You can’t be arrested for a wet reckless, but you can be charged with one in a court room. This is because a wet reckless is a plea bargain conviction. People who are arrested for a DUI or DWI may be issued a wet reckless as a reduced sentence if the court sees fit to do so. When you are arrested for a DUI, it is because you have illegal blood-alcohol content and should not have been driving because you were impaired by alcohol or drugs.
If you are under the age of 21, the federal law declares that you cannot have any alcohol content in your system when driving. This means that even drivers with a 0.02 percent BAC can be arrested if they are underage. Commercial drivers can be arrested if they have a BAC over 0.04 percent. These are people operating work-related vehicles such as postal service workers, truck drivers, and taxi cab drivers. All other civilians can be arrested if they have a 0.08 percent BAC.
If you have been taken into custody for driving under the influence, chances are that you will be booked in jail and a bail will be posted. If you are bailed out, you will still need to appear in court for your trial. With the right criminal defense lawyer on your side, you may be able to reduce your DUI sentence to a wet reckless conviction. This conviction will not go on your DUI record and will not count against you should you be arrested for another DUI in the future. This means that if you are charged with another DUI, you will not face convictions for a second offense, but for a first. This is invaluable because subsequent DUI convictions come with higher mandatory minimum sentences.
For example, if you are arrested for a DUI for the second time in California, you will be required to spend at least 96 hours in jail. If you are arrested for a third DUI, you will be forced to spend at least 120 days in jail. Yet if your offense is reduced to a wet reckless, your third DUI would drop to a second, helping you to evade months in jail. When you are charged with a wet reckless, you may still have to serve jail time. Yet the sentence will probably be half to one-fourth of the amount of time that you would serve if you were charged with a DUI.
A wet reckless also enables you to have a shorter probation period. To use California as an example, those who are on probation after a DUI normally are watched for three to five years. If you are given a wet reckless instead, you will probably only have to be on probation for one or two years. While you are on probation, it will show up on your criminal record and serve as a warning to any potential employers. Once you are off probation, you are able to get your charges expunged.
As well, a wet reckless often comes with lesser fines. Most wet reckless charges come with half the expenses that a DUI sentence will bring on. When you are charged with a wet reckless, you may also be able to keep your driver’s license. The court has the right to impose a license suspension if they see fit, but the punishment is not mandatory. In many states, license suspension is a required penalty when a person commits a DUI. You may also have to attend DUI school, but the hours will be reduced because of your lesser charges. If you are forced to attend DUI school on a DUI charges, you may need to attend for three-months. Wet reckless attendees normally need to attend a six-week course. If you were arrested for a DUI, look to see if your state recognizes wet reckless charges as a reduced sentence. If so, contact an accomplished DUI lawyer to fight for you in court and try to reduce your offense!
