Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

Knoxville DUI attorneys understand that if you are charged with DUI for the first time, you are probably concerned and worried about your future. Our Knoxville DUI lawyers realize that Driving Under the Influence is typically not a crime involving malice. Many individuals charged with DUI are not familiar with the criminal justice system. The DUI laws and regulations are confusing and seem to change frequently.

Under Tennessee law, any person convicted for a first offense DUI shall be fined between $350 and $1,500. The court will prohibit a convicted person from driving a vehicle in the state of Tennessee for a period of one year. Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-10-403 (2007). A first offense DUI violation is a Class A misdemeanor. The jail time depends upon the circumstances surrounding the conviction.

If you are less than twenty-one years of age at the time of the offense, the court shall sentence you to confinement in the county jail or workhouse for a minimum of forty-eight hours to a maximum of eleven months and twenty-nine days incarceration. As a condition of probation, you must remove litter during daylight hours from state route highways or state-aid highways, for a period of twenty-four hours. The period of litter removal shall be served in three shifts of eight consecutive hours each.

If you are twenty-one years of age or older at the time of the offense, the court shall sentence you to confinement in the county jail or workhouse for not less than twenty-four hours nor more than eleven months and twenty-nine days. As a condition of probation, you must remove litter during daylight hours from state route highways or state-aid highways for a period of twenty-four hours. The period of litter removal shall be served in three shifts of eight consecutive hours each.

• If at the time of the offense the alcohol concentration in your blood or breath is twenty hundredths of one percent (.20%) or greater, the minimum period of confinement for you must be seven consecutive calendar days rather than forty-eight hours.

• If at the time of the offense, you were accompanied by a child under eighteen years of age, you must be punished by a mandatory minimum incarceration of thirty days and a mandatory minimum fine of one thousand dollars $1,000.

• If at the time of the offense, you were accompanied by a child under eighteen years of age, and the child suffers serious bodily injury as a result of the DUI, the violation is a Class D felony.

• If at the time of the offense, you were accompanied by a child under eighteen years of age, and the child is killed as a result of the DUI, the violation is a Class C felony.

Contact a Knoxville DUI lawyer to talk about the facts and circumstances surrounding your case. A Knoxville DUI attorney can discuss different legal avenues applicable to you. Our Knoxville attorneys handle DUI cases in Knoxville, Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Loudon, Maryville, and Newport.