Getting a DWI in Concord sets two separate cases in motion on the same night. One is the criminal charge for driving while impaired (DWI), and it can take months to resolve. The other is an administrative case against your driver's license that begins before you ever stand before a judge.
That license case is the one most drivers do not see coming, and it is often the reason a first offense turns into weeks without a way to get to work. The Olsinski Law Firm defends drivers charged with impaired driving in Concord, and we work both tracks from the day the charge is filed. Call our team to review the deadlines that already apply to your situation and what can still be done about them.
The criminal case decides whether the State can prove impaired driving beyond a reasonable doubt. Misdemeanor charges are calendared in the District Court at the Cabarrus County Courthouse, 61 Union Street South.
The license case is administrative rather than criminal. It moves through the magistrate's office and the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles on its own schedule, and it does not wait for the criminal case to finish.
Because the two run in parallel, a favorable result in one does not automatically repair the other. Our attorneys treat them as connected problems with separate filings, separate standards, and separate clocks.
Impaired driving is defined by statute, not by how capable you felt behind the wheel. Under the state's impaired driving statute, the offense is a misdemeanor, and a conviction sends the case to a separate sentencing hearing.
Prosecutors do not have to establish all of them. N.C.G.S. § 20-138.1 supports a conviction on any one of the following theories:
That third theory carries no threshold amount, which is why drug-related charges often turn on laboratory analysis rather than the officer's roadside observations.
The 0.08 standard does not apply to every driver. A commercial driver commits impaired driving in a commercial vehicle at an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or more, which is half the limit that applies to a passenger car.
Drivers under 21 face even stricter rules. Under N.C.G.S. § 20-138.3, state law makes it a Class 2 misdemeanor to drive after consuminh any alcohol remaining in the body, with a narrow exception for lawfully obtained medication taken in a therapeutic dose.
The revocation is not a penalty for a conviction. It attaches to the charge itself, and the civil revocation statute fixes the sequence that follows:
Missing the day 10 window does not extend the revocation period, but it does mean three more weeks without a lawful way to drive.
Refusal is not a neutral choice, and the criminal case cannot undo what follows it. Driving on a highway or public vehicular area in this state counts as consent to a chemical analysis under the implied consent law whenever an officer charges an implied consent offense.
Before testing, the officer must advise you of specific rights. You may call an attorney and select a witness to observe the procedure; however, testing cannot be delayed longer than 30 minutes for either purpose.
A willful refusal revokes the license for 12 months. Sometimes, that revocation stands even after the impaired driving charge is dismissed or reduced, which catches drivers who assumed the two decisions rise and fall together.
Deadlines in an impaired driving case arrive faster than most people expect, and several of them close inside the first two weeks. Call The Olsinski Law Firm at 704-405-2580 to talk with our team about the dates printed on your paperwork and what can still be filed.
A conviction does not carry one fixed penalty. The DWI sentencing statute (N.C.G.S. § 20-179) requires a hearing in which the judge weighs grossly aggravating, aggravating, and mitigating factors and assigns a sentencing level.
Most first offenses without grossly aggravating factors fall into the three lowest levels.
Each level sets a maximum fine and a range of imprisonment, and a judge may suspend the term with conditions. The lowest levels break down as follows:
Court costs, assessment fees, and treatment costs sit outside the fine, so the financial impact of a conviction runs well past the figure in the statute.
Certain facts pull a case out of the lower levels regardless of a clean record. The statute identifies several:
One grossly aggravating factor generally moves a case to Level Two; however, a passenger under 18 raises it to Level One, where the maximum fine reaches $4,000, and the term starts at 30 days.
The court judgment is not the end of the license case. A first impaired driving conviction carries a one-year revocation, and a second conviction within three years extends that period to four years.
Restoration is conditional. The Division of Motor Vehicles cannot restore driving privileges until you complete a substance abuse assessment and the education or treatment it recommends. That step often means alcohol and drug education traffic school (ADETS), followed by a certificate of completion filed with the Division.
Drivers sentenced at Levels Three, Four, and Five may qualify for relief in the meantime. The limited driving privilege statute sets standard working hours as 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and requires an ignition interlock device when the alcohol concentration was 0.15 or higher.
That interlock condition follows the license after restoration. State law ties one year of interlock use to a one-year revocation, and the device blocks the engine at an alcohol concentration above 0.02.
A completed sentence does not clear the charge from your history. North Carolina excludes impaired driving offenses from expunction, so the conviction stays visible to employers, licensing boards, and insurers indefinitely.
Exposure also compounds with each charge. A driver with three or more prior impaired driving offenses within 10 years faces habitual impaired driving, a Class F felony. That charge carries a minimum active term of 12 months that a judge cannot suspend, plus permanent revocation of the license.
Our attorneys weigh those long-term consequences when we evaluate an offer from the prosecution. The number of days in a sentence is rarely the part of a conviction that follows a client the longest.
Drivers facing a first impaired driving charge most often ask our team these questions.
Not right away. A limited driving privilege can be requested after 10 days if you held a valid license, have no other pending impaired driving charge, and complete a substance abuse assessment.
Only in certain cases. State law requires the device when the alcohol concentration was 0.15 or higher, or when a prior impaired driving conviction falls within seven years of the offense.
No. State law excludes offenses involving impaired driving from expunction, which means the conviction remains on your record permanently.
It is an evaluation by a state-authorized provider that determines whether you need education or treatment. The Division of Motor Vehicles will not restore your license until it receives your certificate of completion.
It can. Commercial drivers reach the impaired driving threshold at an alcohol concentration of 0.04, half the limit that applies to other drivers.
Yes. Our team defends against the criminal charge and handles the revocation and driving privilege filings that accompany it.
If a judicial official handed you a 30-day revocation order the night of your arrest, the clock on your driving privilege started before you got home.
The Olsinski Law Firm defends drivers charged with impaired driving in Concord, and our team handles both criminal and license cases. We review the charging documents, the chemical analysis records, and the sworn statements that produced the revocation, then explain which options remain open to you.
Court dates, assessment appointments, and privilege applications each have their own deadlines, and they rarely arrive in a convenient order. Our attorneys can tell you which one comes first and what the sentencing statute means for a case built on facts like yours.
We offer a free case evaluation, and there is no cost to ask where your case stands today. Call our office at 704-405-2580 to talk with our Concord, North Carolina defense team about your impaired driving charge.
Mr. Olsinski founded his criminal defense practice in Charlotte, NC, in January 2010. He has successfully defended cases ranging from B1 Felony First Degree Sex Offenses/First Degree Murder to Misdemeanor marijuana charges.
