If I Accept A Plea Offer In My OWI Case, What Happens If I’m On Probation?

• Probation can be very difficult, especially probation for alcohol-related convictions (i.e., drunk driving OWIs and impaired driving OWVIs).
• During alcohol-related probation, you will usually be required to go to some form of treatment or AA. The Judge may also order you not to drink alcohol or be in any bar/restaurant that serves alcohol, enforced by random breathalyzer testing and the threat of arrest.

Probation — particularly on an alcohol-related charge like drunk driving (OWI) or impaired driving (OWVI) can be very difficult.

You should expect the Judge to order you to get some kind of alcohol substance abuse evaluation if you have not done so already. The Judge is likely to order you to do any follow-up treatment that that evaluation orders or recommends, whether that is out-patient or sometimes even in-patient treatment. The judge is likely to order you to do multiple AA meetings, sometimes as many as two or even three meetings a week.

Finally — and most importantly for most people—you’re going to be ordered not to drink alcohol, and in some cases, not even to be in a restaurant or a bar that serves alcohol. That order is enforced by subjecting you to random PBTs/Breathalyzer tests.

You will usually be ordered to call periodically — for some people, the order has them call once a week; for others, it’s once every day — and they’ll tell you whether or not your number (or color) has come up, which is how you know that you have to report.

If your number/color does come up, you have roughly an hour to get to a police station and take a Breathalyzer test. If that Breathalyzer test registers alcohol, you’re going to be arrested for a violation of your probation.

The part of these probations that require no drinking of alcohol and random breathalyzer requirements are typically the most frustrating, difficult and problematic part of any probation for drunk driving or impaired driving convictions.

For more information on OWI Law in Michigan, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (248) 509-0056 today.