In Nevada, a DUI offense is prosecuted as a felony if it is your third DUI offense within a seven year period, or if another person was harmed or killed during the incident in question. A conviction under felony DUI charges carries penalties that will adversely affect virtually every part of your life, not to mention the possibility of years spent in jail. The only way to avoid a conviction, especially if the evidence is fairly heavily stacked against you, is to get the help of a lawyer who is intimately familiar with Clark County’s DUI prosecution process.
Possible Penalties
The extent of the penalties for felony DUI in Las Vegas depend on the circumstances of the incident and any other DUI convictions in your past. They range from:
- Minimum: 1 year in prison, $2,000 in fines, a 3 year suspension of your driver’s license, and an alcohol or drug evaluation possibly leading to mandatory treatment
- Maximum (possible if you already have a record of 3 DUI offenses and a fatality was involved): 25 years to life in prison
Even after you have served your prison sentence and completed a treatment program, you will face the stigma and employment hurdles that a felony DUI conviction carries for the rest of your life. Any future legal trouble will also be compounded by your criminal record.
Defense Possibilities
A good lawyer who knows the Las Vegas DUI procedures may be able to get your charge reduced to a misdemeanor instead of a felony. As a last resort, he can apply to have you enrolled in felony DUI court, also called the “Serious Offenders Program,” in which you can serve a term of house arrest and undergo treatment for three to five years. While inconvenient and expensive, felony DUI court does keep you out of jail.
The real goal of our attorneys, though, is not to simply get you a lighter sentence. It is to get your charges dropped altogether, especially if police have violated your rights by conducting your arrest in an unlawful way. There are very specific procedures that officers must follow when making a DUI arrest, and failure to follow those procedures is an illegal breach of your rights. When you choose to work with an attorney who knows Clark County law and has interacted with the police force and prosecutors in the area for many years, you give yourself the best chance possible of having your case dismissed.
