A second DUI in Florida is judged against the calendar. The key date isn’t the prior arrest. It’s the date of the prior conviction, and the law measures the gap from that conviction to the new offense.
If the new offense comes within five years of the first conviction, Florida requires at least 10 days in jail, at least 48 hours of it consecutively. The license is revoked for five years, with a possible hardship license after one year once DUI school is complete. An ignition interlock is required for at least one year. If more than five years have passed, there’s no mandatory jail, though the court can still impose up to nine months, and the revocation is shorter. A second refusal to take a breath test is also its own first-degree misdemeanor.
Because so much turns on dates, J. MacGyver Law in Sarasota pulls certified copies of the prior judgment in every second-offense case. Out-of-state priors count too, but only if the earlier offense matches Florida’s DUI definition. A prior that was reduced to reckless driving doesn’t count as a DUI conviction. Those records can move a case from a mandatory jail sentence to a much lower range.
The defense of the new arrest follows the same path as any DUI. Attorneys review the reason for the stop, the roadside exercises, the breath test procedures and the video. A second-offense case gives prosecutors less room to offer a reduction, which makes those evidence reviews even more important.
People facing a second charge in Sarasota, Manatee or Charlotte County are usually best served by acting early, since the ten-day window to challenge the license suspension starts at arrest.
*This article is general information and not legal advice. Every case is different, and no outcome can be guaranteed.*
