Felony DUI Lawyer in San Jose, CA Serious Charges and Case Stages

What lifts a DUI out of the misdemeanor column

Three fact patterns do most of the work. Causing injury to another person while driving under the influence is charged under Vehicle Code section 23153 and may be filed as a felony on its own. Enough qualifying prior convictions inside a ten-year window can elevate a plain DUI count, and the county's bail schedule lists that combination with section 23550. A prior felony conviction of the same kind supports the enhancement in section 23550.5. None of those depends on how the night felt, and all three depend on records rather than recollection, which is why verified documents matter before anyone talks about a resolution.

The bail schedule changes shape immediately

Santa Clara County's criminal bail schedule prices the difference plainly. A DUI with no separate convictions is listed at $5,000 where the alleged concentration is under 0.15, and $10,000 at 0.15 or greater. An injury count under section 23153 with no priors is listed at $25,000, rising to $50,000 with one qualifying prior. The felony combinations built on section 23550 or section 23550.5 are listed at $100,000. The schedule also carries a direction worth knowing about: in any DUI case, including those alleging prior convictions, defendants are to be eligible for supervised own recognizance release, with pretrial services advised to consider terms such as alcohol monitoring or testing. Custody status is therefore arguable rather than fixed by the listed figure.

A felony calendar runs on shorter deadlines

The court's felony page sets out the path: arraignment, then a preliminary hearing where a judge decides whether the evidence supports holding the person to answer, then trial. An information must be filed within 15 days of that holding order, and the statutory clock allows 60 days from arraignment on the information to trial. Out-of-custody felony arraignments have been calendared at 1:35 p.m. at the Hall of Justice. Where charges are filed and a warrant issues, the court's protocol lets counsel schedule an out-of-custody arraignment after an informal booking, set for the second or fourth Monday of a month in the felony arraignment department at 190 W. Hedding Street at 1:46 p.m., with all charges eligible.

Priors have to be proved from paper

An alleged prior is an element to be established, not a note in a file. The relevant material includes certified court records of the earlier disposition, the terms actually imposed, and the department's driver history, because a date that falls outside the window or a disposition that is not what everyone assumed changes the exposure. The refusal provisions in section 23612 show how wide the net is drawn: a violation of Section 23103 as specified in Section 23103.5, the reduced reckless charge, counts as a qualifying prior for the longer revocation. An old plea that felt minor at the time can be doing real work in the current case.

A collision expands the record enormously

When a crash is involved, the evidence stops being one instrument printout. San Jose police assign fatal and serious collisions to a traffic investigations unit, and its accounts of felony impaired-driving arrests describe suspects booked into the county main jail. What follows is scene work: dispatch audio, body-worn video, vehicle inspections, medical records, roadway measurements and witness accounts. State traffic-safety figures show why this city generates many such files. The Office of Traffic Safety recorded 3,294 people killed or injured in San Jose crashes in 2023, with 377 of those victims in alcohol-involved crashes, 406 fatal and injury crashes in the 9:00 p.m. to 2:59 a.m. window, and 679 DUI arrests, third among the fifteen California cities of comparable size.

What the first week should accomplish

Follow every written release condition to the letter, including any monitoring or testing term ordered as part of release. Leave the vehicle untouched and available for inspection, keep medical treatment documented, and say nothing about the incident to anyone but counsel. Preservation requests to the arresting agency and to any nearby business with cameras are time-sensitive, and video from a corner on Alum Rock Avenue or Monterey Road is often gone within weeks. Nothing in the county's collaborative court and diversion programs is promised by a charge label, so eligibility questions belong in front of the court on the actual filing rather than in a hopeful assumption.

Fees when the exposure is a felony

Contingent arrangements are unavailable in criminal defense under rule 1.5(c)(2) of California's Rules of Professional Conduct, and a felony DUI is priced by the work it takes. That work usually includes a preliminary hearing, records and expert review, and possibly a motion practice phase. Ask where the described engagement ends, whether the preliminary hearing and any prior-conviction challenge are inside it, and how an expert would be retained if reconstruction or laboratory review becomes necessary.