Legal Question in DUI Law in Virginia

Re: Jail Time instead of a suspension of my license

Depends on the judge...The court has discretion to sentence you to incarceration, to impose a fine upon you, to suspend your license and to order you to attend ASAP classes. Probably the court will order all of these things while also offering you a restricted license for purposes of going to work and suspending all jail time conditioned on good behavior.

Re: Jail Time instead of a suspension of my license

In order to be "offered" jail time or other punishments, you have to be convicted or plead guilty first. It is usually foolish to do this unless you have at least consulted a lawyer about the facts of the case, your possible legal defenses, and the possible consequences aside from jail and license suspensions. Do you drive a car, even a little bit, in connection with your job? You could be fired from your job; you could find it hard to get your next job; if you are in the government or military fields you could have security clearance hassles.

The last time I was in Fairfax County traffic court the judge told a couple of accused DUI offenders to get lawyers, and postponed their cases. Not that you can count on this happening.

DUIs are serious stuff. Bring a lawyer to court, and borrow the money to hire one if you have to.

Re: Jail Time instead of a suspension of my license

You can be assured that the court will suspend your license irrespective of whether or not you receive jail time and one penalty(license suspension) will not be traded for the other(jail time).

Furthermore, there are new mandatory minimum jail penalties which apply to Virginia DUI offenses which are not discretionary with the court, e.g., if your BAC level is at least .15 but not more than .20, as a first time offender you're required to serve five days in the lockup but if the BAC is greater than .20, the mandatory jail sentence is 10 days. These times are in addition to any jail time given for the

basic DUI offense.

If you're a second or third time DUI offender

within a five or ten year period, your sentence

will involve even more mandatory jail time. (Three times within five years is a class 6 felony which will get you a mandatory six months incarceration.)

In any event, anyone charged with DUI should have competent defense counsel to represent him/her. If the defendant cannot afford to hire such counsel, the court should be requested to

appoint one.