not. However, if the inebriated motorist caused an accident by speeding or driving carelessly, and an injury ensued, he or she could face DUI with Injury charges.
Penalties for DUI Causing Injuries Charges
The repercussions of these charges are determined by the specifics of the case. Your sentence can also be determined by if the DUI causing injury was your first or a subsequent violation in 10 years. With each consecutive conviction, the consequences for a previous crime become more severe.
According to VC 23153, a 3rd DUI with injury is a felony offense. Depending on if the prosecution pursues it as a felony or misdemeanor offense, the sanctions for this DUI offense will differ. Aside from these consequences, California courts frequently order the accused individuals to have ignition interlock devices professionally fitted in their vehicles for a certain duration of time.
Consequences of a Misdemeanor
This kind of violation carries fines ranging from $390 upto $5,000, as well as a term in jail ranging from 5 days to 12 months. Your driving permit could also be suspended for 1 to 3 years. For 6 months after an IID has been placed in your vehicle, you can continue to operate the vehicle without restriction. Other penalties for this crime include compensation to the affected party and 3 to 5 years of informal probation.
Consequences of a DUI With Injury Felony Charge
This offense charged as a felony offense can result in fines that range from $1,000 upto $5,000, as well as a sentence of 2 to 4 years in state prison. Should the victim suffer serious bodily injury, you might face a further 3 to 6 years in jail, as well as a one-year term for each victim. When the car accident victim suffers grave bodily harm, a sentence for this felony will lead to a strike.
Persons charged with DUI with injury in California are usually ordered to complete a DUI school approved by the court for 18 to 30 months. The courts also enforce the HTO designation on the accused individuals for a period of three years.
Vehicle Code 23153 convictions can result in your driver's license being suspended for a period of 5 years, however, you can get your license back by having an IID installed in your automobile for a minimum of one year.
Is a DUI with Injury Conviction Subject to Additional Probation Conditions?
In most cases, probation is imposed along with other sanctions for this charge. One among the probationary requirements is that you don't commit any further violations or drive with any quantifiable quantity of alcohol in your body. You're also warned against failing to consent to a blood or a breath test after a second DUI arrest. Additional requirements of the probationary term include:
- Compensating the victim
- Taking part in a Victim Impact Course conducted by Mothers Against Drunk Driving
- Taking part in Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings
Are There Any Immigration Repercussions?
A conviction might result in deportation or inadmissibility for a person who is not a citizen of the US in several situations. They comprise being charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs or having a drug dependency problem, as well as having several inebriated driving charges. But if you're an undocumented immigrant and are convicted of a DUI, you may face deportation.
After any convictions, both citizens and those who are not citizens of the US can no longer be admitted to Canada. DUI arrests, as well as convictions in California, are often made public by law enforcement authorities. However, they won't report your DUI conviction or arrest to the ICE. But, if you are illegally residing in the country, the conviction or arrest may assist the ICE in locating you.
Recurrent DUI causing injury charges could jeopardize your capacity to show good moral integrity. Immigrants desiring to obtain US citizenship through naturalization are required to have a solid moral character. Becoming a chronic drunkard, according to federal immigration laws, invalidates you from maintaining moral integrity.
Legal Defenses For VC 23153
The defenses available in a DUI causing injury charge are identical to those available in other drunk driving charges. Your attorney will walk you through each of your strategies for demonstrating you weren't drunk and that your blood alcohol level was incorrectly or unlawfully recorded. The lawyer will also look at if the responding officer followed all of the protocols for arrest, inquiry, and testing processes. Any inconsistencies in the procedures may allow you to defend yourself against a DUI with injury conviction.
Prosecutors go to great lengths to associate a vehicle accident you initiated with an injury suffered by another person. A car accident reconstruction specialist may be brought in by your legal counsel to refute these accusations.
The expert's job will be to determine whether or not the vehicle accident was caused by your negligence. To identify the causes of an accident, accident reconstruction specialists look at the traffic conditions, the weather, as well as the degree of damage inflicted on the car.
Because police officers are more likely to blame intoxicated drivers for vehicle accidents when they get to the accident scene, defenses applied in your defense should work. By pointing out police wrongdoing or diverting the culpability to another motorist, your lawyer can assist you in fighting the allegations. The following are more elaborate strategies for beating a DUI causing injury charge:
Mistakes in DUI Blood or Breath Tests
Inappropriate handling, device malfunction, frequency interference, or physiological situations can all affect DUI breath tests. Additionally, breath tests are not one of the most reliable methods of determining BAC after being arrested for DUI. This test can only detect evidence of alcohol levels in your breath, not the alcohol levels in your system. If your lawyer believes the test findings are incorrect, he or she can contest them.
Blood contamination, poor handling of the blood samples, as well as blood fermentation can all cause inaccuracies in DUI blood tests. In a DUI causing injury suit, your attorney can stop the test findings from being utilized as proof.
No Indication of a Mental Condition
The responding officer could consider signs like muffled speech, poor balance, bloodshot eyes, as well as an unstable gait as symptoms of physical disability. You could show these signs as a result of a present illness or exhaustion. The most common manifestation of alcohol or drug-related use is mental disability. You can refute charges of physiological impairment by claiming that you had been psychologically sound while driving.
Police Wrongdoing
Evidence of police wrongdoing in a DUI causing injury case could jeopardize the prosecution's case. Factually incorrect filing of DUI statements, failure to follow Title 17 protocols, and unlawful arrest are all examples of police misconduct.
Any unlawfully produced or acquired evidence could be declared suppressed by a California court. When your lawyer demonstrates the instances of police wrongdoing, your case could have a desirable outcome.
Misleading Field Sobriety Tests
FSTs are used to detect visual signs of intoxication in a suspected DUI offender. As part of the Field Sobriety Tests, the officer would request you to perform certain exercises, like walking along a straight line. One strategy to refute the FST conclusions is to claim that they were conducted on uneven surfaces. You could also attribute your bad test results to dim lighting, uncomfortable shoes, officer-induced fear, or adverse weather.
Failing to Inform You of Your Miranda Rights
During anI arrest or whenever a law enforcement officer carries out a custodial questioning, he or she should inform you of your Miranda rights. After you've been detained, the officer could interrogate you to get damning responses from you. Any additional remarks made by you can’t be utilized as proof in the case if you had not been informed of your Miranda rights.
You Weren’t Operating the Vehicle
A DUI causing injury conviction only can apply if you had been driving the vehicle that injured another person. The prosecutors could find it hard to demonstrate you operated the vehicle if nobody had seen you driving the car.
Related Offenses
You could face further penalties if you are convicted for causing injury while driving under the influence. These offenses could be added to your case by the prosecution to thwart your efforts to fight the charges. Here are some of the related offenses:
California Penal Code 191.5 — Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated
When death happens as a result of your DUI, you could be prosecuted with Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated, which is a more serious offense. DUI Causing Injury is quite comparable to vehicular manslaughter while inebriated. The main difference is that the motorist is responsible for another person's death instead of causing them significant injury. There's also a much more serious offense called Gross Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated.
Gross Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated demands that the motorist was behaving in a manner that was anticipated to lead to the death of someone else, instead of just disobeying traffic laws or driving carelessly.
A charge of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated will be prosecuted in the same way as a DUI With Injury charge. Often, the authorities will conclude that the drunk driver was to blame for the accident. As a result, an impartial expert is often called in to recreate the scene of the accident and assess who was to blame. A charge of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated is not admissible if the car accident was caused by the deceased or by another entity.
If you have been convicted of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated charged as a misdemeanor, you could face up to a year in jail. A felony conviction is far more serious, with a maximum prison sentence of four years. The years could be more based on the deceased.
Watson Murder — Second Degree Murder
Whenever a death occurs as a result of a DUI, second-degree murder accusations may be filed. These are known as the "Watson Murders." This is the most severe DUI violation, and it is usually only prosecuted if the prosecution can demonstrate that you knew the risks of driving while intoxicated. This also usually necessitates a previous DUI conviction.
California Vehicle Code 20001 — Felony Hit And Run Involving Death Or Injury
After a car accident, the law compels you to halt and give the other side your details, as well as offer reasonable aid to anyone who needs medical care. This is so even though you're not to blame. If you refuse to stop following your DUI with Injury, you will most likely be convicted of a Hit and Run Causing Death or Injury as a felony.
A driver could be wrongly accused of performing a hit-and-run in certain instances. You will not be prosecuted with a hit and run when your car was involved in a car accident but you weren't its operator.
If you're charged with a hit-and-run as a felony, you will be sentenced to a 4-year imprisonment term.
Child Endangerment — California Penal Code 273 (A)
You could be convicted of Child Endangerment when you had a child below 14 years in your vehicle at the moment of a DUI Causing Injury accident. If you are convicted, you could be sentenced to up to six years in prison.
Find a Santa Ana DUI Defense Attorney Near Me
The best chance of beating a DUI causing injury charge is to engage an experienced DUI defense attorney. California Criminal Lawyer Group distinguishes itself by taking a unique strategy to defend clients facing DUI accusations. Drivers from all across Santa Ana can turn to us for legal advice and assistance in DUI cases. Call us at 714-844-4151 to book your appointment.
