Third DUI Lawyer Tampa Florida

If you have been arrested for a third DUI offense, your minimum statutory requirements will depend on whether your third DUI occurred within ten (10) years of the second DUI conviction. Third DUI offenses are treated particular harsh in Florida, including Tampa, Hillsborough County.

If you were not represented by an attorney for one of the prior DUI offense, then the prosecutor may have a difficult time using that prior uncounseled plea for purposes of charging you with the felony DUI offense. Hiring an attorney immediately after the arrest is important because State Attorney's Office in Tampa, Hillsborough County will typically make a decision about whether to file the charge as a felony or a misdemeanor within 21 days after the arrest. Your attorney may be able to present sufficient information to the intake prosecutor to convince them to file the charge as a misdemeanor instead of a felony.

Third DUI Outside of 10 Years of Second DUI Conviction

Under Florida law, if the third DUI occurs outside 10 years of any prior DUI, then you will be charged with a first degree misdemeanor offense with the following mandatory minimum requirements must be imposed by the court unless you avoid the conviction:

• Incarceration or Jail Time: Imprisonment for not more than 12 months with mandatory imprisonment of at least 30 days with at least 48 hours of confinement must be consecutive;
• Term of Probation: Up to 12 months (with credit for any jail time served);
• Fine: Not less than $2,000, or more than $5,000 (wiith BAL of .15 or higher or minor in the vehicle the fine will not be less than $4,000).
  
• Vehicle impoundment: Unless the family of the defendant has no other transportation the vehicle impoundment is 90 days which must not occur at the same time as the jail time (exception if vehicle operated solely by the employees of the defendant or any business owned by the defendant);
• Driver License Revocation Periods: Minimum 180 days revocation, maximum 1 year;
• DUI School: Level II which includes substance abuse evaluation and requires completion of any recommended follow up treatment; and
• Mandatory Ignition Interlock Device: At least two (2) years.

Third DUI Within 10 Years of Any Prior DUI Conviction

Under Florida law, if the third DUI occurs within 10 years of the second DUI, then you may be charged with a felony DUI offense with the following mandatory minimum requirements must be imposed by the court unless you avoid the conviction:

• Jail: Mandatory imprisonment of at least 30 days with at least 48 hours being served consecutively;
• Fine: Not more than $5,000 (unless the BAL was .20 or above or a minor was in the vehicle in which case the fine will be between $2,000 to $5,000;
• Vehicle Impoundment: 90 days;
• Driver's License Revocation: When both of the prior DUI convictions occurred within a 10 year period then at least a 10 year revocation (the driver may be eligible for a hardship reinstatement after 2 years if the driver has not consumed any alcoholic beverage or controlled substance or driven a vehicle for 12 months prior to reinstatement, DUI school completed and the driver remains in the DUI supervision program for the remainder of the revocation period), and for a third DUI conviction in which at least one of the prior DUI convictions occurred within 5 years then at least a five year revocation (driver may be eligible for a hardship reinstatement after 12 months).
• Mandatory ignition interlock device: at least two (2) years;
• DUI School: which includes substance abuse evaluation and requires completion of any recommended follow up treatment.

Contact a Tampa DUI Attorney at the Sammis Law Firm to discuss ways to fight a third DUI offense in Tampa, Florida, or throughout Hillsborough County. Call 813-250-0500 today.