Law in CA verses VA
One year ago, a friend received a first offense DUI in California. Recently, my friend received a DUI in Virginia while on vacation.
1)Does this count as a second offense or a first?
2)Will California DMV learn of this offense?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Law in CA verses VA
Your question can only be answered by looking at the charging document - the warrant/summons for the current DUI. Indeed, this is a second dui in 5 years for purposes of a true analysis. However, due to the first conviction being out of state, one must look at 1. whether the government knows of the previous conviction and 2. whether the first conviction for dui is materially similar to the Virginia statute to warrant enhancement under the Virginia statute.
You may obtain information on dui laws in Virginia from http://www.vatrafficlaw.com.
Re: Law in CA verses VA
To count as a previous offense (which carries with it more serious penalties) the prior conviction must be "substantially similar" to Virginia law. To evaluate whether California law is substantially similar to VA law requires comparison of both statutes side by side. This will be possible for you since all state laws are searchable online. In Virginia its 18.2-266 in California its VC 25132 - in both cases search for "driving under the influence". On first glance, they look substantially similar
All state criminal convictions from all fifty states are fed into a National FBI datebase called "NCIC" and is available to all government agencies in every state. So yes California would know if it chose to look.
Good luck
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