That will depend upon the case and the defendant. For example, a defendant who has no prior arrests for any alcohol-related offenses or serious traffic offenses will be considered a first time DUI offender. However, even for a first time DUI offender the plea offer will depend upon the specific facts of the case.
In DC, there is mandatory jail time if a person provides a breath or blood sample yielding a BAC of 0.20 or higher. In that situation, even though it’s a first offense, the prosecutor will almost always give a plea offer that involves jail time. If the person refused to give a blood, breath, or urine sample to the police at their request, then the prosecutor typically will not consider any form of reduced plea, reduced charge, or diversion.
If it is the defendant’s first offense and they gave a breath, blood, or urine sample and the result is low enough, they may qualify for a diversion program or a plea to a reduced charge. If the defendant has a prior DUI, OWI, or other alcohol-related conviction on their record from the past 15 years, then they can be treated as a repeat offender and there is mandatory jail for that as well. The government’s plea offer will include considerations about the defendant’s prior history with DUIs or related offenses.
They will also look at the specific case, whether or not the case involved an accident, if it did involve an accident then whether or not there are personal injuries, and whether or not the person had alcohol or drugs in the car. Many different considerations will go into it such that there is no one size fits all answer. It truly does depend upon the facts of the case and the person’s history.
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