DUI Defense
A DUI arrest starts two cases at once — a criminal case and a separate administrative case against your driving license. The license case has a ten-day clock.
This is the part that catches most people. Within ten days of a DUI arrest in Florida you must request a formal review hearing with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, or the administrative suspension of your license takes effect automatically. That deadline runs whether or not you have been to court, and whether or not you have hired a lawyer.
The legal limits
Florida's threshold is a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher for a driver aged 21 or over. For drivers under 21 it is 0.02. For a commercial driver it is 0.04. You can also be convicted with no reading at all, if the state proves your normal faculties were impaired by alcohol, a controlled substance, or even a lawfully prescribed medication.
Where DUI cases are won
Rarely at trial. Usually in the detail:
- The stop. An officer needs reasonable suspicion to pull you over. If the stated reason does not hold up, everything after it is vulnerable.
- The field sobriety exercises. These have standardized administration procedures. Officers do not always follow them, and the video does not always show what the report says.
- The breath test. Florida's Intoxilyzer instruments have maintenance, inspection and calibration requirements, and a 20-minute observation period beforehand. Records get missed.
- Medical and physical explanations. Diabetes, reflux, a head injury, a physical disability or simple exhaustion produce signs that look like impairment on a report.
Penalties
A first Florida DUI conviction can carry a fine, probation, community service, DUI school, vehicle impoundment and up to six months in jail — with harsher mandatory terms where the BAC was 0.15 or higher, where a minor was in the vehicle, or on a second or subsequent offense. And a DUI conviction cannot be sealed or expunged in Florida. It is permanent. That is why the defense matters.
After a DUI arrest
- Request the DHSMV formal review hearing within 10 days — do not miss this
- Write down everything you remember about the stop while it is fresh
- Do not discuss the arrest on the phone from jail, or on social media
- Keep every document you were given, including the citation and the notice of suspension
- Note any medical condition, medication or injury that could explain the officer's observations
- Get the name of anyone who was with you or saw the stop
- Call a lawyer before your first court date, not after it
Common questions
What happens if I refused the breath test?
Refusal carries its own administrative license suspension — one year for a first refusal, eighteen months for a subsequent one — and the refusal itself can be used as evidence against you at trial. It does not, however, end the case, and refusal cases are often more defensible than they first appear.
Can I drive while my case is pending?
Frequently yes. Depending on your record and whether you requested the formal review hearing in time, you may be eligible for a hardship or business-purposes-only license. This is one of several reasons the ten-day deadline matters so much.
Is a DUI a felony in Florida?
A first or second DUI is generally a misdemeanor. It becomes a felony on a third offense within ten years, on a fourth offense at any time, or where the incident caused serious bodily injury or death.
Can a DUI be reduced to reckless driving?
Sometimes. A reduction to reckless driving — a “wet reckless” — is possible in the right case, and matters enormously because it can be sealed where a DUI cannot. Whether it is available depends on the facts, the reading, and how the case was investigated.
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