San Diego Felony DUI Defense Attorney

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California Vehicle Code §23153(a) discusses DUI causing injury charges and how you may be convicted in connection with this crime. If you have been involved in a DUI arrest where someone was injured, an early and aggressive defense can be to your benefit.

The Difference with Regards to Penalties

A DUI with injury is a "wobbler" under California law, which means that you could be charged with a misdemeanor or felony offense, depending on the circumstances surrounding your charge and your criminal history (especially your DUI history).

The difference between a misdemeanor and felony DUI is significant in the state of California:

• For a misdemeanor DUI, you could spend five days to one year in a county jail and be put on informal probation for three to five years.
• For a felony DUI conviction, you could spend two to four years in state prison (or longer if more than one individual was injured).

While your license could be suspended for one to three years under a misdemeanor DUI with injury, it could be suspended for five years if a felony offense was committed. Also, while a minimum fine for a misdemeanor DUI with injury is $390, a minimum fine for a felony DUI with injury is $1,015.

How can I be convicted of DUI with injury in San Diego?

For the jury to find someone guilty of DUI with injury, it must establish that the defendant was driving a vehicle under the influence of a drug or alcoholic beverage and that the defendant failed to provide a legal duty of care, causing injury to another person.

In order to be convicted of DUI with injury, the jury must establish that "the defendant failed to perform the following legal duty/duties while driving the vehicle/operating the vessel: the duty to exercise ordinary care at all times and to maintain proper control of the vehicle/vessel."

Ordinary care means that an individual "…used reasonable care to prevent reasonably foreseeable harm to someone else. A person fails to exercise ordinary care if he or she does something that a reasonably careful person would not do in the same situation/or fails to do something that a reasonably careful person would do in the same situation."

An individual's injuries must be shown to be the "direct, natural, and probably consequence of the act and that injury would not have happened without the act." In layman’s terms, this means the prosecution must prove that you did not exercise the care that is expected from a licensed California driver and that your actions were the direct cause of the resulting injury.

Fight Back with an Experienced DUI Defense Lawyer!

Regardless of whether you face a misdemeanor DUI with injury or a felony DUI with injury charge, both of these are serious offenses that could reap adverse effects in your life for years to come. It is in your best interests to secure the hard-hitting legal representation of Mark R. De Yoe today!