DWI/DUI Defense

A single stop can change everything, but swift legal action helps protect your future.

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Professional DWI
Defense Lawyer

If you have been charged with the offense of driving while impaired (DWI), you need to hire an experienced attorney to defend your rights. Even if you are prepared to plead guilty to the offense, you don't want to do that alone. In doing so, you will likely forgo important rights that you have, including the possibility of obtaining a limited driving privilege. We offer free consultations to help you determine your best course of action.

Driving While Impaired – DWI

In 1983, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted the Safe Roads Act. This act repealed all previous laws on drunk driving in North Carolina and replaced them with a single offense of “Driving While Impaired—DWI.”

If an officer charges you with driving while impaired, you will be asked to take a chemical test of your breath or blood. Refusal to perform any required test will result in the immediate revocation of your driver's license for at least 30 days and an additional, minimum 12-month revocation by the DMV. In certain instances, after six months of the willful refusal revocation having elapsed, the judge may issue a limited driving privilege.

If your blood alcohol concentration test shows a BAC of 0.08 percent or more (0.04 or more if you are driving a commercial motor vehicle), your driving privilege will be revoked immediately for a minimum of 30 days. Additionally, results of your chemical test or the fact that you refused to take the test will be admissible as evidence in court.

In order to prove that you committed a DWI, the government (District Attorney’s Office) must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you:

  • Drove a vehicle on “any highway, any street, or any public vehicular area” within the state;
  • While under the influence of any impairing substance, or
  • After having consumed sufficient alcohol that he or she has, at any relevant time after the driving, an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more.
  • The results of a chemical analysis shall be deemed sufficient evidence to prove a person’s alcohol concentration.
  • With any amount of a Schedule I controlled substance in the individual’s blood or urine.

DWI Laws

  • Allow enforcement agencies to set up roadblocks to check for impaired drivers;
  • Prohibit drivers from consuming any alcoholic beverage, including beer, while driving;
  • Prohibit the transport of an open container of any alcoholic beverage, including in the passenger area of the car;
  • Prohibit the possession of alcoholic beverages (open or closed) in the passenger area of a commercial motor vehicle while upon any highway, street, or public vehicular area;
  • Provide for different levels of severity of punishment based on the severity of the offense;
  • Require persons who are convicted of DWI for the second time to serve a jail sentence;
  • Attempt to punish DWI offenders, but also try to help them deal with problems they may have with alcohol;
  • Require that repeat DWI offenders or persons with high BACs be checked to see if they have an alcohol problem;
  • Require persons with lower BACs to attend alcohol safety schools; and

Require anyone convicted of DWI to obtain a substance abuse assessment prior to the reinstatement of driving privileges.

DWI Punishment (Court Mandated): Under North Carolina’s DWI laws, you could be required to serve a minimum of 120 days up to three years in jail for your very first DWI conviction.

Aggravated Level One Punishment: A defendant subject to Aggravated Level One punishment may be fined up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000) and shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment that includes a minimum term of not less than 12 months and a maximum term of not more than 36 months.

The term of imprisonment may be suspended only if a condition of special probation is imposed to require the defendant to serve a term of imprisonment of at least 120 days. If the defendant is placed on probation, the judge shall impose as requirements that the defendant (i) abstain from alcohol consumption for a minimum of 120 days to a maximum of the term of probation, as verified by a continuous alcohol monitoring system, and (ii) obtain a substance abuse assessment and the education or treatment required for the restoration of a driver's license as a condition of probation. The judge may impose any other lawful condition of probation.

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Level One Punishment

A defendant subject to Level One punishment may be fined up to four thousand dollars ($4,000) and shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment that includes a minimum term of not less than 30 days and a maximum term of not more than 24 months. The term of imprisonment may be suspended only if a condition of special probation is imposed to require the defendant to serve a term of imprisonment of at least 30 days. A judge may reduce the minimum term of imprisonment required to a term of not less than 10 days if a condition of special probation is imposed to require that a defendant abstain from alcohol consumption and be monitored by a continuous alcohol monitoring system, of a type approved by the Division of Adult Correction of the Department of Public Safety, for a period of not less than 120 days. If the defendant is monitored on an approved continuous alcohol monitoring system during the pretrial period, up to 60 days of pretrial monitoring may be credited against the 120-day monitoring requirement for probation. If the defendant is placed on probation, the judge shall impose a requirement that the defendant obtain a substance abuse assessment and the education or treatment required for the restoration of a driver's license as a condition of probation. The judge may impose any other lawful condition of probation.

Level Two Punishment

A defendant subject to Level Two punishment may be fined up to two thousand dollars ($2,000) and shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment that includes a minimum term of not less than seven days and a maximum term of not more than 12 months. The term of imprisonment may be suspended only if a condition of special probation is imposed to require the defendant to serve a term of imprisonment of at least seven days or to abstain from consuming alcohol for at least 90 consecutive days, as verified by a continuous alcohol monitoring system of a type approved by the Division of Adult Correction of the Department of Public Safety. If the defendant is monitored on an approved continuous alcohol monitoring system during the pretrial period, up to 60 days of pretrial monitoring may be credited against the 90-day monitoring requirement for probation. If the defendant is placed on probation, the judge shall impose a requirement that the defendant obtain a substance abuse assessment and the education or treatment required for the restoration of a driver's license as a condition of probation. The judge may impose any other lawful condition of probation.

The judge may impose, as a condition of probation for defendants subject to Level One or Level Two punishments, that the defendant abstain from alcohol consumption for a minimum of 30 days to a maximum of the term of probation, as verified by a continuous alcohol monitoring system. The defendant's abstinence from alcohol shall be verified by a continuous alcohol monitoring system of a type approved by the Division of Adult Correction of the Department of Public Safety.

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Level Three Punishment

A defendant subject to Level Three punishment may be fined up to one thousand dollars ($1,000) and shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment that includes a minimum term of not less than 72 hours and a maximum term of not more than six months. The term of imprisonment may be suspended. However, the suspended sentence shall include the condition that the defendant:
(1) Be imprisoned for a term of at least 72 hours as a condition of special probation; or
(2) Perform community service for a term of at least 72 hours; or (3) Any combination of these conditions.
If the defendant is placed on probation, the judge shall impose a requirement that the defendant obtain a substance abuse assessment and the education or treatment required for the restoration of a driver's license as a condition of probation. The judge may impose any other lawful condition of probation.

Level Three Punishment

A defendant subject to Level Three punishment may be fined up to one thousand dollars ($1,000) and shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment that includes a minimum term of not less than 72 hours and a maximum term of not more than six months. The term of imprisonment may be suspended. However, the suspended sentence shall include the condition that the defendant:

(1) Be imprisoned for a term of at least 72 hours as a condition of special probation; or

(2) Perform community service for a term of at least 72 hours; or

(3) Any combination of these conditions.

If the defendant is placed on probation, the judge shall impose a requirement that the defendant obtain a substance abuse assessment and the education or treatment required for the restoration of a driver's license as a condition of probation. The judge may impose any other lawful condition of probation.

Level Four Punishment

A defendant subject to Level Five punishment may be fined up to two hundred dollars ($200.00) and shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment that includes a minimum term of not less than 24 hours and a maximum term of not more than 60 days. The term of imprisonment may be suspended. However, the suspended sentence shall include the condition that the defendant:

(1) Be imprisoned for a term of 24 hours as a condition of special probation; or

(2) Perform community service for a term of 24 hours; or

(3) Any combination of these conditions.

If the defendant is placed on probation, the judge shall impose a requirement that the defendant obtain a substance abuse assessment and the education or treatment required for the restoration of a driver's license as a condition of probation. The judge may impose any other lawful condition of probation.

DMV Consequences

First conviction: Mandatory revocation of your driver's license for a period of one year.

Second conviction: Mandatory driver license revocation for a period of four years when convicted of a prior offense that occurred within three years of the current offense for which the license is being revoked.

Third conviction: Mandatory, permanent driver license revocation if at least one of the prior convictions occurred within the past five years.

Fourth conviction: Mandatory permanent driver license revocation. The fourth conviction is considered a felony if the three prior DWI convictions occurred within the past seven years.

If you are convicted of DWI while your license is revoked for an earlier DWI conviction, the court may order your vehicle seized and sold.

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Blood Alcohol Concentration Restrictions by the Department of Motor Vehicles

A blood alcohol concentration restriction will be required when a license is restored following a suspension for DWI or when a limited driving privilege is issued following a DWI conviction.

On the first restoration, the alcohol concentration restriction will be 0.04. On a second or subsequent restoration, the alcohol concentration restriction will be 0.00.

Additionally, if you are convicted of DWI in a commercial motor vehicle, driving after consuming alcohol or drugs while under the age of 21, or felony death by vehicle, the alcohol concentration restriction will be 0.00.

Furthermore, a conviction of driving while impaired with a BAC of 0.15 or more, or another conviction within the past seven years, will require an ignition interlock device to be installed on the vehicle.

Alcohol and the Young Driver

The legal age to purchase any alcoholic beverage in North Carolina is 21. It is against the law for any person who is younger than 21 years of age to purchase or to attempt to purchase alcohol.

The law requires a one-year driver license revocation upon conviction for:

  • Any underage person who attempts to purchase or purchases an alcoholic beverage;
  • Any underage person who aids or abets another who attempts to purchase or purchases an alcoholic beverage.
  • Any underage person who obtains or attempts to obtain alcoholic beverages by using or attempting to use a fraudulent driver's license or other ID or another person’s driver's license or ID; or
  • Any underage person who obtains or attempts to obtain alcoholic beverages by using or attempting to use a fraudulent driver's license or other ID or another person’s driver's license or ID.
  • Any person who permits his or her driver's license or any other ID to be used by an underage person to purchase or attempt to purchase an alcoholic beverage.
  • Any person who gives an alcoholic beverage to any underage person.

If a driver who is less than 21 years old is convicted of an offense of driving with any amount of alcohol or drugs in his/her body, his/her license will be revoked for one year.