Charged With a
DUI in Orlando?
Do not wait until your court date to take action. The earlier you involve a defense lawyer, the more options you may have to protect your license and challenge the case.
Schedule a confidential consultation today and get clear answers about your next steps.
A DUI arrest in Orlando sets two separate legal processes in motion at the same time — a criminal case in Orange County Court and an administrative proceeding with the Florida DHSMV that can suspend your license within days. Under Florida Statute § 316.193, even a first-time conviction is a permanent mark on your record that cannot be sealed or expunged. You have 10 days from the date of your arrest to request a formal review hearing — miss that window and your license suspension takes effect automatically, no exceptions.
Attorney James P. Kelly defends DUI cases throughout Orlando and Orange County. When you call this office, you speak directly with your attorney — not a receptionist, not an answering service, not a paralegal.
Florida’s DUI statute is broader than most people realize. The state does not need to prove you were drunk.
Under § 316.193, prosecutors can secure a conviction by showing either that your blood or breath alcohol concentration was .08% or higher, or that your “normal faculties” were impaired by alcohol, a chemical substance, or a controlled substance. That second prong means you can be convicted with a BAC well below .08 if the state argues your driving, speech, balance, or coordination was affected.
The statute also applies to prescription medications, over-the-counter drugs, and even legally obtained substances if they impair your ability to drive. It covers anyone in “actual physical control” of a vehicle — which Florida courts have interpreted to include people sitting in a parked car with the keys in the ignition.
If you are under 21, the threshold drops to .02%. Commercial drivers face a lower limit of .04% under § 322.62.
The penalties for a DUI conviction in Florida escalate quickly depending on your prior record, your BAC at the time of arrest, and whether aggravating circumstances were involved. Florida judges have limited discretion to show leniency here — the legislature has built mandatory minimums into the statute that the court cannot waive.
A standard first offense is a misdemeanor. But “misdemeanor” understates what you are actually facing:
If your BAC registered at .15% or higher, or if a minor under 18 was in the vehicle, those numbers get worse — fines up to $2,000, jail time up to 9 months, and mandatory installation of an ignition interlock device.
A first DUI conviction in Florida cannot be expunged. It stays on your record for 75 years.
A second conviction brings fines between $1,000 and $2,000, with a mandatory 10-day jail sentence if the offense occurs within 5 years of the first. License revocation jumps to a minimum of 5 years for offenses within that 5-year window, with the possibility of a hardship license only after one full year and completion of a substance abuse course. An ignition interlock device is mandatory for at least 1 year.
With aggravating factors, fines reach $4,000 and jail time can extend to 12 months.
Here is where the stakes change completely. A third DUI within 10 years of a second conviction is a third-degree felony under Florida law — punishable by up to 5 years in state prison, fines up to $5,000, and a minimum 10-year license revocation. Hardship reinstatement is available only after 2 years.
A fourth DUI is a felony regardless of when prior convictions occurred. The license revocation is permanent with no possibility of hardship reinstatement.
DUI manslaughter under § 316.193(3)(c) is a second-degree felony carrying a mandatory minimum of 4 years in prison and permanent license revocation. If the driver left the scene, the charge elevates to a first-degree felony with up to 30 years.
Most people who get arrested for DUI in Orlando have never been through the criminal justice system before. The process is disorienting by design. Understanding what is actually happening at each stage gives you a meaningful advantage.
No DUI case is bulletproof for the prosecution. Every arrest involves a sequence of procedures that officers are required to follow — and every step is a potential point of failure. The defense strategies below are not theoretical. They are grounded in the procedural and constitutional requirements that govern every DUI stop, investigation, and prosecution in Orange County.
The Fourth Amendment requires reasonable suspicion before an officer can pull you over. If the officer cannot articulate a specific, observable traffic violation or reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, everything that followed the stop — the field sobriety tests, the breath test, the arrest itself — may be suppressed. Dashcam footage frequently contradicts the officer’s stated reason for the stop.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) publishes standardized protocols for administering field sobriety tests. Officers routinely deviate from these protocols — conducting tests on uneven surfaces, failing to properly demonstrate the exercises, or misinterpreting results. These tests are also unreliable for individuals with certain medical conditions, injuries, or physical limitations. Florida courts have recognized that FSTs are not definitive proof of impairment.
Florida uses the Intoxilyzer 8000 for breath alcohol testing, and these machines are not infallible. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) requires that the device be calibrated and inspected according to a strict maintenance schedule. The operator must hold a valid permit and observe the subject for 20 continuous minutes before administering the test to ensure nothing is consumed, regurgitated, or placed in the mouth. Deviations from any of these requirements can render the test result inadmissible.
When blood is drawn, it must follow chain-of-custody protocols from the moment it leaves your arm to the moment it reaches the lab. Contamination, fermentation from improper storage, or delays in testing can produce artificially inflated BAC readings. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Birchfield v. North Dakota, 579 U.S. 438 (2016) also established that warrantless blood draws cannot be criminalized, which has direct implications for refusal cases in Florida.
Alcohol takes time to absorb into the bloodstream. If you consumed alcohol shortly before driving, your BAC at the time you were actually behind the wheel may have been below .08 — even if the test administered 30 to 60 minutes later at the station showed a higher number. The prosecution must prove impairment at the time of driving, not at the time of testing.
Officers must advise you of your implied consent rights under § 316.1932 before requesting a breath, blood, or urine test. Failures in this process — including failing to read the implied consent warning, coercing a test, or conducting a blood draw without consent or a warrant in non-exigent circumstances — can result in evidence being suppressed.
Florida is an implied consent state. When you accepted your Florida driver’s license, you agreed to submit to chemical testing if lawfully arrested for DUI. But refusal cases are not automatic losses for the defense.
A first-time refusal to submit to a breath or urine test results in a one-year administrative license suspension. A second or subsequent refusal is a first-degree misdemeanor — up to one year in jail and an 18-month license revocation under § 316.1939.
However, the absence of a BAC result also means the prosecution has less direct evidence to work with. Refusal cases often hinge entirely on the officer’s observations and the dashcam footage — and both can be challenged effectively.
Blood test refusals are treated differently under federal constitutional law. Under Birchfield, the state cannot criminalize your refusal to submit to a blood test. The penalties for refusing a blood draw are limited to civil license suspension — one year for a first refusal, 18 months for subsequent refusals.
Not every DUI case ends with a DUI conviction. In cases where the evidence is weak or the BAC was near the legal limit, the prosecution may agree to reduce the charge to reckless driving under § 316.192 — sometimes called a “wet reckless” when it involves alcohol.
A reckless driving conviction is still a serious charge, but it carries significantly fewer long-term consequences than a DUI:
There is an important limitation. Under § 316.656, judges are prohibited from accepting a guilty plea to a lesser-included offense if the defendant’s BAC was .15% or higher. Prosecutors also cannot reduce a DUI charge in cases involving serious bodily injury or death.
There are a lot of criminal defense firms in Orlando. Most of them funnel you through an intake call center, hand your file to whichever associate is available that day, and have you meet your lawyer for the first time at the courthouse.
This office does not work that way.
When you call The Law Office of James P. Kelly, you speak directly with attorney James P. Kelly. Not a marketing team. Not a case manager screening your call. Your attorney, from the first phone call through the resolution of your case.
That direct access matters in DUI defense because the details of what happened during your stop — your interaction with the officer, what you said, what you did not say, the conditions of the road, the timing of the tests — those details shape the entire defense strategy. Relaying them through three layers of intake staff means critical facts get lost or distorted.
James P. Kelly handles DUI cases in the Orange County Courthouse, the Ninth Judicial Circuit, and courts throughout Central Florida. The firm serves both English and Spanish-speaking clients — hablamos español.
The license consequences of a DUI often cause more immediate disruption to people’s lives than the criminal penalties. Under § 322.28, the revocation periods are tied to both your criminal case and the administrative proceeding triggered by your arrest:
Hardship licenses — restricted permits that allow driving for work, school, medical appointments, and church — may be available depending on the circumstances. Eligibility typically requires enrollment in DUI school and, in many cases, installation of an ignition interlock device under § 322.271.
Filing the DHSMV formal review hearing request within 10 days of your arrest also preserves your ability to drive on a temporary permit while the administrative case is pending. This is one of the first things your DUI lawyer should handle.
The court-ordered fines are only the beginning. A first-offense DUI conviction in Florida realistically costs between $8,000 and $15,000 when you account for everything:
And that is just the financial impact. A DUI conviction can affect employment, professional licensing, housing applications, educational opportunities, immigration status, and child custody proceedings.
Fighting the charge is almost always less expensive than accepting a conviction.
No. Florida law does not allow DUI convictions to be sealed or expunged under any circumstances. This is one of the strongest reasons to fight the charge — if you are convicted, it is permanent. If the charge is reduced to reckless driving or dismissed, expungement may be available under § 943.0585.
A refusal triggers an automatic administrative license suspension — one year for a first refusal, 18 months for a second or subsequent refusal. A second refusal is also a first-degree misdemeanor. However, the prosecution now lacks direct BAC evidence, which can significantly weaken the criminal case. The defense strategy shifts to challenging the officer’s observations and the circumstances of the stop.
Jail time is not mandatory for a standard first offense, but a judge can impose up to 6 months. With aggravating factors like a BAC of .15% or higher or a minor passenger, the maximum increases to 9 months. Most first-time offenders with clean records and no aggravating circumstances do not receive jail time — but that outcome depends heavily on how the case is handled.
Most DUI cases in Orange County take between 3 and 9 months to resolve. Cases involving blood tests, accident reconstruction, or contested evidence may take longer. Cases resolved through negotiation typically move faster than those that go to trial.
Yes, in eligible cases. Florida law permits reduction to reckless driving under § 316.192 when the evidence supports it. However, the state is prohibited from reducing the charge when the defendant’s BAC was .15% or higher under § 316.656.
You have the right to represent yourself. But a DUI conviction in Florida is permanent — it cannot be taken back, expunged, or sealed. The evidence in DUI cases is highly technical, and the procedural requirements that officers must follow create real opportunities for defense that most people would not recognize on their own. An experienced DUI defense attorney knows how to obtain and challenge breath test maintenance records, identify constitutional violations during the traffic stop, and negotiate with the state attorney’s office for reduced charges or dismissal.
