A Western Pennsylvania man was recently sentenced on his seventh driving under the influence conviction. John Lawrence Wright, of Armstrong County, was sentenced to two to five years of incarceration and fined more than $5,000. It appears his sentence will be served as a combination of jail time and house arrest with weekends spend in jail and weekdays on house arrest subject to electronic monitoring.

This incident provides one example of how Pennsylvania deals with repeat DUIs. Generally speaking, Pennsylvania has a system that provides enhanced, or more serious, penalties for repeat or habitual DUI offenders.

The system also separates out DUIs into three categories based upon the driver's blood-alcohol content (BAC) at the time of the offense and special circumstances, such as whether the driver was a commercial driver or whether the driver refused a sobriety test. The levels include "general impairment," "high rate of alcohol," and "highest rate of alcohol."

Depending on what level and individuals falls into, the typical first offense DUI is generally an ungraded misdemeanor and may result in a license suspension, probation or jail time, and fines. Repeat offenses typically get elevated to a 1st degree misdemeanor, which will often include increased jail time, more burdensome fines, a longer license suspension, and the possible imposition of devices such as an ignition interlock device.

One important thing to remember is that a Pennsylvania court only looks back 10 years when considering previous DUI convictions. In the case mentioned above, the court only sentenced the defendant based on three prior convictions because his other DUIs had occurred more than 10 years ago.

The main things to remember in a situation in which you might be charged with a repeat DUI is that the punishment is going to get more severe, so it is important to do everything you can to prevent an addition conviction being added to your record.

Related Resources:

Parks man sentenced for 7th DUI charge (Leader Times)