A First Offense DUI Is Always a Misdemeanor
Video Transcribed: Is a DUI a felony in Oklahoma? I’m Tulsa DUI attorney James Wirth, and that’s the question we have before us today. Is DUI a felony? And the answer is that is it depends. A first offense DUI is always a misdemeanor.
However, if you have a prior conviction for DUI in the last 10 years, or even if you have a prior deferred sentence, which is not technically a conviction within the last 10 years, then that subsequent DUI can be a second offense.
And the second offense in Oklahoma is a felony with one to five years as the range of punishment for that. And then if you have a third DUI, it goes up 1 to 10 years at that point as the punishment.
So DUI can be both a misdemeanor or felony, and it depends on whether you have a predicate prior DUI offense within the requisite amount of time, whether it can be charged as a felony.
Also, DUI can be charged as a felony if there are other circumstances, perhaps DUI manslaughter, if there’s DUI that is child neglect, the child neglect related to that, if you have a child in the car can be a DUI.
But if we’re talking simple DUI, the first offense is a misdemeanor, subsequent offense within 10 years and more than that is going to be a felony. So if you’ve got any questions about your specific circumstances, you’re going to want to talk to an attorney confidentially about that. To get that schedule with somebody at my office, you can go online to makelaweasy.com.
