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I'm Enricola, twice, and this video is brought to you by Commentary Creations. You're a three-minute lawyer.
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I'll tell you, this is gonna be the first of many covering DUI. This is basically just an overview, but actually, we're going to have several videos breaking up each individual topic. We're going to talk about the arrest, what takes place when people get pulled over. Then we're going to do a video talking about the different tiers and what that means. We're going to talk about defending the DUI, what happens when you go to court, and we're going to talk about the penalty phase and the possible things to get it expunged.
So, we look at this video as just an overall video, but we're going to actually cover these things in depth a lot more.
Today, we're going to talk about DUI, driving under the influence. It's what it's called in Pennsylvania. Some states call it DWI, driving while intoxicated. I'm wearing my St. Patty's green here. Unfortunately, this time of year, a lot of people get charged with DUI. They call it twice in law and they say, "Hey, I got charged. Where do we go from here?"
Most likely, if you're watching this video, it's not because you haven't been charged. It's probably because you have been charged. We've all seen enough billboards and advertisements to say, "Don't drink and drive." So now it happens: you got stopped, charged. Where do we go from here?
The first thing I'm going to tell you about Pennsylvania is that it has a driving under the influence stacked tier penalty. Now, what does that mean? Pennsylvania looks at 10 years and they say, "Well, how many DUIs has the person had in 10 years?" They have never been charged with a DUI. It's just the first, second, or third. They also look at things called blood alcohol levels.
In Pennsylvania, anything that is 0.08 is the illegal limit for driving, all the way up to 0.10. That is first tier. Anything from 0.10 to 0.15 is second tier, and anything from 0.16 and above is third tier.
Now, Pennsylvania also deals with under the influence of drugs or a combination of drugs and alcohol, and if a person does that, it's automatically third tier.
So, let's talk about what happens when a person gets pulled over and accused of DUI. Typically, what happens is the officer gets the driver out of the car to have you do the standard field sobriety test. Basically, what takes place is they have people do a thing where you follow the pen, do different things, do a walking turn, have people stand on one leg, and do all these other tests.
After that, if the officer says this person has failed the test and they're under the influence, then they move on to the second part, which is now you get compelled under the law to either give blood or go and do a breathalyzer at a machine. It's usually a stationary machine, actually, in Pennsylvania.
Okay, so what happens is at that point, at some point, they get the results. If it's a stationary breathalyzer machine, you get the results right then and there, and you kind of know exactly what tier you are. Even maybe you're below all the tiers and not DUI at all. Or if it gets taken to the hospital and you get blood, it usually comes back within a month or two. The officer usually waits on that paperwork, and then they will mail that out to the person in Pennsylvania to let them know they've been charged.
Some people watching this video say, "I got stopped, I did this test, I gave blood. What the hell is going on?" Well, at this point, the officer might just be waiting on that blood result to come back to determine whether or not your DUI at all. It may not be, or if you are, what level you are.
So now something's coming in the mail. It tells you exactly what the blood alcohol is. Sometimes they don't tell you until you get to court. And now what takes place?
Because Pennsylvania is a tier state, you have tier one, you have tier two, you have tier three. Basically, the penalties or the different things that can happen to a person accused of DUI are based on that.
Let's talk about the first tier. If you're 0.08 to 0.10, it has a maximum penalty of six months probation. If you're tier two, it has a mandatory minimum of 48 hours in prison. And if you're tier three, it has a mandatory minimum of three days in prison.
Now, an experienced attorney like myself knows there are other things that can take place. Sometimes just house arrest can avoid jail altogether, but it depends on a lot of things. It depends on whether or not it's the first time you've been in trouble, and it depends on whether or not it's the first time you've ever had a DUI.
I'll give you an example. If this is the third time that you've been in trouble for a DUI and it's the third tier, well, you're looking at a mandatory minimum of one year in state prison and a felony of the third degree.
So, as you can see, the first defense would have been 72 hours in jail and an ungraded misdemeanor. The third time it occurs, you're looking at one year in state prison and a felony offense.
So, as you can see, in Pennsylvania, DUI is stacked. Now, there is something in the DUI statute, and there are different things that Pennsylvania offers, called ARG, or Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program.
Now, if you're a person who has never been in trouble, good for you. You've never had a problem, and listen, you went out and you had a little too much to drink, and now you find yourself charged with DUI. You didn't have a minor in the car, didn't run from the police, you had insurance, you had a driver's license, but yet you got this DUI. You could qualify for that program.
The thing about ARD is just because you believe you qualify for it doesn't mean you automatically get it. At the end of the day, the District Attorney's office has the sole discretion of whether or not to offer ARD to a person who may qualify for it.
The last thing I'm going to leave you with is this: people often say, "Hey, I can't lose my license. I have a good job, or I drive the kids back and forth to school, or I have all these things going on." Unfortunately, in Pennsylvania, the law for DUI does not care about your personal circumstances or how bad you need your car, or even if you drive for work.
The good thing about ARD is instead of losing your license for one year, you'd only lose your license for two months. Different things occur as people get DUIs or different things, like interlock devices. You have to blow into it. It's called "Blow and Go," is what they call it.
I will tell you this is not legal advice for a DUI, and the reason why I tell you that is because the laws for DUIs change all the time. I mean, Pennsylvania is just active with new laws, called Deanna's Law, which was unfortunately a mother that was killed by a drunk driver and has increased the penalties for a third DUI. That was different just a couple of years ago.
So, I will tell you, at the end of the day, you should talk to a professional who knows what they're doing and, most importantly, knows the most updated laws on DUI.
Once again, if you're here, you probably got arrested for a DUI, and you're probably trying to figure out what goes on. I will tell you, as you find out the blood alcohol or the actual level from the breathalyzer and all those things, a lot more will come into play to figuring out exactly what you're looking at.
At the end of the day, you're innocent until proven guilty, and the Commonwealth still must prove that you were driving under the influence.
So stay tuned for a more in-depth video on the first part. We're going to talk about what takes place when a person's pulled over and the different tests that take place.
Ricketts, wasting your three-minute warrior. Thank you.
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