DUI and Jail
The amount of jail time that a judge can sentence a person to in DUI cases depends upon such things as whether the person has any prior convictions for DUI, whether the person's blood-alcohol level or breath-alcohol level was 0.20 or higher when driving, or whether the person had a minor in his vehicle while driving. Florida statute section 316.193 lists the possible jail penalties for DUI. Some of those penalties include:
- For a first DUI conviction, the maximum jail sentence is 6 months. However, if the individual has a blood-alcohol level or breath-alcohol level of 0.20 or higher or if a minor is in the vehicle, the maximum sentence is 9 months jail.
- For a second DUI conviction, the maximum jail sentence is 9 months. However, if the individual has a blood-alcohol level or breath-alcohol level of 0.20 or higher or if a minor is in the vehicle, the maximum sentence is 12 months jail. Also, if the second conviction occurs within 5 years of a prior DUI conviction, there is a mandatory penalty of at least 10 days in jail, and at least 48 hours of that jail sentence must be served consecutively.
- For a third DUI conviction, the maximum prison sentence is 5 years if the third conviction is within 10 years of a prior DUI conviction. There is also a mandatory penalty of at least 30 days in jail, and at least 48 hours of that jail sentence must be served consecutively. However, if the third DUI conviction occurs more than 10 years after a prior DUI conviction, the maximum penalty is 12 months in jail.
- For 4 or more DUI convictions, the maximum penalty is 5 years in prison.
Judges may, if they choose, require persons convicted of DUI to serve all or any portion of imprisonment in a residential alcoholism treatment program or in a residential drug abuse treatment program, and any time spent in such programs must be credited toward the total amount of imprisonment that is imposed.
I have a question: What if someone was charged with a 2nd DUI in Florida. Between the court dates, though, they went to a rehabilition center on their own free will for alcoholism and another addiction and have been sober and healthy since. Will the judge take that into consideration or can the judge count that time in treatment as time served?
Answer:
It would certainly make sense for a judge to take into consideration the fact that someone voluntarily attended a substance abuse program after being charged with DUI. However, judges don't always do things that make perfect sense.
The answer to the second part of your question is yes, a judge can count time in a residential substance abuse program as credit towards a jail sentence that is imposed.