Felony DUI Lawyers in Colorado Springs

In Colorado, DUI, DUI per se, and DWAI are misdemeanors until a driver has three prior convictions. A new charge after that is a class 4 felony. The case moves to District Court, the sentencing ranges are the felony ranges, and the outcome can include prison.

What counts as a prior

The statute counts three or more prior convictions, from separate incidents, for DUI, DUI per se, or DWAI, and for vehicular assault or vehicular homicide committed while impaired. Convictions from other states and federal courts count if the conduct would have been one of those offenses in Colorado. A DWAI, the lowest impaired driving charge, counts the same as a DUI.

There is no lookback period. A conviction from twenty years ago counts as much as one from last year.

The priors have to be proved

The prosecution must list each prior conviction in the charging document and prove it. Old records are often incomplete, and a conviction from another state has to match a Colorado offense. Whether each prior qualifies, and whether the prosecution can prove it, are the first questions in any felony DUI case.

Sentencing

Felony DUI is sentenced within the class 4 felony range, which runs from two to six years in prison, with a period of mandatory parole. Prison is not the only possible sentence. If the court grants probation instead, Colorado law requires it to order either 90 to 180 days in county jail, or 120 days to two years through a work or education release program when you have a job or school to keep. Treatment and monitoring usually come with it.

The same impaired driving evidence issues apply as in any DUI case: the stop, the test, and how it was handled. See DUI defense. The license consequences run separately at the DMV; see the DMV license hearing.

How we handle felony DUI cases

We pull the record behind every prior conviction the prosecution relies on and check whether each one qualifies and can be proved. We fight the underlying DUI on its own facts. And we build the sentencing case early, including treatment you have already done, because a judge weighing probation against prison will look at what you have done since the arrest.