What To Do When Charged With Multiple DUI Charges
If you have a prior DUI conviction and are facing new charges, the penalties are much more severe the second or third time. Florida Statute 316.193(2)(b) counts prior convictions, not arrests. Florida Statute 316.193 sets mandatory minimum jail time that climbs with each conviction: at least 10 days for a second DUI within five years of a prior conviction, and at least 30 days for a third within 10 years. Courts in Orange, Palm Beach and Broward County cannot sentence below those minimums.
Weinstein Legal Team criminal defense law firm represents clients in South and Central Florida with multiple DUI charges. Contact our experienced DUI attorney today to discuss your current case today.
The Penalties for Multiple DUI Offenses in Florida
Jail time and fines for repeat DUI convictions are set by Florida Statute 316.193. The driver license revocation that comes with each conviction is set separately, by Florida Statute 322.28.
Second DUI Within Five Years of a Prior Conviction
- At least 10 days in jail, of which at least 48 hours must be served consecutively, under Florida Statute 316.193(6)(b)
- Up to nine months in jail under Florida Statute 316.193(2)(a)2.b.
- A fine of not less than $1,000 and not more than $2,000 under Florida Statute 316.193(2)(a)1.b.
- An ignition interlock device for at least one year at your own expense under Florida Statute 316.193(2)(a)3.
- A five-year driver license revocation under Florida Statute 322.28(2)(a)2., with a petition for a restricted license possible after 12 months under Florida Statute 322.271(2)(c)
Third DUI Conviction Within 10 Years of a Prior Conviction
- A third-degree felony charge under Florida Statute 316.193(2)(b)1.
- At least 30 days in jail, of which at least 48 hours must be served consecutively, under Florida Statute 316.193(6)(c)
- Up to five years in state prison under Florida Statute 775.082
- A fine of up to $5,000 under Florida Statute 775.083(1)(c)
- An ignition interlock device for at least two years at your own expense under Florida Statute 316.193(2)(b)1.
- A 10-year driver license revocation under Florida Statute 322.28(2)(a)3., with a petition for a restricted license possible after 24 months under Florida Statute 322.271(2)(c)
A third DUI is only a felony when the offense happens within 10 years of a prior conviction. If more time than that has passed, Florida Statute 316.193(2)(b)2. makes it a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $2,000 to $5,000, up to 12 months in jail, and an ignition interlock device for at least two years.
Four or More DUI Convictions
- A third-degree felony charge under Florida Statute 316.193(2)(b)3., no matter how long ago the earlier convictions happened
- Up to five years in state prison under Florida Statute 775.082
- A fine of at least $2,000 and up to $5,000 under Florida Statute 316.193(2)(b)3. and Florida Statute 775.083(1)(c)
- Permanent revocation of your driver license under Florida Statute 322.28(2)(d)
- No petition for a restricted license until five years after the last conviction, and then only for employment purposes, under Florida Statute 322.271(5)
These penalties are for repeat DUIs with no other aggravating circumstance. A crash changes the grading outright. Under Florida Statute 316.193(3)(c)2., causing serious bodily injury to another person is a third-degree felony even on a first offense. Under Florida Statute 316.193(3)(c)3.a., causing a death is DUI manslaughter, a second-degree felony that carries a mandatory minimum of four years in prison.
Multiple DUI Defense Strategies
Depending on the circumstances surrounding your current arrest, Weinstein Legal Team may select from a variety of tested defense strategies. Here are a few effective strategies that our defense counsel may employ.
Challenge the Stop
Law enforcement officers must have a valid reason to stop you. They cannot, for instance, stop you because they know you've been arrested for DUI in the past. Valid reasons for a stop include violation of traffic laws, a driving pattern consistent with drunk driving, being stopped at a valid DUI checkpoint, or involvement in an accident.
Demonstrate that Roadside Exercises were Coerced
Many individuals who have been stopped for drunk driving for the first time believe that they can avoid arrest by participating in voluntary roadside exercises, but this is rarely the case. The video evidence of roadside exercises can be used to help convict you, and most people learn this the first time they're arrested for drunk driving. You can refuse the roadside exercises, but refusing is not free. In State v. Taylor, 648 So. 2d 701 (Fla. 1995), the Florida Supreme Court held that a DUI suspect's refusal to perform pre-arrest field sobriety exercises is admissible at trial and is probative of consciousness of guilt, so the jury can be told you refused. If you were forced to perform roadside sobriety tests, they shouldn't be admitted as evidence. Your attorney can file a motion to suppress and possibly a dismissal.
What Happens If You Refuse the Breath Test?
Refusing a breath or urine test is now a crime in Florida by itself. Chapter 2025-121 amended Florida Statute 316.1939 effective October 1, 2025, and a first refusal is a second-degree misdemeanor carrying up to 60 days in jail and a fine of up to $500. A later refusal is a first-degree misdemeanor when your license was already suspended, or you were fined under the boating statute (Florida Statute 327.35215), for refusing a breath, urine, or blood test, and the officer told you that refusing again would be a first-degree misdemeanor. The criminal charge is separate from the license suspension for refusing, which is one year for a first refusal and 18 months after a prior refusal suspension or a boating-refusal fine under Florida Statute 327.35215. Advice from criminal defense lawyers to simply refuse next time was written before that change and no longer reflects Florida law. If the officer never read you the implied consent warning, or told you that you had no choice but to blow, your attorney can move to suppress the result or the refusal.
Show Improper Procedure
Officers must meticulously adhere to an established set of protocols when investigating a DUI. Any deviation from the procedure can lead to challenges from the defense. With that understood, police officers make mistakes all of the time. Weinstein Legal Team can review all parts of the prosecutorial evidence to determine whether the investigating officers made errors.
What's a Simple DUI Charge?
A simple DUI is one with no aggravating circumstance: no crash, no injury, no death. Florida has no separate offense called aggravated DUI. What Florida Statute 316.193(4) does is raise the penalties when your blood or breath alcohol level is 0.15 or higher, or when a passenger under 18 was in the car. On a first conviction at that level the fine runs $1,000 to $2,000, the jail exposure rises to nine months, and the court must order an ignition interlock device for at least six months under Florida Statute 316.193(4)(c). A simple DUI arrest looks like a traffic stop where testing puts you at 0.08 or higher but below 0.15.
Do not underestimate the consequences of a simple DUI. You could still be facing jail, probation, fines, and the loss of your license. Contact Weinstein Legal Team to discuss your case regardless of the level of the offense.
How a DUI Attorney Can Help with Your Multiple DUI Charges
A DUI case has a lot of parts a defense lawyer can test: the reason for the stop, how the roadside exercises were administered, whether the implied consent warning was read, how the breath instrument was maintained, and whether each prior conviction the state is counting actually qualifies as a prior under Florida Statute 316.193. Whether any of that helps depends on the facts, and no lawyer can promise you a result. What we do is read every page of discovery, pull the maintenance and inspection records for the breath instrument, and check the paperwork behind every prior conviction the state is relying on, because a prior that does not hold up can drop a felony back to a misdemeanor.
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South and Central Florida Criminal Defense Lawyer
If you have been searching for a "criminal defense lawyer near me", you already know you need representation. Contact Weinstein Legal Team to discuss your DUI arrest. We are ready to defend your rights.
