What is an Enhanced DUI?

What is an Enhanced DUI?

All states have statutes that can “enhance” or increase the mandatory minimum punishment for a DUI-DWI offense based upon either: (a) your extremely high blood alcohol level at the time of your arrest; (b) due to your alleged prior DUI-DWI convictions; or (c) [in a few states] for refusing to submit to the State’s chemical test of your blood, breath or urine.

Such statutes put a premium on your defense attorney being able to mount a successful challenge to this “enhancement” evidence that could cost you a much longer jail sentence. These challenges may focus on proving one or more of the prior cases should not be used against you to enhance the penalties in the current case, or may focus on deficiencies in the current DUI-DWI case.

In states with an “extreme DUI-DWI” law (e.g., Arizona), using expert testimony to show that the State’s “breath number” is not credible can mean a substantial difference in your punishment. You may not win the lesser DUI-DWI charge, but a finding of not guilty on the “extreme DUI-DWI” charge can save your right to drive and keep you from serving a longer jail term.

A specific example from Texas of eliminating “prior offense” evidence might be that you are accused of having a second DUI-DWI offense within 10 years of a prior conviction from another state. If your attorney can prove that the other conviction was a DIFFERENT type of statute and not substantially similar to your state’s statute, this argument might prevail. This would mean that your minimum mandatory punishment could be substantially lessened.

An Enhanced DUI Case Can Be Won!

An enhanced DUI charge can be defended against if you hire a veteran DUI lawyer who has had courtroom successes with this type of drunk driving charge. An attorney will try to eliminate the impact that prior DUIs have on your current charges, regardless of if your old DUIs happened in the same state as your current DUI, or if they were in a different state. All states have what is called a “lookback period” where the time between each DUI is taken into consideration. For example, if you were convicted of a DUI 5 years ago and you were arrested in this week, your previous conviction may or may not impact the penalties you face on your current charge.

Our number one goal is to avoid a new DUI conviction. This is done by filing pre-trial motions to get police evidence excluded, by finding errors in police arrest procedures, and by challenging the legality of why the police stopped you in the first place. Give us a chance to show you the many proven ways to get your charges reduced, or even have your case dismissed entirely. Call us anytime day or night at 1-888-839-4384.