fourth offense

[cl4095]

What is the name of your state?Michigan
My brother has 3 prior DUI convictions in Oklahoma and was just arrested in Michigan. Will he be charged as fourth offense or first? Do they follow a person from state to state?
Thank you

[stephenk]

yes they do.

[Alchohol_Free]

With DUI, the states don't care where DUI was committed. They treat it as a prior DUI in their state. So, basically he has 4 DUI's.

But communication between the states often times isnt' very good. And it may end up that Michigan won't know about the prior DUI's in Oklahoma.

Here's what happened to a guy in my treatment group. He got 1 DUI in Oregon and then followed that up with 2 in Washington. He was able to take "deferred prosecution" on one and plead guilty to the other. He then got a restricted license to drive in Washington. Well, toward the end of December, he got a letter from the court indicating "we know about all of your DUI's" and he was back in court. The recommend jail time was 90 days.

SINCE HE OBEYED THE CONDITIONS OF HIS PROBATION AND FOLLOWED THROUGH WITH HIS TREATMENT, the court let it go.

Can't say if your bother will be so lucky.

[rmet4nzkx]

Originally Posted by cl4095

What is the name of your state?Michigan
My brother has 3 prior DUI convictions in Oklahoma and was just arrested in Michigan. Will he be charged as fourth offense or first? Do they follow a person from state to state?
Thank you

As you have already been told, yes DUI follow from state to state however, with such a distance between states there may be some lag. The bigger quesiton here is what to do about your brother's problem, he obviously has an alcohol abuse issue and helping to get him off is only going to reenforce the same behavior which is very destructive to him, his family and others, it may take the maximum sentence to get the point across to your brother that he can't drink at all let alone drink and drive, someone will eventually get hurt or die. For every time he has been caught, rest assured he has been DUI humdrens of times. Please encourage him to get into an alcohol rehab program or at least AA before he has to deal with this in court. Your brother needs help and possibly that means making sure they know about his other DUI's.

[cl4095]

I thought I should add that I desperately want my brother to get charged with fourth offense. I don't think anything else will help him, too many people have cleaned up behind his other messes. If he gets something similar to a year restricted driving, I think I will be writing many letters to congressmen.
Thank you all so much.

[nanaII]

I have an acquaintance who is currently serving 5 years in prison for his 3rd DUI in our state. I can't believe how lenient some states are... This forum has been an "eye opening" experience for me.

[rachelsfx]

Originally Posted by cl4095

What is the name of your state?Michigan
My brother has 3 prior DUI convictions in Oklahoma and was just arrested in Michigan. Will he be charged as fourth offense or first? Do they follow a person from state to state?
Thank you

After someone I knew got busted for DUI in Florida, Georgia had no problem giving them a full license. Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to get insurance so drove without it. Eventually, he'll get busted, but, hey, until they know, they can't charge.

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"The law and stupidity are the same thing, except the law has rules."