Utah DUI Penalties

If an individual is arrested for driving drunk in the state of Utah, they may have to prevail before both a criminal court and a Driver License Division (DLD) hearing separately in order to avoid the penalties associated with drunk driving. The penalties from the first court case may be imprisonment, fines, and community service. The second hearing, the DLD case, will focus on restricting or temporarily suspending the DUI offender’s driving privileges. It is also very important to note, that the driving penalties issued by the criminal court will be in addition the penalties issued by the DLD.

Like most other states, an individual in Utah may receive a DUI charge if they are either under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, or are violating the state’s “per se” law. The per se law states that if an individual has a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08 percent or higher, they are technically intoxicated and unfit to drive.

An individual may also be charged with a DUI if they were, for example: recklessly driving while under the influence of either alcohol or drugs, refused to take a chemical test, preformed automobile homicide while intoxicated, evaded police while intoxicated, drove with a metabolite of a narcotic in their system, and so on.

Penalties for a DUI in Utah

For a first time DUI offense in Utah, an individual may receive penalties such as 48 hours in jail or electronic home confinement in lieu of jail, a fine of $700, alcohol education classes, supervised probation, the possibility of an ignition interlock system being installed in their vehicle, and their driving privileges being suspended for up to 180 days.

For a second DUI offense, an offender may be sentenced to penalties such as a jail or electronic home confinement sentence of 240 hours, a fine of $800, alcohol education classes, probation, and an ignition interlock system being installed in the convicted offender’s vehicle for 3 years. Furthermore, an individual may also have their license suspended for 1 to 2 years.

Finally, if an individual receives a third DUI offense in the state of Utah, the penalties may include a jail sentence of 1-5 years, a fine of $1,500, rehabilitation treatment, supervised probation for 1-5 years, an ignition interlock system being installed in their vehicle for 3 years, and so on. In addition, the convicted DUI offender may have their license suspended for 1 to 2 years.

If you have received a DUI charge in the state of Utah, you are most likely well aware of the fairly severe penalties. Therefore, it is highly advised that if you have been charged with a DUI in the state of Utah, that you contact a DUI defense lawyer as soon as possible.