Say you were out and about in Encino, had a couple of drinks with friends, then decided to drive home and ended up striking another vehicle, causing injuries to its occupants. What you have described has happened to many of the clients that we here at Mr. Ticket – Law Offices of Amir Soleimanian and Associates Inc. have worked with in the past. Depending on the exact circumstances of your accident, you could be facing criminal charges. The question then becomes how severe those charges may be, and whether or not they are merited by the law.
Section 23153 of the California Vehicle Code states that it is unlawful for you to operate a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs and concurrently doing any other act forbidden by law that results in injuries to another. If you are involved in such an accident, you could potentially face a charge of DUI Causing Injury, which could result in a prison sentence for up to 10 years, followed by a five-year revocation of your license.
Yet would such an accident warrant such penalties? Notice how the law says that you must be driving under the influence while doing another illegal activity in order to meet the standard set by this statute. To clarify this law, let’s return to the scenario mentioned in the beginning of this post. If you struck the other vehicle while under the influence and also speeding, then the law may apply as the court may cite speeding as the cause of the accident. However, if you were not speeding, you may end up only facing a misdemeanor charge as it may be difficult to prove that any other actions caused your accident.
You can discover more information about disputing felony DUI charges here on our site.
