If you have been charged with DUI, you should contact an experienced criminal defense attorney to discuss the options that are available to you. In many situations, although the law in Pennsylvania typically calls for periods of mandatory incarceration based on the amount of alcohol in your blood and the number of convictions on your record, an experienced DUI defense attorney can help you avoid or mitigate these penalties through pretrial litigation, trial, or by advising you on available options such as Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD), or Probation with Restrictive Conditions. For persons facing charges for 3rd offense DUIs or greater—which could potentially result in state incarceration—there are options like the Centre County DUI Court which may both benefit individuals with alcohol abuse issues as well as significantly mitigate penalties.

However, this is not always the case: It is important to note that the motor vehicle code penalizes an individual for having a prohibited blood- alcohol content “within two hours after the individual has driven, operated or been in actual physical control of the movement of the vehicle” meaning an individual can be charged with DUI even if the person is not behind the wheel of a car at the time of their encounter with law enforcement. See 75 Pa.C.S.A. §3802. Furthermore, an individual need not be driving a motor vehicle for a DUI conviction in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania law prohibits intoxicated individuals from operating pedal powered vehicles on a highway or traffic way and the same three-tier BAC system applies. See Com. v. Brown, 620 A.2d 1213 (Pa.Super. 1993) (A bicycle was a “vehicle” for purposes of prosecution for driving under influence of alcohol or controlled substances). In Washington County, PA in 1989, this rule was even extended to the operation of a tricycle while under the influence of alcohol.

The BAC Percent Makes A Big Difference

Pennsylvania’s three-tier system for DUI prosecution based on percent BAC is as follows:

The penalty for a DUI conviction increases dramatically depending not only on an individual’s BAC, but upon whether the current offense is a first or subsequent offense within ten years. While all DUI convictions carry heavy penalties in terms of fines, costs, driver’s license suspension, inconvenience (because drug and/or alcohol counselling is often required), and potential incarceration, to better understand your particular exposure in terms of sentencing, please view this DUI sentencing guide published by the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing:

As you can see, the penalties can be severe. If you or a loved one have been charged with DUI, we urge you to contact the law office of Rehmeyer & Allatt for a free consultation.

As a criminal defense attorney here in State College, Pennsylvania I am often asked by friends and clients what they should do in the event that they are stopped for DUI. Answering this question requires a basic understanding of the “anatomy” of a DUI stop—how it works, what the Police officer is looking for, and what your rights are at each and every stage in the encounter. First, a brief word on driving under the influence.

Driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance is dangerous. We at Rehmeyer & Allatt encourage you to have fun but to be safe by not getting behind the wheel after you have been drinking. As a practical matter, however, we recognize that people often drive after they have been drinking, hence the large number of DUI’s charged here in Centre County and particularly in State College, Pennsylvania. The law recognizes this too. Criminal charges for DUI in Pennsylvania are structured on a 3-tier system based on the amount of alcohol in an operator’s blood referred to as BAC (Blood-Alcohol Content) with increased penalties for higher BAC’s and second, third or subsequent offenses. So the question becomes, if you have been drinking and are pulled over by police after you have been drinking how can you best protect yourself under Pennsylvania law?

To answer this question, you must understand some basic concepts from the law of criminal procedure and how they bear on the three essential components of a roadside DUI stop. The three components of a roadside DUI stop in my analysis are the following:
1. The initial roadside stop
2. Roadside testing including the PBT (portable breath test) and SFSTs (standard field sobriety tests)
3. The arrest and post arrest testing (blood or breath)