Attorneys

The way the law works now (since 10/99) is that the prosecutor will simply count prior alcohol related convictions, so keep in mind that doesn't matter if the prior is an OUIL, OWI, "zero tolerance" or any other alcohol related driving charge. If you have a prior within 7 years, then your current charge is potentially a second offense. Unless you were given a ticket that says "OUIL 2nd", it will be up to the prosecutor to determine whether or not to enhance the charge to a second offense. Second offenses are most often started with a complaint and warrant, so if a ticket was issued that usually (but not always) means it's being charged as a first offense, and of course, if your ticket says simply OUIL or otherwise does not denote "second offense", this also would suggest that you are being charged as a first offender. However, also keep in mind that the prosecutor can literally seek to amend or change (enhance) the charge to a second offense at any time before you are sentenced, and many judges will allow late amendments, so it's probably too early to tell what will happen with the charge. Once you get to court, and your lawyer looks at the document called a "complaint", then you will have a better understanding of the exact charge you are facing. The above discussion applies primarily to the punitive sanctions, i.e., the first/second offense difference in what the Court can and cannot consider in sentencing you. It gets kind of complicated, but suffice to say that for a second offense there is a minimum jail sentence of 5 days and/or 30­90 days community service, and up to a maximum of 1 year in jail. (Now most Courts pretty much give some amount of jail time for second offenses). Because the Judge will know you have a prior at the time you are sentenced, even if you are charged or plead guilty to a first offense, the Judge will often times still give you a sentence consistent with a second offense, which he/she can do because the first offense carries a possible sentence of up to 93 days in jail. Thus, even though there is a mandatory sentence for a second, it's still permissive for a first offense. Bottom line is it won't make all that much difference what you're charged with, although it's still probably better that you be charged with a first offense, because it at least gives your attorney a better argument to avoid jail time, which is something you'd need to discuss specifically with the attorney you retain. Moving to the driver license sanctions, this is pretty straight forward. The Secretary of State simply counts prior alcohol convictions within the appropriate period, then applies the applicable sanctions. Consequently, it doesn't matter what you're charged with or plead guilty too, if you have two alcohol driving convictions within 7 years, if you're convicted your license is gone for one year, with no driving whatever during the period of revocation.