One of the most common criminal charges in the United States is a DUI. Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have shown that 11,000 deaths resulting from traffic accidents also involved an alcohol-impaired driver. In Illinois alone, more than 400 deaths occur each year from drunk driving. Driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol is dangerous, and the punishment for doing so can be severe. Most DUI situations involve misdemeanor charges, but those charges can quickly escalate to felony charges under certain circumstances.

First-Offense DUI Penalties

Under Illinois law, a first offense for a DUI is classified as a Class A misdemeanor, the highest classification for a misdemeanor. If a person is convicted of DUI and has no prior DUI charges, he or she will still face up to one year in jail, up to $2,500 in fines and up to two years of probation. Additionally, a first-time DUI offender may also be subject to mandatory minimum penalties and community service.

Aggravated DUI

In Illinois, any DUI charge that is classified as a felony charge is referred to as an aggravated DUI. With an aggravated DUI charge, any mandatory minimum prison sentence or community service cannot be suspended or reduced. If a person is sentenced to probation or conditional discharge, they also must serve at least 480 hours of community service, or they must agree to be imprisoned for ten days.

This year is coming to a close, and another one will soon begin. As per the annual tradition, many will be ringing in this new year with their friends, family, coworkers, and acquaintances at parties, events, and get-togethers. Knowing this - and the propensity for people drink at these gatherings - Illinois law enforcement is planning to make a “final push” for road safety over the New Year. Learn what you need to know about DUI checkpoints, DUI testing, and your right to quality legal defense with help from the following information.

DUI Checkpoints This New Year’s

According to the Illinois Department of Transportation and Illinois State Police, there will be more than 200 law enforcement agencies across the state engaged in this final push for road safety. They will be running seat belt checks, DUI checks, and setting up DUI checkpoints. That means almost any driver - intoxicated or not - could be at risk for a traffic stop. If suspected of a DUI, these extra stops could also place numerous people in jail over the holiday season - some of which may not have even been intoxicated at the time of their stop.

In 2011, an Illinois man was driving down a street in Lisle when a couple ran in front of his car. The driver was unable to stop in time, and the vehicle hit the woman, who subsequently died from her injuries. The driver was charged with aggravated DUI, but a judge later dismissed those charges based on insufficient evidence and calling into question the accuracy of the state’s forensic crime labs.

Troubling Inconsistencies

According to reports, when law enforcement arrived at the scene, they tested the driver’s blood alcohol content level (BAC), which lab reports later said registered at 0.086. The legal BAC limit in Illinois is 0.08. In the course of the investigation by the defense, it was discovered that there had been an internal audit of the Illinois State Police Laboratories regarding blood alcohol test inaccuracies. The audit reported “75 percent of the whole blood controls analyzed exceeded two standard deviations,” which would produce inaccurate or invalid results.

In Illinois, just as in each of the other 49 states, a person who is driving with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08 or higher is considered legally intoxicated. However, there are cases where a person can be charged with drunk driving when they have a BAC of .05 to .08, if law enforcement produces additional evidence pointing to a driver’s impairment.

The BAC is determined by the ratio of alcohol to a person’s blood, and can also be estimated by testing samples of his or her breath. Alcohol is absorbed quickly, going from a person’s stomach, into the bloodstream, and then traveling up to the brain. The first traces of alcohol can usually be detected within 30 minutes to an hour after a person has had a drink.

Many people are under the impression that the type of alcohol they drink makes a difference – but that is a mistake. A typical drink contains about one-half ounce of alcohol. This is roughly the amount of alcohol which is found in a typical 5-ounce glass of wine, a 12-ounce beer, or a “shot” of distilled liquor.

Field sobriety tests, or FSTs, are a critical part of a DUI arrest. If an officer suspects that a motorist may be intoxicated, the officer nearly always asks the driver to perform these agility tests. These tests also indicate whether or not a person is mentally impaired.

There are a number of FSTs, but only three have been approved by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. The arresting officers always say that the defendants failed the tests, and therefore they were arrested. By challenging the results, an attorney may be able to show that there was no probable cause for a DUI arrest and a case may be thrown out.

Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus

Most people are familiar with the HGN test. The test administrator, who is nearly always the officer, asks the subjects to follow a point with their eyes without moving their heads. The point is usually the tip of an ink pen in daylight hours and a flashlight at night. Nystagmus is an involuntary eye jerk. If there are four or more clues between the two eyes, the subject may have a BAC of at least .08.