Reducing a DUI Charge to “Exhibition of Speed”
California Vehicle Code 23109 defines the misdemeanor crime of “speed contests” or “exhibition of speed.” Quite literally, this means a motorist on a highway racing against another vehicle or a timing device. We usually call this activity “drag racing” or “street racing.”
Prosecutors do indeed charge Vehicle Code 23109 for people arrested for actual exhibition of speed. But the statute is also commonly used as a lesser offense agreed to through California DUI plea bargaining. That is, prosecutors often agree to reduce DUI charges to a “speed ex” in an effort to settle the case.
Generally speaking, a defendant prefers a speed ex conviction to a DUI. The speed ex does not trigger a license suspension, and carries no mandatory penalties such as DUI school or jail time. Moreover, a speed ex does not count as a “DUI prior” on one’s record. If the charge gets reduced to a speed ex, and the defendant subsequently picks up another DUI, the new DUI will get treated as a first offense.
People often seemed puzzled as to why the DUI would get reduced to Vehicle Code 23109…when, in most cases, the incident had nothing to do with an exhibition of speed. All we can say is that this sort of thing happens all the time in plea negotiations. For example, prostitution charges get reduced to trespassing, although the suspect never trespassed. If the prosecution and defense agree to a lesser charge, they can settle on it even if the lesser offense has nothing to do with the alleged misconduct.
