DUI fleeing the scene of an accident
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DUI fleeing the scene of an accident
I was driving and bumped a guy in the lane next to me. $1300 damage to his car. I was on a busy highway and wasn’t familiar with any exits. I continued about 3 miles before I pulled over. He had already called the police. I was out of the car when they pulled up. I blew a .19. My first hearing the judge wanted to put me in jail. We are going to a jury trial. I had an ARD in PA 12 years ago. Will I have to do jail time? If so can I do it on weekends? I live in Maryland.
Asked on March 25, 2009 under Criminal Law, Maryland
Answers:
Robert Pellinen / Law Offices of Robert Pellinen
Answered 15 years ago | Contributor
This is a good question because it appears as if the officer did not observe you driving and therefore could not arrest you for drunk driving. However, there are exceptions, especially when there is a collision with another car. Your .19 is considered fairly high and over twice the legal limit of .08. Whether you go to jail if they find you guilty depends on the damage done to the other car, were there any injuries, what is your driving record and criminal record, if any. If you had a prior 12 years ago in PA that should not be considered as a prior because of the passage of time. Usually, the time to allege a prior DUI is from 7-10 years. But that will vary from state to state. I hope this information is helpful to you. Whether you can do weekends will depend on the policy of the court, but if worse comes to worse and you're sentenced to jail, you should be able to do weekends where you live out of state.
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