Penalties for a Third DUI Charge in College Park

When someone is charged with a third DUI offense in College Park their license will be immediately taken and held by the officer and they will be issued paperwork that becomes their paper license for 45 days. On the 46th day their license will be suspended. Depending on the timing of the DUIs, if it is many years after a second offense, they may be eligible for some form of license restriction or Ignition Interlock.

Driver’s License Penalties

Following a driver’s third conviction for DUI, the individual will be referred to the MVA who will then assess them points and note that this is their third conviction. The MVA may also look to revoke the driver’s license or take the individual’s license from them permanently if they declare the individual unfit to drive a car. However, that does have to be proven in the administrative hearing and the Administrative Law Judge will have to believe that the driver needs to be removed from the road.

If they do not revoke the driver’s license, they may believe that the driver should be on Ignition Interlock. There may be other things in motion at that time between the individual and MVA that could get them Ignition Interlock and save their license as well. Depending on the time between the first and third event, there may be a way to work things out. It is incredibly important for the driver to start from the very beginning with their attorney putting actions in motion to protect their license and their privilege to drive.

Aggravating Factors

There are enhancements, which means that the driver is facing a higher maximum penalty the State Attorney’s office actually files for a subsequent offender note. Sometimes the prosecution forgets this, and a smart attorney will know and be looking for it. If it is not filed, they cannot ask for it at trial because it is too late. If a plea has been entered and there is no filing for a subsequent offender, then the penalty is limited.

Sometimes an attorney who knows what they are doing can work with the State’s Attorneys office to try to enter a plea with the judge where they pull that subsequent offender notice to restrict the judge to penalties for a first-time offender.

Impact of Blood Alcohol Concentration

Depending on where the driver is on the blood alcohol content spectrum, penalties may be really enhanced. If someone has just a general DUI they would presume a breath score somewhere between .08 and a .149. That is pretty much where the line has been drawn both administratively and also by judges. As long as their result is not above a .15, then it is considered a lower-level DUI for lack of a better term.

With that said, higher-level DUIs are very serious. If the driver’s BAC is greater than .15 then that is considered a very serious DUI. If the BAC should get as high as .3 or even in some rare instances .4, then the driver is looking at extreme levels of DUI and the State’s Attorneys can ask for greater penalties as the driver gets higher on that spectrum.