Lancaster Third Offense DUI Lawyer

The third time you’re charged with a DUI in California, you risk mandatory jail time, significant fees, and the loss of your license for up to three years. You need to challenge these accusations if you want to preserve your freedoms. Fortunately, third offense DUI lawyers in Lancaster can support you through the process.

The team with Los Angeles DUI Lawyer has spent decades connecting clients like you with local Lancaster DUI lawyers who can craft defenses against DUI charges. You can trust those attorneys to stick with you throughout your case, argue for reduced or dropped charges, and help you appeal any decisions that put your future at risk.

Understanding Third Offense DUIs in California

California records its drivers’ prior offenses on a ten-year timeline. If the state’s criminal courts have convicted you of two DUIs within the past ten years, a third arrest will see you face accusations of a third DUI. Additional convictions, including convictions for wet recklessness, can also count against you as priors on your record.

In other words, a third offense DUI constitutes the third time the state of California believes that you have endangered your fellow drivers and other residents by driving while intoxicated or otherwise impaired. The consequences that come with a third conviction will be more severe than the ones you faced previously.

If you want to prevent California’s criminal courts from convicting you for a third time, you can work with a third offense DUI attorney in Lancaster to challenge the accusations brought against you or even bring your previous convictions into question.

What Legal Penalties Can You Face After a Third DUI?

The penalties you may face if you’re convicted of a third DUI include the following:

• A mandatory jail sentence of up to one year 
• Imprisonment in a state prison, provided you fit certain criteria
• Fines of up to $18,000, accounting for additional penalties
• The revocation of your driver’s license for up to three years
• Classification as a habitual offender
• Mandatory DUI school and participation in detox programs, as applicable

California’s criminal courts may choose to supplement these charges with additional fines, lengthened time in jail, and/or mandatory courses depending on your criminal history and the circumstances that led to your arrest. For example, if an officer accuses you of driving on a suspended license while under the influence, you may permanently lose your right to drive.

Compound DUI Charges

Other factors that could lead California’s courts to compound the criminal charges brought against you may include the following:

• Causing an accident while intoxicated
• Causing property damage while intoxicated
• Injuring or killing someone while intoxicated
• Transporting minors or protected classes of people while intoxicated
• Fleeing law enforcement
• Evading or resisting arrest
• Refusing to take a chemical BAC test

California’s courts can also compound your charges if police officers claim your BAC grossly exceeded the state’s limits at the time of your arrest.

If the courts do compound your charges, you can learn more about their reasoning during your arraignment. An experienced Lancaster third offense DUI attorney can demand specifications as to the court’s reasoning and challenge attempts to impose unfair consequences against you.

Requesting Administrative Hearings After a Third DUI

You’ll face more than criminal hearings if you’re arrested for a third DUI. The California Department of Motor Vehicles will automatically suspend your license if you don’t request an administrative hearing within ten days of your arrest. 

If you don’t act quickly, your license suspension may make it illegal for you to transport yourself to and from criminal hearings. It may also compromise your right to return to work and see loved ones, provided you make bail and can spend your hearing at home. 

License suspensions through the Department of Motor Vehicles can leave you without the right to drive for up to a year. You will also have to purchase SR-22 insurance if you want to get back on the road. Unfortunately, SR-22 can grossly increase your premiums, putting a significant strain on your financial situation.

Our Lancaster Third Offense DUI Lawyers Can Defend You

Fortunately, the third offense DUI attorneys in Lancaster know what defenses they can use to protect clients like you from unreasonable convictions. When Los Angeles DUI Lawyer connects you with a lawyer, you can discuss the circumstances that led to your arrest and how you can argue against accusations of intoxicated driving.

You may have the right to:

• Establish any instances of duress that required you to get behind the wheel in an unsafe condition.
• Question the “reasonable suspicion” that allowed police officers to pull you over.
• Assert police officer bias and mistreatment.
• Point out officers’ failure to read you your rights or respect those rights throughout your arrest and processing.
• Challenge the results of your breathalyzer test.
• Emphasize health conditions like diabetes that may have misrepresented your BAC.
• Call the validity of your field sobriety tests into question, pointing out instances of improper handling or chain of custody issues.

Trust Our Team to Represent Your Best Interests

Don’t let a wrongful DUI charge leave you floundering. You can work with a third offense DUI lawyer in Lancaster, CA, to push back against the charges leveled against you. An experienced lawyer can call the validity of police officers’ evidence into question and see the fines, jail time, and other penalties leveled against you reduced or dropped.

You can trust Los Angeles DUI Lawyer to connect you with an attorney who will put your best interests first. Contact us today to discuss how a qualified criminal defense attorney can help you navigate California’s legal system.