As of January 3, 2007, the drunk driving penalties in Michigan just got stiffer. The Michigan legislature passed “Heidi’s Law” which eliminates the ten-year lookback for drunk driving cases. Before this law took effect, if you received your third OWI in ten years, the third OWI would be a felony. Upon passage of “Heidi’s Law”, any third OWI charged will be a felony. So if you received two OWI’s back in the 1960’s and was arrested today for a third OWI, it would be a felony charge. It does not matter that you have been clean and sober for these forty some years, if this is your third OWI, you will face a felony charge, punishable by 1-5 years in prison.
The first thing to keep in mind, is to never drink and drive. But if you are found to be facing your third OWI (or your first at that matter), call an attorney right away to understand your rights. Your attorney needs to act right away in order to preserve the evidence that the police may have and to review that evidence in order to protect your constitutional rights.
