DUI Causing Injury in California (VC 23153): Penalties, Cost, and Defense

If someone was hurt in a crash and you were arrested for driving under the influence, you are not facing an ordinary DUI. You are facing Vehicle Code § 23153 — DUI causing injury — one of the few DUI charges a prosecutor can file as a felony even on a first offense. The good news: a charge is not a conviction, and this one stacks so many separate elements and enhancements that there are more places to attack it than in an ordinary DUI.

What the prosecution must actually prove

A conviction requires four things — not just that you were drinking:

1. You drove under the influence — impaired by alcohol or drugs, or at 0.08%+ (0.04% with a passenger for hire).
2. You also committed a separate traffic violation or neglected a legal duty — speeding, an unsafe lane change, running a light. Impairment alone is not enough.
3. That act or neglect proximately caused bodily injury — the statute's own words.
4. The injured person was someone other than you.

The requirement of a separate unlawful act — and that the act, not just your driving, caused the injury — is where many of these cases are won or narrowed.

The wobbler: misdemeanor or felony

VC 23153 is a wobbler — the District Attorney chooses misdemeanor or felony, usually based on how serious the injuries are, your BAC, and your record. Minor soft-tissue injuries with a clean record often stay a misdemeanor; broken bones, surgery, or permanent injury push toward a felony. With two or more prior DUI convictions within ten years, a new injury DUI is charged as a felony automatically.

The enhancements that stack the years

Is it a strike? Only with a GBI finding

This is a point most articles get wrong. A felony DUI-injury becomes a strike under the Three Strikes Law only when the great-bodily-injury enhancement — Penal Code § 12022.7 — is found true, because personally inflicting great bodily injury is what makes the felony a 'serious felony' under Penal Code 1192.7(c)(8). A felony DUI-injury without a GBI finding is still a felony, but not by itself a strike. The GBI finding is the trigger — and it is contestable, which is why defeating it is often the defense's central objective.

What an injury DUI actually costs

Most DUI-cost articles price a clean first offense and stop. An injury case is a different financial event, and the honest answer is that restitution — not the fine — is usually the largest number. The court orders victim restitution for the full documented loss under Penal Code 1202.4(f): medical bills, lost wages, property damage, with no statutory cap, and the injured person can also sue civilly. Setting restitution aside, an injury case commonly runs $25,000 or more all-in once a felony-level defense, fines and assessments, the extended program, and the multi-year insurance surcharge are counted. We break the full felony numbers down line-by-line in our felony DUI cost guide.

Your license — and the 10-day clock

A DUI arrest triggers two separate cases: the criminal charge in court and an administrative license suspension at the DMV. The DMV action is automatic and fast — you generally have only 10 days from the arrest to request a hearing, or the suspension takes effect without anyone arguing your side. Requesting that hearing is often the first thing a defense lawyer does.

How these cases are handled in Los Angeles County

Injury DUIs are filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney, and for arrests in the San Fernando Valley — Encino, Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys and the surrounding communities — cases are typically heard in the Valley courthouses. Filing deputies weigh the BAC, the severity of the injuries, and the record when deciding between a misdemeanor and a felony — which means the evidence your attorney puts in front of the DA early can influence how the case is charged in the first place. That early window is where these cases are often decided.

Defenses to DUI causing injury

• You were not actually impaired — the stop, the field tests, and the officer's observations are all challengeable.
• The BAC result is unreliable — rising blood alcohol, calibration records, blood-draw and chain-of-custody problems, Title 17 violations.
• No separate unlawful act — § 23153 requires a distinct traffic violation; disproving it defeats the charge even if you were impaired.
• You did not cause the injury — another driver, road conditions, or an intervening event broke the chain of causation. Proximate cause is a real, litigable requirement.
• The injury is not 'great bodily injury' — defeating the enhancement removes the strike exposure and years of custody.

Common questions

Is DUI causing injury always a felony?

No. It is a wobbler — chargeable as a misdemeanor or felony based mainly on injury severity, BAC, and record. Two or more prior DUIs within ten years make it a felony automatically.

What is the maximum sentence?

A first-offense felony carries 16 months, 2, or 3 years in state prison. Enhancements add more: three consecutive years for great bodily injury, one year per additional victim up to three, and a higher 2/3/4-year base with priors.

Will it count as a strike?

Only if the great-bodily-injury enhancement is found true — that finding makes it a serious felony under Penal Code 1192.7(c)(8). Without it, the conviction is a felony but not, by itself, a strike.

How is this different from vehicular manslaughter?

VC 23153 applies when someone is injured. If someone dies, the charge escalates to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated (Penal Code 191.5) or, in extreme cases, murder — different statutes with far higher stakes.

Can a felony injury DUI be reduced to a misdemeanor?

Often, yes — through weaknesses in causation or the BAC evidence, negotiation, or a Penal Code 17(b) motion to reduce the wobbler. Defeating the GBI enhancement is frequently the key that unlocks the reduction.