Situation: first-time DUI arrest in CA, .22, no accident, non-reckless. They did not seem to think I had any priors. I was issued a court appearance ticket with "misdemeanor" checked at the top, and was taken to a cot at a "jail alternative" for cooperative people, where I had to wait 11 hours for release.
Problem: I have one prior misdemeanor DUI from NY (a DWI there) and two subsequent priors in NY that were promoted to felonies there (class E and then D). My last prior from NY was slightly less than three years ago.
Question: can my NY priors be used in CA to either (1) promote the misdemeanor to a felony or (2) be considered in the sentencing phase to increase the penalty to the maximum allowable (I think one year in CA)?
I am also interested in determining when -- procedurally -- the charge could be increased (or the number of priors count) and how I can go about determining what they believe my number of priors is before responding at the arraignment. The ONLY thing I know for sure is that I have a misdemeanor appearance ticket.
I'm not sure how I can determine if CA will even know about my priors; I've read about the Driver License Compact (DLC) and sure enough, I did see NY priors when I obtained a copy of my license from the DMV. However, the arrest details are not listed (as they are for the recent CA offense), and are only codified as a Problem Driver Pointer System (PDPS) record on the DMV printout as codes A21 and A12 (for over .1 and over .05, respectively).
If it can be determined that they don't know or aren't considering the priors, I will gladly plead no contest to the charge and accept the default penalty (which I understand to be 5-month suspension, 40 hours DUI school, 16 hours community service). I'm not sure how to figure out what the DA is going to use as my priors count without spooking him into looking harder.
Any information is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Problem: I have one prior misdemeanor DUI from NY (a DWI there) and two subsequent priors in NY that were promoted to felonies there (class E and then D). My last prior from NY was slightly less than three years ago.
Question: can my NY priors be used in CA to either (1) promote the misdemeanor to a felony or (2) be considered in the sentencing phase to increase the penalty to the maximum allowable (I think one year in CA)?
I am also interested in determining when -- procedurally -- the charge could be increased (or the number of priors count) and how I can go about determining what they believe my number of priors is before responding at the arraignment. The ONLY thing I know for sure is that I have a misdemeanor appearance ticket.
I'm not sure how I can determine if CA will even know about my priors; I've read about the Driver License Compact (DLC) and sure enough, I did see NY priors when I obtained a copy of my license from the DMV. However, the arrest details are not listed (as they are for the recent CA offense), and are only codified as a Problem Driver Pointer System (PDPS) record on the DMV printout as codes A21 and A12 (for over .1 and over .05, respectively).
If it can be determined that they don't know or aren't considering the priors, I will gladly plead no contest to the charge and accept the default penalty (which I understand to be 5-month suspension, 40 hours DUI school, 16 hours community service). I'm not sure how to figure out what the DA is going to use as my priors count without spooking him into looking harder.
Any information is greatly appreciated. Thanks.