“Wet Reckless” does count as a prior for any future DUI Offenses in Vista or anywhere in California which occurr within the next 10 years, date of offense to date of offense. This means that if you get another DUI in the next 10 years you will get second time penalties if you have no other priors. The “Wet Reckless” is a valuable reduction from a “driving under the influence” or “driving with a .08 or more blood alcohol level’ charge and has significant advantages.
Most DUI cases result in 5 years of informal probation, a program, minimum fines over $2000, and potential custody or public work depending on the facts of the case. A “Wet Reckless” is a stipulated or agreed to lesser offense regardless whether there was actually any reckless driving. For the defense, if this can be negotiated throught the plea bargaining process, it results in only 3 years informal probation, a minimum fine around $ 1000, a drinking driver program and usually no jail or public work. The District Attorney gets a priorable offense with alcohol or drug related penalties and the defense gets a lesser charge and much lighter penalties. both parties stipulate simply the defendant drove recklessly with alcohol in his or her system, but not over the limit or impaired. There are even lesser related offenses which may be possible, but are not as common, depending on the strength of the case and the individual circumstances of the individual.
Plea bargaining is an important part of the criminal justice system. Call the experienced DUI lawyers of Christoph Law Offices at 760-670-3885 for a free consultation and realistic appraisal of your case. We do exclusively DUI and Criminal Defense and have for over 30 years and are located directly across from the Vista Courts in North County
