In California, a third offense DUI involves operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs for the third time within ten years. The crime is prosecuted under California Vehicle Codes 23152(a) and (b). Section 23152(a) makes it illegal to drive while under the influence of alcohol, meaning your ability to operate a vehicle is impaired, even if your blood alcohol concentration is below the legal limit. Section 23152(b) prohibits driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or higher, regardless of whether the driver appears intoxicated.

If this is your third DUI offense within ten years, the penalties are much harsher than those for first or second DUI offenses. California law imposes severe consequences, including jail time, fines, and driver’s license suspension. At Monterey Criminal Attorney, we can review your 3rd offense DUI case and determine a legal defense strategy we could help build for a favorable outcome.

Understanding Third Offense DUI in California

California treats multiple DUI offenses seriously by enforcing tough penalties for those who repeat this crime. The punishment for a third DUI offense in California during the previous ten-year period attracts more severe punishments than for first and second offenses. 

Below are key elements that help define third-offense DUI:

Driving

Per California law, driving happens whenever you have physical control over a vehicle. Driving requires you to maintain physical control of your vehicle’s movements. The law considers someone behind the wheel with an active engine to be driving even if the car remains stationary.

Being Under the Influence

Under California law, being under the influence means your physical or mental abilities become impaired by alcohol, drugs, or their combination. Because of impairment, you cannot operate a vehicle with the same caution level as a sober person under similar driving conditions.

The level of impairment depends mainly on your blood alcohol concentration (BAC). The legal BAC limit in California is 0.08% BAC for all 21-year-old or older drivers. The threshold helps authorities determine impairment levels by providing a standard quantitative metric to enforce regulations and protect road safety.

Prior Convictions

To secure a conviction for a third DUI offense, the prosecution must prove you have two prior DUI-related convictions within the last ten years. This includes standard DUIs and wet reckless convictions under VC 23103.5, provided the prior plea agreement specified alcohol involvement. Out-of-state DUI convictions may count, but only if the law in that state is substantially similar to California’s DUI laws.

The DUI Arrest Process

When law enforcement suspects someone of driving under the influence, they start by stopping traffic and performing an investigation. Law enforcement officers perform three steps to investigate DUI cases, which include:

  1. Observing your actions
  2. Field sobriety tests
  3. Preliminary alcohol screening tests

The assessments will lead to your arrest for DUI when they show probable cause, or you fail the tests. After your arrest, you must take chemical tests through breath or blood analysis to determine your BAC level accurately. Your refusal to take these tests will result in automatic license suspension and other penalties.

The officer will take your driver's license during arrest and then provide you with a temporary license that remains valid for thirty days. The 30-day period lets you fight your suspension by participating in administrative hearings.

DMV Hearing

After your third DUI arrest, the police officer will take your license and issue a temporary replacement that lasts thirty days. You must submit your request for a DMV hearing within 10 days, starting from your arrest date, to defend against your license suspension.

This administrative hearing focuses solely on your driving privileges, independent of the criminal court proceedings. The DMV conducts an assessment to determine if the arresting officer had sufficient grounds to suspect DUI and if your arrest was lawful, as well as whether your blood alcohol concentration exceeded 0.08% at the time of your arrest.

A failure to request this hearing within ten days leads to immediate license suspension.

Criminal Trial Process

The criminal justice system operates alongside your DUI legal matter at a go. During the arraignment, the court formally charges you while explaining your rights and requesting your plea response. A not-guilty plea will direct the case through pre-trial motions, possibly leading to a trial. For a conviction, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you were operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Proving Operation of the Vehicle

The prosecution establishes the driving element through the observations of the arresting officer. Witnesses to your driving behavior can testify about your vehicle control issues that led them to believe you were driving. The prosecution must rely on circumstantial evidence when police officers were not present to witness your driving activity at the accident scene. Physical evidence, witness statements, and admissions can establish your presence at the wheel.

Establishing Impairment

The prosecution establishes impairment by presenting different types of evidence to the court.

Standardized physical and mental exercises called field sobriety tests are administered at the roadside to evaluate impairment levels. The most frequently used FSTs are the walk-and-turn test, one-leg stand, and horizontal gaze nystagmus test. 

The results from FSTs may indicate impairment, but actual impairment cannot be determined because medical conditions, fatigue, and environmental conditions can affect test performance.

Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is measured through blood or breath tests as part of chemical testing procedures. California law defines a BAC of 0.08% or higher as a per se violation, eliminating the need for additional evidence of impairment. The tests occur after arrest, but refusing to take the test may result in extra penalties for the suspect.

Arresting Police Officer Testimony

An arresting police officer offers essential testimony, serving administrative and criminal court proceedings. The officer will explain your actions and the reasons for stopping you, describe the field sobriety tests, and provide your statements from the arrest. The testimony proves probable cause while backing up the evidence against you. Your defense strategy could involve contesting the officers' observations and procedures.

Penalties for a Third Offense DUI

California imposes substantial statutory penalties against individuals who face their third DUI offense to reduce recurrences and protect public safety. A third DUI offense comes with multiple punishments, which include the following:

Jail Time

A jail term between 120 days and one year is mandatory for third DUI offenders who committed their offenses within ten years of the second offense DUI. The court can extend jail sentences when specific conditions enhance the offense. Refusing a chemical test will extend the jail sentence by 10 days, even when authorities grant probation.

The California Vehicle Code Section 23582 VC states that driving at speeds above 30 mph over the limit on freeways or 20 mph over the limit on other roads will lead to 60 days of additional time in jail.

Fines and Fees

A third DUI offense attracts fines ranging from $390 to $1,000. After considering all penalty assessments, the total financial responsibility for a third DUI conviction rises to between $2,500 and $3,000.

Probation

The court might order three to five years of probation as an additional punishment after incarceration and fines. The court will establish particular requirements that you must follow, such as staying alcohol-free, participating in counseling sessions, and avoiding new legal offenses.

Mandatory Programs

A third DUI conviction in California typically requires the completion of an 18-month DUI education program (SB 38). However, in some cases, the court may impose a 30-month program based on prior offenses or aggravating factors. The program focuses on treating problematic behaviors that result from driving under the influence.

Ignition Interlock Device (IID)

A third DUI conviction in California requires vehicle owners to install an IID device. This device blocks vehicle start-up when it detects alcohol in your breath. According to the standard requirements, an IID maintenance period lasts at least two years.

License Suspension/ Revocation

A third DUI conviction in California results in a three-year license revocation, but it is not permanent. You may qualify for a restricted license after 18 months by completing a DUI program, installing an Ignition Interlock Device (IID), and meeting other DMV requirements. The restricted license facilitates travel to your workplace, school, medical facilities, and alcohol or drug treatment facilities.

Fortunately, if your license is suspended, you may still qualify for a restricted license. You must provide proof of DUI treatment enrollment, submit SR-22 insurance, and pay the necessary reissue fees to obtain one.

Aggravating Factors

California penal code includes specific circumstances that strengthen the punishment for DUI convictions. These include:

Refusal to Submit to Chemical Tests

The implied consent law in California mandates that arrestees take blood alcohol content tests after a lawful DUI arrest. Refusing chemical tests will result in more severe penalties like jail terms and extended license suspensions. Refusing a chemical test can lead to a jury instruction (CACI 2130), allowing the court to interpret the refusal as evidence of guilt.

Extremely High BAC Levels

The legal BAC threshold is 0.08%. Driving with BAC levels above 0.15% or 0.20% will increase the severity of the DUI consequences. Rising BAC levels beyond legal limits lead to harsher judicial consequences, like enhanced prison sentences with mandatory enrollment in lengthy alcohol education programs.

Presence of a Minor in the Vehicle

California law considers it child endangerment to drive under the influence while carrying children under 14 years old in the vehicle. First-time offenders face mandatory jail time when they endanger children because California maintains strict policies against child safety violations.

Reckless Driving and Excessive Speeding

Excessive speeding and unpredictable lane changes during intoxicated driving operations serve as factors that enhance DUI offenses. The risks of accidents become dramatically higher when drivers take such actions, resulting in harsher consequences during sentencing.

Prior DUI Convictions

A person who has committed multiple DUI offenses during the previous ten years will face aggravated DUI charges. The state implements increased penalties, mandatory jail sentences, longer license suspensions, and higher fines to punish repeat offenders of impaired driving offenses.

Legal Defenses and Strategies

Below are defense strategies that involve questioning the evidence and procedural defenses:

Questioning the Evidence

The legal basis for DUI charges depends mainly on the combination of field sobriety tests and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) results. Sometimes, FSTs’ results become unreliable because of external factors such as physical state and testing conditions. Test results showing blood alcohol concentration (BAC) can be disputed because of faulty testing equipment or medical reasons that influence how alcohol enters the body. 

  • Reliability Of Field Sobriety Tests And Potential External Influences

A police officer who believes you are driving under the influence will usually perform FSTs to examine your coordination, balance, and cognitive abilities. These tests could be subjective because they comprise errors in the assessment process. Various external elements affect how you perform the tests, which could cause the officer to believe you are impaired when you are not. For example:

  • Wearing high heels or restrictive clothing can affect your balance, leading to poor performance on tasks such as walking in a straight line. 
  • A person who experiences exhaustion from work duties or medical equilibrium issues can experience coordination problems without consuming alcohol. 
  • Sober individuals might fail the test due to poor pavement conditions, insufficient lighting, or windy weather conditions.

The subjective evaluation of an officer regarding your performance may result in wrong conclusions. The lack of specific scoring standards for FSTs lets officers use their personal biases, experience level, and subjective judgments to determine arrests.

  • Disputing the Accuracy of BAC Test Results

BAC tests are the typical scientific indicator of intoxication, but their readings are sometimes inaccurate.

The main problem with BAC testing emerges from inadequate maintenance and calibration of testing devices. Breathalyzer devices need scheduled maintenance checks to provide correct measurement results. Insufficient maintenance of the testing device at your arrest site could result in artificially high BAC measurements. 

External substances, including mouthwash, breath sprays, or remaining alcohol in your mouth after drinking, can produce false high readings on BAC tests.

Medical conditions can contribute to unreliable BAC results. Acid reflux, along with GERD and auto-brewery syndrome, leads to elevated alcohol readings even though you have not consumed alcohol. The breathalyzer reading of people with GERD becomes inaccurate because stomach acid moves alcohol vapors from their stomach to their mouth. 

Another problem occurs when blood alcohol levels continue to increase. The BAC you had while driving may have been under the legal threshold, but your body processed additional alcohol afterward, which increased your BAC level. Your defense attorney can use an evaluation of these factors to show that BAC test results were unreliable, thus making the prosecution's case weak.

A High Protein Diet, Diabetes or Hypoglycemia

Your BAC measurement could be incorrect because of particular health conditions and dietary decisions. People suffering from diabetes or hypoglycemia produce ketones that lead to breath tests to detect alcohol when it is not present. Your body generates ketones through fat breakdown when it operates without glucose for energy. 

People with diabetes, together with low-carb dieters and those who fast, frequently experience this condition. The bloodstream release of ketones leads to breath expulsion of isopropyl alcohol, which breathalyzers might mistake for ethanol. 

A person with a high ketone level in their body can show a breathalyzer reading above the legal limit for alcohol consumption because breathalyzers cannot distinguish between ethanol alcohol and isopropyl alcohol, which the body produces.

The symptoms of hypoglycemia, which include dizziness, confusion, and poor coordination, can create false indicators that someone is under the influence of alcohol. The lack of medical knowledge by an officer can result in mistaken intoxication judgments that trigger wrongful DUI arrests.

When someone has diabetes or hypoglycemia or follows dietary plans that increase ketone levels, their defense attorney can submit medical records to challenge the reliability of BAC results.

Procedural Defenses

Your defense strategy can use errors that occurred during the arrest process as evidence. Law enforcement officers should follow established procedures; any departure from these protocols becomes important evidence. Examples of procedural defenses include:

  • Illegal DUI Checkpoints Or Arrests

Law enforcement agencies must follow specific legal requirements to maintain the validity of DUI checkpoints. The legality of your arrest becomes stronger when the checkpoint fails to follow the required procedures.

The California law requires that DUI checkpoints operate with neutrality and without discrimination. The police force lacks the authority to determine vehicles for stops based on their personal choices. The checkpoint requires authorities to establish a systematic approach to stop certain vehicles, such as every third vehicle that enters the checkpoint. A checkpoint must establish its position in locations that demonstrate drunk driving problems instead of arbitrary sites. 

Police organizations must inform the public ahead of time about checkpoints through media platforms, including social media and local news channels. The failure to announce a checkpoint ahead of time could make the operation unconstitutional.

The detention of drivers at checkpoints should be minimal, and officers need reasonable suspicion to extend the stop beyond a brief duration. Your defense attorney would use Fourth Amendment rights violations as a defense if police stopped you illegally at a checkpoint or detained you beyond reasonable limits without valid reasons.

Breathalyzer results and other evidence collected from an unlawful checkpoint stop may be suppressed by the court, reducing the strength of the prosecution's case.

  • Failure to Read Miranda rights

The law requires police to read you your Miranda rights before performing any interrogation while you are under arrest for your third DUI incident. The two fundamental rights protected by Miranda are the privilege to stay quiet and the right to obtain legal counsel. Any evidence obtained from your interrogation will likely be dismissed from court proceedings if police did not read your Miranda rights before starting their questions.

A statement about consuming multiple alcoholic beverages during questioning would become evidence that prosecutors could use against you if you provided this admission to an officer. Your attorney could submit a motion to exclude your statements because you did not receive proper notification about your rights before questioning.

The application of Miranda rights depends on being in custody and undergoing interrogation. Any statements you voluntarily make before your formal arrest will still be usable as prosecution evidence. The questioning of a detained person by law enforcement after arrest could potentially become grounds for evidence suppression if officers failed to read their rights to the individual. 

  • The Arresting Police Officer Did Not Conduct a Fifteen-Minute Observation Period

California law mandates that police officers observe drivers for fifteen uninterrupted minutes before giving breathalyzer tests. The observation period is vital to confirm that no factors affect the breath test accuracy, including eating or drinking, burping, and regurgitating. The breathalyzer results become unreliable when officers do not observe appropriately for fifteen minutes.

A BAC reading may show false elevation when alcohol enters from the mouth instead of deep lung air. Your BAC results could show false signs of exceeding legal limits because the breath test measures mouth alcohol that remains after burping or vomiting.

Your defense attorney could file a motion to suppress the breathalyzer evidence when the prosecution bases its case on results obtained without proper observation, thus strengthening your position toward a positive outcome. Evidence from security cameras or eyewitnesses can show that police officers did not follow correct procedures in their work. 

  • Lack of Reasonable Suspicion or Probable Cause

Police officers need probable cause before stopping your vehicle for a suspected DUI. Swerving, speeding, running a red light, and other traffic offenses that an officer can observe qualify as reasonable suspicion. The traffic stop becomes unlawful when the police lack reasonable suspicion, so any evidence, including BAC test results, cannot be used in court.

A reasonable police officer would arrest you for DUI based on facts that establish your impaired driving. The police establish probable cause through multiple indicators, including:

  • Slurred speech
  • Bloodshot eyes
  • An alcohol smell
  • Failed field sobriety tests
  • High BAC results

A defense attorney would fight to undermine the entire case when police evidence fails to establish grounds for your arrest.

An officer lacks reasonable suspicion when they stop someone because they observe them exiting a bar or base their decision on a feeling that the person was drinking. A lack of obvious impairment alongside passing your field sobriety tests should have prevented the officer from arresting you since this indicates inadequate probable cause.

Find a DUI Defense Attorney Near Me

A third DUI offense in California results in multiple severe penalties that include imprisonment, substantial fines, extensive license suspension, and criminal record. The legal system allows individuals to defend against their charges. Your chances for a favorable outcome increase when your defense lawyer examines the evidence, identifies procedural mistakes, and petitions for reduced penalties.

If you face a third DUI charge, you need an experienced attorney to defend you. At Monterey Criminal Attorney, we are ready to analyze your case and develop a strong defense strategy. Contact us today at 831-574-1791 for a free consultation.