Driving Under the Influence (DUI)

Driving Under the Influence (DUI) can be charged against you several ways in Oklahoma. If you are arrested by a city or municipal police officer, the police officer has the option (subject to their department's policies) of charging you in the city court or in the state district court. If the DUI is filed in the city court, the penalties range from no jail time to 6 months jail time and/or a fine. If you are arrested by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, a county deputy, the charge will be filed in the state district court.

If it is your first driving under the influence (DUI) offense and no one was injured, the DUI will be filed as a misdemeanor. Misdemeanor DUI carries a fine of up to $1000.00 and jail time of at least 10 days but not more than one year in the county jail. The sentence can be deferred resulting in no conviction or the jail time can be suspended. Although DUI is a serious charge, most people will not be required to do any jail time on a first time misdemeanor DUI offense. (Be careful as some of my competitors will try and scare you by telling you that jail time is a real possibility in an effort to charge you more.)

If you have a prior conviction for DUI from a court of record (District Court or Oklahoma City and Tulsa Municipal Courts) within the prior 10 years of your new DUI charge, you can be charged with felony driving under the influence (DUI). Depending on prior convictions, felony DUIs carry a minimum of one year up to either five, ten, or twenty years in the state penitentiary. The fine can be as high as $7500.00. The sentence can be deferred or the jail time can be suspended.

If you have an accident while driving under the influence resulting in great bodily injury, the State can charge you with a felony regardless of whether you have any prior convictions. If a death results, you can be charged with Manslaughter which carries up to life in the State Penitentiary.

Aggravated Driving Under the Influence (Aggravated DUI)

Oklahoma has a statute making any DUI where the driver has a blood or breath alcohol level of .15 or more an Aggravated DUI. This has no effect on whether your charge is filed as a misdemeanor or felony. In fact, at least one Judge has ruled this statute unconstitutional and as a result, if the charge is filed as an aggravated DUI, the District Attorney will most always amend to a regular DUI charge. This is preferable as Aggravated DUI carries mandatory 28 day alcohol and drug in-patient treatment.

If you are under the age of twenty-one and have a BAC of .02 or more, you can be charged with DUI Under 21. This charge carries fine and community service only. Moreover, a conviction cannot be used later to enhance a subsequent DUI to a felony. Like all other DUI charges, a conviction will suspend your Oklahoma driving privileges. Be advised though, if you have a BAC of .08 or more, the prosecutor can and most likely will file a regular DUI charge against you.

Driving While Impaired (DWI)

If your test results show a BAC of .06 or .07, you can be charged with Driving While Impaired (DWI). If charged in city or municipal court, it will carry a fine and possible jail time. If the charge is filed in State District Court, DWI carries a penalty of a fine up to $500.00 and/or jail time of up to six months in the county jail. DWI only carries a license revocation upon conviction. Most of my DWI clients do not take a conviction and thus, never suffer any license revocations. Some people will confuse this with Driving While Intoxicated which is a Texas law that is the same as our Oklahoma DUI law. There is no such charge as Driving While Intoxicated in Oklahoma.

DUI Under 21

If you are under the age of twenty-one and have a BAC of .02 or more, you can be charged with DUI Under 21. This charge carries fine and community service only. Moreover, a conviction cannot be used later to enhance a subsequent DUI to a felony. Like all other DUI charges, a conviction will suspend your Oklahoma driving privileges. Be advised though, if you have a BAC of .08 or more, the prosecutor can and most likely will file a regular DUI charge against you.

Actual Physical Control

Another DUI related charge is Actual Physical Control of a Motor Vehicle Under the Influence of Alcohol. This charge is commonly referred to as APC. The difference between DUI and Actual Physical Control (APC) is that DUI requires actual operation of the motor vehicle. The penalties and license consequences are the same as lasted for DUI.

Additionally, in all of these cases, you may be required to complete an alcohol/drug assessment (highly likely), attend a victim's impact panel also known as VIP (highly likely), complete community service, attend AA meetings, pay probation fees, and/or complete a DUI school.

Child Endangerment Resulting From DUI

Oklahoma passed a new law in 2009 making it a felony to have a child in the car if you are operating the car under the influence of alcohol or drugs. This charge carries up to four years in the state penitentiary and/or a fine of up to $5000.00. Also, a parental non-driver may be charges with this same statute if the parent or guardian knew or should have known that the driver was impaired by or was under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicating substance.

Manslaughter

If you are DUI or DWI and have an accident where a death results, you can be charged with Manslaughter which is a felony crime in Oklahoma. Manslaughter carries a penalty of minimum four years up to life in prison. If you are charges with this crime, it is very important to contact us IMMEDIATELY so we may file motions to preserve evidence including the cars so our experts and accident reconstructionists can collect their own data to aid in your defense. If you have a prior DUI conviction from a court of record within the previous ten years, it is possible that you can be charged with Felony Murder (Murder II).

Oklahoma Driver's License Penalties

Refusing to take a breath test or blood test or testing a BAC of .08 or more will result in a license suspension of 180 days if you have not had any other revocations in the preceding ten years. This revocation can be contested (and perhaps prevented) by requesting an administrative hearing within 15 days of receiving notice that you tested over the legal limit or refused to take the State's test. This notice is contained on the Officer's Affidavit that you were given at the jail and thus, the date is generally the same as the DUI or APC arrest date. If you submitted to a blood test as the State's test, then the 15 days does not start until receiving notice that the test showed a BAC over the legal limit.

This request is made to the Department of Public Safety and there are no waivers of the 15 days to file. If you lose your license, this revocation may be modified usually resulting in operator's driving privileges 24 hours a day. 7 days a week as long as the vehicle is equipped with an ignition interlock device. If you are required to drive company vehicles during work hours, depending on the circumstances, an ignition interlock device may not be required for you to operate those vehicles. This is the only option for driving privileges during the revocation period. Oklahoma no longer provides for a "work permit", only modified licenses.

If you have had prior revocations within the preceding ten years, the revocation period will be for either 1 or 3 years depending on prior revocations. These revocation periods are still modifiable with the installation of an ignition interlock device.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS INFORMATION IS CURRENT TO THE NEW OKLAHOMA DUI LAWS THAT TOOK EFFECT NOVEMBER 1. 2011. THUS, YOU MAY SEE CONFLICTING OUTDATED INFORMATION ON OTHER WEBSITES THAT HAVE NOT BEEN UPDATED.