DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE

Las Vegas is perhaps the only truly 24-hour city. Bars, restaurants, liquor stores and grocery stores are open 24 hours a day all across the Las Vegas valley. Moreover, every gaming establishment in town serves free drinks to patrons who are gambling. The inevitable consequence of all of this is that there are often far too many people who get behind the wheel after a few drinks. As a result, Driving Under the Influence (commonly referred to as a “DUI”) is one of the most common crimes cited in Las Vegas, and the laws regarding convictions can be difficult to understand.

Common Questions

What should I do if I’ve been charged with a DUI?

As with any crime, it is very important that you speak with an experienced criminal defense attorney as soon as possible so that you can discuss the specific circumstances as well as any defenses that may apply to your case.

With a DUI, it is particularly important that you speak with an experienced attorney because the hiring of an attorney shows dedication to completing your requirements and putting the DUI behind you. Prosecutors are usually more willing to offer or accept plea bargains for people who have hired representation, and the judges are generally more likely to be lenient when you show that you understand the seriousness of the charges by hiring an attorney.

What are the possible penalties?

It is important to understand that the penalties for a DUI are heavily dependent on the circumstances of your arrest. The level of your intoxication, how many DUIs you had in the previous 7-year period, and whether you were pulled over or involved in a crash can all affect the penalties that are imposed.

So, DUIs basically fall off my record after 7 years?

Not exactly, after 7 years, a conviction, “no contest,” or “guilty” plea do not count towards whether you will be charged with a “First Offense,” “Second Offense,” or “Third Offense.” However, those old convictions will likely still be taken into account when determining your sentencing (or possible plea deals either, for that matter), meaning that you will likely be sentenced to the upper limits of the potential penalties.

What other circumstances will be taken into account?

The arresting officer will note everything from your demeanor after being pulled over, your compliance with the officer’s requests, and your attitude towards being pulled over or arrested. All of this information will be considered when plea bargains are offered by the prosecutor prior to trial and will be considered by the judge during sentencing if you are subsequently convicted.

Prior DUIs are generally the most important circumstance, but because everyone reacts to intoxication differently, the level of your intoxication is also taken into consideration in most cases.

For example, if you are involved in a minor car crash, and an officer arrives on the scene and determines that your Blood Alcohol Concentration (“BAC”) is found to be 0.16 (twice the legal limit of 0.08), then your potential plea deals and potential sentencing if convicted will likely involve harsher penalties than if your BAC was found to be just barely over the 0.08 limit.

Similarly, if you act belligerently towards the arresting officer, are violent or aggressive towards anyone else throughout the process of your arrest, you are more likely to face harsher penalties and more strict plea deals than if you are docile and comply with all officer requests.

How is the BAC determined?

Generally speaking, if an officer suspects that you have been drinking, they will ask you to submit to a breathalyzer. The breathalyzer measures the amount of alcohol on your breath and is generally used as a preliminary test to determine if you need to be tested in a more precise manner.

In other cases, and sometimes in place of the breathalyzer, you will be asked to submit to a blood test so that the actual BAC can be determined. Generally speaking, Nevada Courts will not allow the results of any blood test taken more than 2 hours after you have been pulled over. The Courts recognize that any test taken after that 2 hour time frame do not reflect your BAC at the time you were pulled over.

BAC refers to the concentration of alcohol in your blood stream. The legal limit in Nevada, for persons over the age of 21 is 0.08, which means that 0.08% of your bloodstream is composed of alcohol.

What if I have a BAC exactly at the legal limit?

The BAC limits are per se laws, meaning that if you are shown to have a BAC of exactly 0.08, you have violated the law. If your BAC shows as 0.079, you are under the limit.

However, it is extremely important to note that you can still be arrested if your BAC is under the legal limit. In fact, you can be arrested with any amount of alcohol in your system, so long as the alcohol is detectable to the arresting officer.

PLEASE NOTE: The 0.08 BAC limit applies only to drivers over the age of 21 who are hold a category C license, allowing them to drive common passenger vehicles. For anyone who holds a license for commercial vehicles, the limit for BAC is 0.04. For drivers under the age of 21, the BAC is 0.02. All of the information contained in this article is stated in relation to the general 0.08 limit, but applies equally to drivers under 21 and those with a commercial vehicle license.

Can I refuse to be tested?

Technically, yes. However, Nevada maintains what is known as “implied consent,” which means that you are required to submit to BAC testing when requested by a police officer. However, you can request that the testing be done by drawing blood, and skip the breathalyzer. Unfortunately, if you choose to refuse the preliminary breath test (often referred to as a PBT), the officer may – and usually will – suspend your license and arrest you for a DUI.

Please Note: The PBT results are inadmissible in court to show that you were driving under the influence. HOWEVER, the results can be used to show that the officer had “reasonable grounds” to arrest you. Since any alcohol in your system is enough to provide an officer with reasonable grounds to arrest you, as discussed above, the results of a PBT can be used to show that there was alcohol in your system at the time of the arrest, even though it cannot be used as evidence of your exact BAC.

Once you have been taken back to the police station, you will be asked to submit to either an Evidentiary Breath Test or a Blood Test.

Evidentiary Breath Tests are supposedly more sophisticated than the PBT, and therefore expected to be more accurate. Consequently, the results of an Evidentiary Breath Test are admissible in court to show that your BAC was above the legal limit.

You should not refuse to submit to the blood test (also referred to as a “chemical test”). While you are legally allowed to refuse the test, law enforcement is legally permitted to obtain a blood sample to conduct the testing. In other words, the officer may direct that reasonable force be used to the extent necessary to obtain the blood sample. Moreover, should you refuse to submit to the testing, your license will also be suspended for 1 year.

How can I know if I’ve had too much to drink to be able to drive?

As noted above, the BAC limits are basically nothing more than guidelines, given that you can be arrested with any amount of detectable amount of alcohol in your system, we strongly recommend that if you have had anything to drink (or have consumed any illegal narcotic, prescription medication, or over-the-counter medication that can affect your ability to drive) you refrain from driving altogether.

However, in general, the charts below provides the approx. BAC per-alcoholic drink.

Penalties

For a “First” Offense, you will be facing:

  • Between 2 days and 6 months in jail OR 24 to 96 hours of community service;

  • Nevada DUI school (an alcohol awareness program that you will have to pay for over-and-above any fines imposed by the court);

  • Nevada Victim Impact Panel (usually put on by Mothers Against Drunk Driving – MADD – and involves hearing the stories of people affected by drunk driving. If there is any cost associated for this, you will be required to pay for it over-and-above any fines imposed by the Court);

  • Fines ranging from $400 to $1,000, plus court costs; and

  • The court may require that an ignition interlock device be installed on your vehicle for 3-to-6 months, at your expense; and

  • 90-day suspension of your driver’s license and $35 civil penalty fee.

If your BAC was 0.18 or greater:

  • You may be required to attend an alcohol or drug abuse treatment program;

  • The Court may require that an ignition interlock device be installed on your vehicle for 12-to-36 months at your expense;

  • The Court may require that you submit to an alcohol/drug dependency evaluation that will cost you $100 over-and-above all of the other costs listed above.

If you are under 21 at the time of your arrest:

  • The Court will likely require that you submit to an alcohol/drug dependency evaluation that will cost you $100 over-and-above all of the other costs listed above.

For a “Second” Offense, you will be facing:

  • Between 10 days and 6 months in jail OR residential confinement (house arrest);

  • Nevada Victim Impact Panel (usually put on by Mothers Against Drunk Driving – MADD – and involves hearing the stories of people affected by drunk driving. If there is any cost associated for this, you will be required to pay for it over-and-above any fines imposed by the Court);

  • Fines ranging from $750 to $1,000, or the equivalent number of hours of community service, plus court costs;

  • An alcohol/drug dependency evaluation that will cost you $100 over-and-above all of the other costs listed above.

  • The Court may order that an Ignition Interlock be installed for 3-to-6 months, at your expense;

  • Suspension of your driver’s license for up to 1 year (with the possibility that your license will be revoked entirely), along with a 5-day registration suspension and a $35 civil penalty; and

  • A lengthy alcohol or drug abuse treatment program (handled through the DUI court).

If your BAC was 0.18 or greater:

  • The Court may require that an ignition interlock device be installed on your vehicle for 12-to-36 months, at your expense.

For a “Third” Offense, you will be facing felony charges, carrying:

  • Between 1 and 6 years in a Nevada State Prison;

  • Nevada Victim Impact Panel (usually put on by Mothers Against Drunk Driving – MADD – and involves hearing the stories of people affected by drunk driving. If there is any cost associated for this, you will be required to pay for it over-and-above any fines imposed by the Court);

  • Fines ranging from $2,000 to $5,000, or the equivalent number of hours of community service, plus court costs;

  • An Ignition Interlock device installed in your car for 12-to-36 months, at your expense, after your release;

  • A 3-year driver’s license suspension or revocation, 5-day registration suspension and a $35 civil penalty fee; and

  • An alcohol and drug evaluation, at your expense.

If you are arrested for a DUI after causing a crash that injures or kills another person, then you will be facing category B felony charges, which carry the possible penalties:

  • Between 2 and 20 years in a Nevada State Prison;

  • Nevada Victim Impact Panel (usually put on by Mothers Against Drunk Driving – MADD – and involves hearing the stories of people affected by drunk driving. If there is any cost associated for this, you will be required to pay for it over-and-above any fines imposed by the Court);

  • Fines ranging from $2,000 to $5,000, or the equivalent number of hours of community service, plus court costs;

  • An Ignition Interlock device installed in your car for 12-to-36 months, at your expense, after your release;

  • A 3-year driver’s license suspension or revocation, 5-day registration suspension and a $35 civil penalty fee; and

  • An alcohol and drug evaluation, at your expense.

If you have 3 previous DUI convictions (regardless of how long ago they were), and you cause a fatality while driving under the influence, you can be charged with vehicular manslaughter, which is charged as a category A felony, and can carry:

  • 25 years-to-life in a Nevada State Prison, with the possibility of parole after 10 years;

  • Any of the other DUI related penalties listed above, as the Court sees fit, including classes, alcohol evaluation, and fines.

Okay, so what are the penalties?

As noted above, the penalties for a DUI depend largely on whether this is your first, second, or third DUI in the previous 7 years.

The penalties are also largely dependent on the circumstances of your arrest.

I’ve heard of people being ordered to wear a bracelet that registers alcohol, what is that?

Those bracelets are known as SCRAM bracelets, which stands for Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor.

In some DUI cases, the Court will require that you completely stop drinking during the term of probation. To enforce this probationary term, the court will order you wear a SCRAM bracelet (which is actually worn on the ankle) to monitor your alcohol levels. The device is tamper-resistant and measures BAC approx.ly once every hour to deter the wearer from drinking. The device works by testing the amount of alcohol secreted through the skin.

If the SCRAM device registers alcohol in the wearer’s system, the device will notify the monitoring center, who then informs local law enforcement to arrest the wearer. At your next hearing after this arrest, the Judge will most likely rule that you have violated the terms of your probation and will sentence you to whatever jail time was “suspended” in favor of probation.

Defense

Are there any Defenses?

Yes, of course there are. Many of the defenses, and other tactics your attorney may employ revolve around the exact circumstances of your arrest:

  • No evidence of BAC over 0.08 – If you have been pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving, the officer has 2 hours to administer an Evidentiary Breath Test or a Blood test. If no such test is administered, then the Court’s cannot convict you of a DUI, and the charges should be dropped or dismissed. However, in practice, the prosecutor will generally alter the charges to something vague like “driving recklessly” instead of continuing with the DUI charges.

  • No admissible results of BAC over 0.08 – Similar to the defense that there is no evidence of a BAC over the limit is the defense that there is no admissible evidence that your BAC was over the limit. If the officer does not administer an Evidentiary Breath Test or blood test within 2 hours after the arrest, then the Courts will generally not allow the admission of the test results because they are not symbolic of your BAC at the time you were pulled over. It is also important to know that regardless of the claim that the Evidentiary Breath Test being much more accurate than the PBT, in reality, even these tests are often incorrect. An experienced DUI attorney can often find ways to show that the results of these tests are inadmissible. If the tests of an Evidentiary Breath Test or blood test are inadmissible, then there is no evidence of your BAC, and the charges against you should be dropped or dismissed. However, once again you should be aware that this more often leads to a change in the charges than to the charges being dropped altogether.

  • No reasonable grounds for arrest – As noted above, if you have been pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving, the officer can arrest you only if there is reasonable grounds for the arrest. If the officer did not administer any field sobriety tests, or ask you to submit to a PBT, then an experienced attorney may be able to argue that the arrest was not premised on any “reasonable grounds”.

  • SCRAM False Positive – SCRAM devices are touted as being infallible, but they do make mistakes at times. Unfortunately, proving that the device provided a false positive is very difficult. The Judge has the discretion whether to give you another chance or to send you to jail. Hiring an experienced DUI attorney can often help show the Court that you are serious about the charges and believe that the device provided a false positive. An experienced attorney can also help in how to present your case to the Court for the best possible results.

Can I Plead out of my DUI charges?

Because of the prevalence of 24-hour alcohol service in Las Vegas, DUIs are extremely common. If everyone who was arrested for a DUI was thrown in jail, the jails would be way too crowded.

Judges are also aware that people make mistakes and that sometimes, they should be given a second chance.

As such, many DUI cases plea bargain for lesser charges. Generally speaking, the District Attorney will require that you complete the sentencing requirements for your DUI charge (whether it be a first or a second) within a certain amount of time. If you complete the requirements within that time, then the DA will usually agree to a conviction for a lesser charge, such as “reckless driving” or “wet and reckless.”

It is very important to note that if you agree to such a plea bargain, the charges are not lessened until after you complete the requirements. If you do not complete the requirements in time, the Judge has discretion to require that you complete the maximum possible sentence for your DUI, regardless of how much of the plea bargain you had already completed.

If you are being charged with your third DUI within 7 years, then you will be unable to plea down to a lesser charge. The enhancement for a third DUI in 7 year is automatic, and you will be charged with a felony.

The ABOVE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED FOR GENERAL REFERENCE PURPOSES AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS A GUIDE TO YOUR SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES.
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