DUI defense in California

You have two cases, not one

An arrest for driving under the influence opens two proceedings that run independently of each other:

• The DMV case. An administrative action against your license. The DMV runs it under the Vehicle Code and the Administrative Procedure Act. It has nothing to do with guilt — it is about your driving privilege, and it moves fast.
• The criminal case. Filed by the District Attorney in the Superior Court of the county where you were arrested. Fines, probation, DUI school, and in some cases jail.

Source: California DMV, Administrative Per Se fact sheet and the DMV DUI page.

The legal limits

You can also be charged with no BAC number at all. Vehicle Code section 23152(a) covers driving under the influence — the prosecution argues impairment from the officer's observations, the field sobriety tests and the driving pattern. Subsection (b) is the per-se 0.08% charge. Most cases are filed as both. Separate subsections cover driving under the influence of a drug, and of alcohol and a drug combined.

What you are facing

California counts prior DUIs over a 10-year look-back. A wet reckless plea under Vehicle Code 23103.5 counts as a prior too. The figures below come from Superior Court DUI plea forms revised January 2026.

When a DUI becomes a felony

• A fourth offense — three or more priors within ten years (Veh. Code 23550).
• Any DUI after a prior felony DUI (Veh. Code 23550.5).
• A DUI causing injury (Veh. Code 23153). This is a wobbler — it can be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony. A first offense with probation carries 5 days to a year in county jail; without probation, 16 months, 2 or 3 years in state prison. Each additional injured victim can add a year, up to three.

Where these cases are won

A DUI case is not one accusation, it is a chain of them — the stop, the observations, the field tests, the chemical test, the machine, the paperwork. Every link has to hold. Ours is the work of finding the one that does not.

• The stop. An officer needs reasonable suspicion to pull you over. Weaving inside your own lane, a delayed green light, an anonymous tip with nothing to corroborate it — these have all been litigated, and they do not always survive.
• The breath machine. Breath instruments require calibration and maintenance on a schedule, run by trained operators, with records to prove it. Those records are obtainable, and they are not always clean.
• Rising blood alcohol. The charge is being over the limit while driving, not an hour later at the station. Alcohol absorbs over time, and the gap between the stop and the test matters.
• The blood draw. Chain of custody, the phlebotomist's qualifications, storage, preservative and clotting, and the option of a re-test of the sample.
• Field sobriety tests. Only three are standardized, and they are scored against a protocol officers do not always follow. Age, weight, injury, footwear and the surface all affect them.
• Medical and dietary explanations. GERD, keto diets and certain conditions can affect a breath result.

Not every case has a defense that wins outright. Many end in a reduction — a wet reckless, or a plea that keeps the jail time and the license consequences down. Knowing which case is which, early, is most of the value.

This page is general information about California law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Penalties and procedures vary by county, by judge and by the facts of your case. Talk to us about yours.