Aggravated DUI - What Is It and When Does It Apply?

In Illinois, a person can be arrested for many kinds of DUI - such as "driving under the influence of alcohol" or "driving under the influence of drugs" or driving with any amount of cannabis, methamphetamine, or a controlled substance in the persons breath blood urine or other bodily substance" or "driving with an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more int he persons blood or breath".

So what is an "Aggravated DUI?" An aggravated DUI occurs when a person is accused of committing any one of the above, and then some additional factor causes the sentence for the above DUI to become a felony. In other words, "Aggravated DUI" is tantamount to a "felony DUI." A felony means that the punishment is greater than one year of imprisonment. Different felonies can have different sentences, but all of them will include the possibility of more than 1 year of impirsonment.

Additional factors that can turn a misdemeanor DUI into a felony DUI include the following:

• driving on an expired license
• driving without ever having a valid license
• driving on a suspended license (for any reason)
• driving with expired insurance or no insurance at all
• causing any kind of bodily harm to a passenger under 16
• causing great bodily harm to another
• causing permanent disability or disfigurement to another
• causing death to another
• driving a school bus with a passenger under 18
• driving in a school zone and causing bodily harm ot another
• having 2 or more prior DUIs
• having a prior Reckless Homicide

Receiving a felony conviction will stay with the person forever - it is not expungeable. Not every case that is eligible for felony treatment is filed as a felony, and the prosecuotr sometimes takes into acocunt additrional factors in deciding how to file the charges.

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