What Are the Penalties for a DUI Conviction in Pierce County, WA?
Drunk driving may seem like it is just a more severe traffic offense, but the penalties for DUI are truly criminal penalties. You should always take these cases seriously and work with a lawyer to defend you and potentially work to get charges reduced or dismissed.
A DUI conviction can result in fines, a license suspension, and jail time. However, before you even get to the conviction, the state can suspend your license upon a DUI arrest. DUI is a gross misdemeanor, but it can be upgraded to a felony for repeat offenders or prior convictions for other serious driving crimes involving DUI. The specific penalties you face also depend on your BAC and priors.
To review your charges with our Tacoma, WA DUI defense lawyers, call the Law Offices of Smith & White at (253) 203-1645 today.
Administrative License Suspension for DUIs in Pierce County
When you are arrested for DUI, the state can take your license away just for the arrest. There does not need to even be a hearing or conviction to lose this privilege.
The Suspension
The Department of Licensing (DOL) is an administrative agency – meaning it isn’t part of the courts. They are in charge of licensing, and their rules say that if you are even arrested for a DUI, they will automatically suspend your license within 30 days.
This suspension lasts a minimum of 90 days, but up to 4 years for people with serious incidents or a history of dangerous or drunk driving.
Challenging DOL Suspensions
To fight this suspension, you have to request a hearing within 7 days of the arrest. Requesting a DUI hearing can be done with a simple form and costs $375 at the time of this writing. The fee can be waived if you are below the poverty line (e.g., if you make under $32,150/year for a household of 4 people, or under different amounts for different household sizes).
If they find in your favor during the hearing, they will not suspend your license. However, if you are convicted of the DUI offense in court, the court can suspend your license totally separately from this hearing.
This arrest-based suspension can stick even if you are ultimately acquitted at trial or you plead guilty to a lesser offense that doesn’t include a license suspension.
In-Court Suspension
If you are convicted of DUI in court, your license is suspended, regardless of what happened with the administrative suspension from the DOL. This is a totally separate assessment made by the judge as part of your sentencing.
This only happens if you are convicted in court, meaning that you either plead guilty to DUI or the court finds you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. That means working with our Pierce County DUI defense lawyers and actually overcoming the charges will defeat this suspension.
The length of suspension varies, as with other penalties.
Penalties List
DUI convictions can happen either under the DUI statute (RCW 46.61.502) or for the statute for being in control of a vehicle while under the influence (RCW 46.61.504). In either case, the penalties are listed under RCW 46.61.5055, and additional fees are listed under 5054. Those additional fees are always $250, so remember to add that on to any other penalties listed below.
These penalties otherwise change depending on your priors and your BAC (blood alcohol concentration) level at the time of testing (within 2 hours of the offense). Note that for many of these, exceptional circumstances and use of home monitoring can replace jail time, and license suspensions can be altered with the use of 24/7 sobriety programs. These are also often required alongside jail time for more serious offenses.
No Priors, BAC Under 0.15
- Jail: 24 hours to 364 days
- Fine: $350-$5,000
- License suspension: 90 days
No Priors, BAC 0.15 or Higher
- Jail: 48 hours to 364 days
- Fine: $500-$5,000
- License suspension: 4 days-1 year
1 Prior, BAC Under 0.15
- Jail: 30 to 364 days plus 60 days home monitoring
- Fine: $500-$5,000
- License suspension: 1-2 years
1 Prior, BAC 0.15 or Higher
- Jail: 45 to 364 days plus 90 days home monitoring
- Fine: $750-5,000
- License suspension: 900 days (almost 2.5 years)
2 Priors, BAC Under 0.15
- Jail: 90-264 days plus 120 days home monitoring
- Fine: $1,000-$5,000
- License suspension: 3 years
2 Priors, BAC 0.15 or Higher
- Jail: 120 days-364 days plus 150 days home monitoring
- Fine: $1,500-$5,000
- License suspension: 4 years
3 or More Priors
If you have at least 3 prior offenses, your sentencing is more complex, as this is upgraded to a class B felony. This means considering prior offenses and the gravity of the current offense under the normal criminal sentencing tables.
Because you need 3 prior DUI convictions to get to this level, it will tend to increase the penalty to include at least 13-17 months in jail.
How Prior Offenses Are Included
When looking at what counts as a “prior” offense, we are usually looking at other DUI offenses where the arrest happened within 7 years of the current arrest. This can look backward 7 years or forward, meaning the judge can also consider DUI arrests that happened between your arrest and trial for this offense.
The number of prior offenses will usually change your jail time, fine, and license suspension time. However, if you have 3 or more priors, it can also upgrade your misdemeanor offense to a felony.
Having 3 or more priors upgrades your offense to a class B felony, but the timeline is longer than the 7 years for the other penalties. Instead, the current law in 2025 says to include charges within 10 years, but this goes up to 15 years starting in 2026. That means that when we change over to the new law, older priors can be counted.
Pleading to Lesser Offenses
If you are offered a plea deal that includes a plea to a lesser offense, your sentence would be different. Charges like reckless driving have different penalties, and they would be calculated differently.
However, keep in mind that the DOL may still suspend your license on the basis of your DUI arrest, and that prior convictions are tracked by the DUI arrest date, not what crime you were ultimately convicted of.
Call Our Pierce County DUI Defense Lawyers Today
To have our Lakewood, WA DUI defense attorneys go over your case, call Smith & White at (253) 203-1645.