Legal Question in Criminal Law in Florida

Re: careless driving and dui ticket issured at same time

The information you heard about being issued both a careless driving and DUI ticket at the same time, presumably arising from the same incident possibly leading to a dismissal of the DUI simply by paying, and thereby admitting and being convicted of the careless driving offense is false.

The underlying legal principle that this scenario relates to is �double jeopardy.� It is not double jeopardy, and hence you are not entitled to dismissal of the DUI by admitting to the careless driving because these two offenses have different elements. In other words a breakdown of what the prosecutor needs to prove for the DUI offense is different than the proof required for careless driving and therefore the bottom line is that you can be convicted of both offenses.

Sam Rabin