Charged with Felony DUI with Injury

Question: I got my first dui and it was a felony dui because my friend was injured? I got into this dui incident in early 2019. I was in the hospital and released without getting taken to jail. I never received anything in the mail in regards to this. My friend that was injured in the accident got called by the district attorneys office and asked if he was interested in pressing charges. He said no and after that never heard again from them. Any way this dui is able to be pushed down to a misdemeanor dui?

Answer: Yes, it is possible to get a Felony DUI with injury reduced to a misdemeanor.  Depending on the case and issues with it, it may even be possible to get it completely dismissed.  Have charges been filed at this point?  Have you been to court on it yet or is there a warrant issued for missing a court date? 

There are a lot of variables that come into play to fully address your question. For starters, how serious were the injuries to your friend? Did you do any field sobriety tests, answer any officer questions about alcohol consumption, and/or do a breath or a blood test?  

Call me at 818-336-1384 to discuss your situation further. The first step we can take to see if charges were filed yet, and see if there is a warrant out for your arrest in the event there was a court date that was missed. For Felony charges, the prosecutor has up to 3 years to file charges within statute limitations. But for this type of case, I would expect they would be filed within the first year even if not filed by the initial arraignment date that was listed on the citation. That being said, Covid is causing some delays across the board.

I look forward to speaking with you. In the meantime, you can check out: https://www.philhachelaw.com/dui-defense/ for some additional information.

Sincerely,

Philip Hache, Attorney