Updated October 14, 2026
A third DUI within 10 years is still a misdemeanor in California, but it is a misdemeanor with a 120-day jail floor, a three-year license revocation, and a label that follows you. The felony line sits one step further: a fourth DUI within 10 years, any DUI after a prior felony DUI, or any DUI in which someone else is hurt. This guide covers the third offense, the fourth, and the prior-felony rule, so you can see which section your case actually falls under before anyone tells you what it means.
A third DUI within 10 years
Vehicle Code section 23546 applies when the new offense happened within 10 years of two separate violations that ended in convictions for DUI, DUI with injury, or a wet reckless, in any combination. It carries:
- Jail of 120 days to one year. With probation, section 23548 lets the court cut the minimum to 30 days only if you specifically ask for a 30-month program and show good cause, and the court agrees.
- A fine of $390 to $1,000 before assessments.
- A three-year license revocation under section 13352. A revocation, unlike a suspension, ends with reapplying for the license rather than waiting for it to come back.
- A 30-month DUI program, or 18 months where no 30-month program is available in the county.
- Habitual traffic offender status for three years. Driving during the revocation with that designation is its own offense with its own jail term.
- An ignition interlock for a mandatory 24 months under section 23575.3.
Even on a third offense, the law leaves a route to driving. Under section 13352 you can apply for an interlock-restricted license once you are enrolled in the program and the device is installed, with the SR-22 and fees in place, without sitting out the revocation first. The exception is a drugs-only conviction, where 12 months must be served before any restriction.
A fourth DUI within 10 years: the felony line
Section 23550 applies with three or more prior convictions inside 10 years. It is a wobbler, which means the prosecutor files it as a felony or a misdemeanor and the judge can later reduce a felony under Penal Code section 17. It carries:
- As a felony, a term of 16 months, two years, or three years. As a misdemeanor, 180 days to one year in county jail. With probation, section 23552 sets the jail floor at 180 days, or 30 days with a 30-month program on request and good cause.
- A four-year license revocation under section 13352.
- Habitual traffic offender status for three years.
- An interlock for a mandatory 36 months.
- The 18-month or 30-month program, with the same interlock-restricted route back to driving.
The prior-felony rule
Section 23550.5 is the rule people do not see coming, and it has two parts.
- A prior felony DUI, felony DUI with injury, or felony vehicular manslaughter under Penal Code section 192 makes any new DUI within 10 years of that offense a felony-or-misdemeanor on its own, even if it would otherwise look like a first offense.
- A prior conviction for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated (Penal Code section 191.5(a), or 191.5(b) as a felony) or for vessel manslaughter while intoxicated (section 192.5(a)) has no 10-year limit. Any later DUI is a felony-or-misdemeanor no matter how long ago the earlier case was.
Either way the new case carries a prison term, or up to one year in county jail as a misdemeanor, a four-year revocation, the habitual offender designation, and 36 months of interlock, or 48 months if the new offense involved an injury.
A DUI that injures someone is a felony-or-misdemeanor on its own under section 23153, with or without priors. That has its own guide: DUI with an injury.
How priors are counted
The 10-year window runs from offense date to offense date. A wet reckless counts. An out-of-state conviction counts if the conduct would have been a DUI here. A conviction that was later dismissed under Penal Code section 1203.4 still counts. Those rules are the same as for a second DUI.
What changes with multiple priors is how much each one is worth examining. A prior that was entered without a lawyer, without the required advisements, or on facts that do not match a California offense can be challenged by motion, and a prior that falls can move the case from section 23546 to 23540, or from 23550 to 23546. The difference is measured in months of jail and years of license.
The DMV side with multiple priors
The DMV's administrative suspension for a 0.08 result is one year whenever there is a prior inside 10 years, and the hearing to contest it has to be requested within 10 days of the arrest; see the 10-day DMV deadline guide. A refusal with two priors is a three-year revocation. The court-side revocation, three years or four, runs at the same time rather than afterward, and the interlock-restricted license described above ends the administrative suspension early once the court case is over.
What can change the outcome
The evidence questions are the same as in any DUI: the stop, the field tests, the breath machine's calibration and observation period, the blood draw, and whether the number at the station reflects the number at the wheel. With multiple priors two more things carry weight. The priors themselves, as above. And treatment: a person who is already enrolled in a program by the first court date is in a different position at sentencing than one who is not, and on a wobbler it bears on whether the case stays a felony.
If the arrest was in the last 10 days, the DMV request comes first. A consultation with a Long Beach DUI defense attorney covers the hearing, the priors, and the police report in one conversation. Long Beach cases are heard at the courthouse on Magnolia Avenue; the courthouses page lists it and the courts for the surrounding cities.
This page is general information for Long Beach residents, not legal advice about any specific situation. Agency fees and procedures change; confirm details with the agency before you rely on them.
