If you get arrested on DUI charges in Florida, it is very important to understand your legal defense options. A DUI conviction can lead to significant penalties, and fines increase depending on the number of convictions on your record. Repeated violations can therefore have much more serious ramifications.
For a first conviction on DUI charges, your fine should be between $500 and $1,000. This can be increased to a range of $1,000 to $2,000 if there was a minor in the car at the time or if you had an extremely high BAC of 0.15 percent or higher, meaning it is roughly twice the legal limit.
A second conviction
If you are convicted again, the fine starts out in the $1,000 to $2,000 range. If your BAC was 0.15 percent or higher, or if a minor was in the vehicle, then the maximum fine becomes $4,000.
A third conviction
If you are convicted a third time within 10 years of your second conviction, the minimum fine is $2,000 and the maximum is $5,000. The minimum fine increases to $4,000 for a BAC over 0.15 percent or if you had a minor in the vehicle at the time.
Your defense options
Notably, the above examples only show how much you may have to pay in fines, and they do not take into account other potential penalties, such as jail time, points on your record, the loss of your driver’s license, higher insurance rates and more. For all of these reasons, it is crucial that you know exactly what defense options you have.