Vehicle Code 23153 defines driving under the influence (DUI) with injury as operating a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol and causing an accident that leads to injuries to someone else. If the prosecutor has charged you with this crime, it is advisable to retain a seasoned attorney immediately. It is because the crime is a wobbler, carrying severe penalties, including lengthy incarceration, fines, probation, and collateral consequences. Your lawyer can review your case facts to explore the available legal avenues to obtain the most favorable case outcome.
Defining DUI With Injury
Vehicle Code 23153 makes it unlawful to operate an automobile while under the influence of drugs or alcohol and, in the process, cause a crash in which somebody else is injured.
Before convicting you of VC 23153, the prosecution team must establish the following facts of the crime:
- You operated a car
- When you operated it, you were under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- While operating, you failed to fulfill a legal responsibility or committed a crime
- Your failure to fulfill a legal responsibility or commit a crime caused bodily injuries to somebody
Guilt per Vehicle Code Section 23153 requires a defendant to have either:
- Failed to exercise ordinary care or acted negligently
- Broke a law or engaged in a crime
The phrase “ordinary care” implies using reasonable care to stop reasonably probable harm to another person. A person fails to exercise ordinary care when they:
- Engage in conduct that a cautious, prudent individual would not do in a similar situation
- Failed to behave in a manner that a cautious, prudent individual would in an identical situation
A conduct causes bodily injuries to somebody else when the injury is the direct, probable, and natural consequence of the behavior, and the injury would not have happened without the conduct. While there might be many causes of the injury, provided the cause was a significant factor, more than a remote or trivial factor, contributing to the injury, the law will consider it the cause of the injury.
A natural and probable consequence is one that a reasonable individual would know will likely happen if nothing unusual intervenes. In your DUI with injury criminal case, the judge will consider the surrounding circumstances to determine whether the consequence was natural and probable.
Under the influence means your mental and physical abilities are impaired to a degree that you cannot drive your car safely as a careful, sober individual. That means you can be found guilty of driving under the influence even if your blood alcohol concentration is below 0.08 percent. The only factor that the prosecution team considers is whether you are too drunk to operate a car safely.
The prosecution team depends on circumstantial proof to demonstrate that you were operating your car while impaired by alcohol. The law enforcer will report that you:
- Had an alcoholic odor
- Drove or swerved erratically
- Had watery or glassy eyes
- Walked unstably with an uneven gait.
- Had slurred speech
- Confessed to drinking
Criminal Penalties and Consequences
Violating VC 23153 is a wobbler. A wobbler is a crime that the prosecutor can charge either as a felony or a misdemeanor, depending on the case facts and criminal record.
A misdemeanor attracts the following potential penalties:
- A summary (informal probation) for up to five years
- A year in county jail
- A fine that does not exceed five thousand dollars
- Paying restitution to the injured parties
- Attending DUI school
- The Department of Motor Vehicles will withdraw your driving privileges for three years
A California felony is punishable by the following penalties:
- A maximum of four years in prison
- A strike on a criminal record
- A maximum fine of five thousand dollars
- Attending DUI school
- Being designated as a habitual traffic officer for three years
- The DMV will suspend your driver’s license for five years
With the three-strikes law, if you have a strike on your criminal record and are subsequently prosecuted for another felony, you become a second striker and will serve twice the normal sentence for the crime.
You are a third striker if you have two previous convictions for violent or serious felonies, and the prosecutor has currently charged you with another violent or serious felony. In this case, you will serve twenty-five years to life for the current offense.
Insurance Consequences of DUI with an Injury
When an insurance firm first sells a policy to you and when you renew a policy, the company will consider your criminal record and driving record. The company will then decide whether to cover you and, if so, at what rate, based on its risk analysis. The firm will assess your likelihood of being involved in a traffic-related crash that will result in a claim based on the details it finds in your records. Driving under the influence is considered to increase the risk and points for negligent driving significantly.
Typically, the existing insurance provider will escalate the rates if you are found guilty of drunk driving. The insurer might stop sending you discounts for being a cautious motorist. Sometimes the insurer will not change the rate immediately, but it can change when your insurer reviews your driving record at policy renewal. The insurer might place you on a high-risk insurance policy with a significantly high premium to cover against a perceived high risk that you are likely to cause a crash.
California requires motorists found guilty of drunk driving to present a form SR22 from their insurers to the Department of Motor Vehicles. It is evidence to the agency that you are covered after your DUI conviction. Since not every insurance provider offers SR22 insurance, you might switch to another carrier after your DUI conviction.
Legal Defenses
The potential defenses to DUI with injury include the following:
The Defendant Was Not Under the Influence
Your defense team can argue that you suffer from a disease that caused the breathalyzer to produce false BAC results. These conditions include high-protein low-carb diets, diabetes, and gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Chronic digestive diseases, including heartburn, acid reflux, and gastrointestinal reflux disease, can create false high blood alcohol concentration readings. Sometimes stomach contents move back into your mouth. The breathalyzer could read the stomach acid in the backwash as alcohol.
High-protein, low-carb diets could trick a breathalyzer. Diets that could lead to this outcome include South Beach, Atkins, Whole30, and Zone. The diets force your body to use stored fat instead of glucose as an energy source, creating a byproduct called ketones. Most breathalyzers cannot differentiate between ethyl alcohol and acetone.
Additionally, diabetes can result in falsely high blood alcohol concentration readings on a breathalyzer. It is because diabetes patients produce ketones, which are identical to alcohol. A diabetic patient has challenges producing insulin. Therefore, the patient should burn the stored fat for energy.
If the defendant can prove that they were not drunk during the accident, the court should dismiss the criminal charges. Some of the evidence we can use to rebut this fact of the crime includes medical expert testimonies and medical records.
You Did Not Violate the Law
Following the crash, victims can quickly accuse you of breaching a traffic regulation. Nevertheless, some crashes are due to an innocent accident involving no violation of the law.
To show you are innocent, your defense attorney will submit traffic surveillance footage, eyewitness accounts, and GPS records. They can also employ an accident reconstruction expert to testify that the crash scene indicates you were at fault.
No Injury Occurred
It is common for victims involved in automobile crashes to fake physical injuries just to get the driver into additional trouble. Under these circumstances, your lawyer can use medical records as evidence that the alleged victim sustained no bodily harm.
If the prosecution team sees that no injury occurred, they can reduce your charges to an ordinary DUI.
Related Offense
Here are some of the crimes that the prosecutor can charge you with instead of or alongside DUI with injury.
Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated
PC 191.5a defines gross vehicular manslaughter as driving your car while drunk, and while doing so, you commit an infraction or misdemeanor with gross negligence that causes another person’s death.
The crime is a felony punishable by up to $10,000 in fines, up to 10 years in state prison, and formal probation. However, the term of incarceration can range from 15 years to life if you have a prior conviction.
Felony Hit and Run with Injury
VC 20001 makes it an offense to flee an accident scene in which a person has been killed or injured. It is the injuries that make the offense of hit-and-run prosecuted as a felony.
The crime is a wobbler. A misdemeanor carries a maximum jail term of one year and a fine of up to $10,000. A felony is punishable by four years in jail and a fine of $10,000.
VC 20001 differs from DUI with injury in that you can be convicted of the former even when you are not drunk.
Child Endangerment
Penal Code Section 273a makes it a crime to place a minor in threatening circumstances deliberately. The juvenile does not have to undergo physical harm; there must be an unreasonable risk to their safety and health.
The crime is a wobbler.
DUI Causing Injury Triggers Department of Motor Vehicles Hearing
A DMV hearing is a hearing scheduled at the Department of Motor Vehicles office. The hearing aims to decide whether the DMV will suspend your driver’s license after the police have arrested you for drunk driving.
After your arrest, the police officer will seize your driver’s license and issue you a notice of suspension. The notice acts as your temporary driver’s license for thirty days. Additionally, the notice notifies you of your right to a DMV hearing to prevent a driver’s license suspension after requesting a hearing within ten days of your arrest. You can make the request to the DMV by phone or fax. You make the request to a Driver Safety Office situated in the county where the police made the arrest.
If you fail to request the hearing within the ten-day timeframe, the DMV will suspend your license after thirty days. After some time, you will qualify for driver’s license reinstatement after:
- Enrolling in a DUI school
- Submitting your SR22 insurance form
- Paying a $125 reinstatement fee
- Installing an ignition interlock device in the car
While the DMV hearing is different and independent from a criminal case, you are entitled to a lawyer at your cost.
During your hearing, the arresting police officer will testify about what occurred. Typically, they will use a police report as proof. The police’s testimony will include details about:
- Why did the police initiate the DUI sobriety stop
- How you interacted with the police officer or your appearance
- Your field sobriety tests performance
- Whether you refused to submit to a chemical test
- If you submitted to a chemical test, what were your BAC results
After the police have presented their case, you will present your version of the story. On top of your entitlement to cross-examine the police, you can:
- Subpoena and present witnesses
- Challenge the police report
- Testify
At the administrative hearing, the hearing officer will review the evidence presented to determine whether you were intoxicated.
If you prevail in your DMV hearing, the DMV will restore your driver’s license and driving privileges.
Although your DMV hearing differs from your criminal case, winning the administrative hearing can be a strong indication that the prosecution’s evidence against you is weak or flawed.
If you lose your hearing, the DMV will suspend your driver’s license. The duration of the driver’s license suspension depends on the facts of your case and whether you were previously convicted of DUI.
Find a DUI Criminal Defense Attorney Near Me
If you have been charged with DUI with injury, you might feel confused, overwhelmed, and anxious about what will happen next. The criminal justice process moves fast, and the penalties can be life-altering. Retaining experienced legal assistance can make the difference.
At San Diego DUI Attorney, we recognize that a lot is at stake and can offer you guidance and clarity when you require it the most. We can meticulously review your case evidence, including the circumstances of your arrest and breath test results, to develop the most effective defense strategy. Our goal is to realize the best possible case results. Please call us at 619-535-7150 to book your free case review.
