California DUI Sentencing Enhancements
California DUI “aggravating factors” are facts and circumstances that…if present at the time you are arrested for driving under the influence…will either (1) result in a county jail sentence, or (2) increase your county jail sentence.
Some of the most common of these include: refusing to submit to a chemical test, driving with a child in the car, causing an accident, having a particularly high blood alcohol concentration, and driving recklessly at excessively high speeds. This last one…driving under the influence while recklessly driving at excessively high speeds…is, perhaps, one of the more difficult aggravating factors to prove.
This is because the others are pretty straight forward. However, the additional DUI penalty imposed for reckless driving and excessive speed is not. Before this sentencing enhancement can be imposed, the prosecutor must prove that you are (1) guilty of DUI, (2) guilty of driving at least 20mph over the speed limit on a street or at least 30mph over the speed limit on a freeway, and (3) guilty of reckless driving. All three factors must be proven before the required 60-day jail term can be added to your sentence.
Neither speeding nor reckless driving are enough in and of themselves to justify the imposition of this DUI enhancement. And speeding by itself isn’t typically enough to constitute reckless driving. As a result, just because an overzealous prosecutor charges you with this additional DUI penalty that is imposed for recklessly driving at excessive speeds while DUI, it does not necessarily mean that you will spend an additional 60 days in jail.
