DUI With Injury Lawyer in San Jose, CA Vehicle Code 23153 and Causation

The element that makes it 23153

Vehicle Code section 23153 makes it unlawful for a person, while under the influence of any alcoholic beverage, to drive a vehicle and concurrently do any act forbidden by law, or neglect any duty imposed by law in driving the vehicle, which act or neglect proximately causes bodily injury to any person other than the driver (Vehicle Code 23153). Subdivision (b) is the same structure attached to a measured 0.08 percent or more by weight, with the same rebuttable presumption where a chemical test within three hours after driving reaches that figure. Three things therefore have to be established rather than one: impairment or the number, a separate unlawful act or neglected duty in the driving, and a causal link from that act to an injury to somebody other than the driver. Subdivision (d) sets the commercial threshold at 0.04 percent and subdivision (e) applies the same 0.04 figure when a passenger for hire is in the vehicle.

First injury offense

Section 23554 sets punishment for a first violation of section 23153 at imprisonment in the state prison, or in a county jail for not less than 90 days nor more than one year, and a fine of not less than $390 nor more than $1,000, with the driving privilege suspended under section 13352(a)(2) (Vehicle Code 23554). That suspension is one year. On probation, section 23556 requires at least five days in county jail with the same fine range and, in a county with a licensed program, enrollment in one: at least three months and 30 hours of program activities for a first offender whose blood alcohol concentration was less than 0.20 percent, and at least nine months and 60 hours where the concentration was 0.20 percent or more or the person refused a chemical test (Vehicle Code 23556).

Second injury offense and the priors ladder

Section 23560 applies where a section 23153 conviction follows a qualifying violation within ten years. It authorizes imprisonment in the state prison, or in a county jail for not less than 120 days nor more than one year, and a fine of not less than $390 nor more than $5,000, with revocation under section 13352(a)(4) (Vehicle Code 23560). That revocation runs three years. With two or more priors, section 23566 authorizes imprisonment in the state prison for two, three or four years and a fine of not less than $1,015 nor more than $5,000, adds a three-year habitual traffic offender designation, and provides that a person who proximately causes great bodily injury to more than one victim, with four or more qualifying priors, shall receive an additional consecutive term of three years (Vehicle Code 23566). Section 13352(a)(6) attaches a five-year revocation to the section 23550.5 and 23566 outcomes.

Interlock terms are longer on the injury track

The interlock statute treats injury cases as a separate column. Section 23575.3 sets a mandatory 12-month restriction term for a section 23153 conviction with no priors, 24 months with one prior, 36 months with two, and 48 months where the prior falls under section 23550.5 (Vehicle Code 23575.3). The DMV's published table for the statewide program shows the same shape: no priors and no injury produces no mandatory term, while no priors with an injury or a vehicular manslaughter offense produces a one-year term, rising to four years for an injury offense with a prior felony conviction (California DMV).

The advisory the court has to give

Section 23593 requires the court to advise a person convicted of a section 23103.5, 23152 or 23153 violation, orally and in writing, in substance: being under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or both, impairs your ability to safely operate a motor vehicle. Therefore, it is extremely dangerous to human life to drive while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or both. If you continue to drive while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or both, and, as a result of that driving, someone is killed, you can be charged with murder (Vehicle Code 23593). The statute adds that the advisory is not a required element for a later murder charge. Two other enhancements sit near the injury statutes and both must be pleaded and proven: section 23572 adds consecutive jail time when a minor under 14 was a passenger, and section 23582 adds a consecutive 60 days where the driving was 30 miles per hour or more over a freeway limit, or 20 or more over any other limit, in a manner prohibited by section 23103.

The local path for an injury filing

An injury case charged as a felony follows the felony sequence the Santa Clara County Superior Court publishes: arrest, arraignment, preliminary hearing, then arraignment on the Information, with the prosecutor filing that Information within 15 days of a holding order and trial set within 60 days of that arraignment (Santa Clara County Superior Court). For a San Jose arrest the courthouse is the Hall of Justice at 190 West Hedding Street (Santa Clara County Superior Court). This page is general information about California law and is not legal advice; anyone facing a section 23153 allegation should speak with a licensed California attorney, and the attorney advertising here can be reached at the number posted on this site.