Extreme DUI

Pennsylvania law does not use the term extreme DUI. The closest category is the highest rate of alcohol: a BAC of 0.16% or higher within two hours of driving. The same highest-tier penalties apply to DUIs involving drugs and to refusing a breath or blood test. A first highest-tier DUI carries at least 72 hours in jail, a $1,000 to $5,000 fine, and a 12-month license suspension. Panighetti Law defends high-BAC DUI charges across Erie County.

Some states use extreme DUI for a BAC of 0.15% or 0.20%. Pennsylvania instead sorts every DUI into one of three tiers, and the tier sets the mandatory minimum sentence.

A driver can be charged with general impairment even below 0.08% if an officer believes alcohol made them unable to drive safely. Drivers under 21, school bus drivers, and commercial drivers have lower limits.

Prior offenses count if they occurred within the past 10 years. Every conviction at this tier also requires one year of ignition interlock after the suspension, alcohol highway safety school, and a drug and alcohol evaluation with any treatment the court orders. See the second offense and third offense DUI pages for more detail.

Pennsylvania sentences two other kinds of DUI at the highest tier, regardless of any BAC number:

• Drug DUIs. Driving with any amount of a Schedule I drug, a Schedule II or III drug not prescribed to you, or impairment from any drug. That includes marijuana DUI cases, even for medical marijuana patients.
• Test refusals. Refusing a breath test, or a blood test the police have a warrant for, means a conviction is sentenced at the highest tier. PennDOT also imposes a separate suspension of 12 months, or 18 months with a prior refusal or DUI.

A high BAC does not by itself rule out ARD for a first offense. The District Attorney decides whether to recommend you, and a judge must approve it. ARD is not available if you have a prior DUI within 10 years, if an accident caused death or serious bodily injury, or if a passenger under 14 was in the vehicle. At 0.16% or higher, ARD typically comes with a 60-day license suspension instead of 12 months.

Because the tier controls the sentence, the BAC evidence is often the center of the case:

• Timing. The tiers are based on BAC within two hours of driving. A test taken later must fall within a legal exception, or the result may not support the tier charged.
• Blood test procedures. How the sample was drawn, stored, and analyzed, and whether the chain of custody holds up.
• Breath test reliability. Whether the instrument was properly calibrated and the test was given correctly.
• The stop and arrest. Whether the police had a lawful reason to stop you and enough to arrest you.

Moving a case from the highest tier to the high tier can cut the mandatory minimum and, for repeat offenders, change a felony to a misdemeanor. Justin Panighetti served as an Assistant District Attorney in Erie County from 2009 to 2015, so he knows how these cases are built and where they can be challenged.