A Regular DUI Is 0.08, An Aggravated Is 0.15 and Over
Video Transcribed: Are aggravated DUIs a felony offense? My name is Ryan Cannonie, I am the Tahlequah Criminal Defense Attorney for the Wirth Law Office in Tahlequah.
And when I was a prosecutor, I actually had several officers have this question too. When you talk about driving under the influence and aggravated driving under the influence what those mean, what are the differences and distinctions?
Well, not getting into all the punishment differences because an aggravated DUI includes slightly different punishment requirements and the sentencing requirements are a little different. It requires more because it’s a step above, it’s an aggravated offense and there are more requirements of it than a regular DUI.
However, something that does get mistaken all the time, an aggravated DUI in and of itself is not a felony. DUIs and aggravated DUIs are both filed as misdemeanors for your first-time offense. However, on a second offense, that’s when you can charge a felony.
Now an aggravated, the difference between it and a regular DUI is really one of degree. Specifically your blood alcohol degree. So when you look at blood alcohol content, your BAC, that’s where you find out if someone’s an aggravated or regular DUI. Now, if you’re going to be aggravated, you’re going to have to be 0.15 or over.
So for a regular DUI, it’s 0.08, aggravated is 0.15 and over. So if you have a blood alcohol content of 0.15 basically, or up, the highest, I think I’ve ever seen was a… I want to say it was like 0.35, 0.36. It was a lifelong alcohol user or someone who had alcohol issues their entire life, and basically just drove around with a bottle of, I think it was bourbon was their liquor of choice, and just stay drunk pretty much all day. Normally most DUIs are somewhere in the 0.08 to 0.15 area, you don’t see aggravate come up near as much.
But if you’ve been stopped, you’ve been arrested, you’ve given blood or done a breath test and it turns out you do have a 0.15, then it can really impact your case. And even if it’s a misdemeanor, like I said, your punishments could be a little bit different.
So it’s really important you talk to an attorney about this. If you have questions, give us a call, go to our website, tahlequahattorney.com, and then shoot us a web form. We can talk to you, try to help you. This is an area where you want someone who knows the difference between an aggravator and a regular DUI and can help you out in that situation. So give us a call if you have questions.
