Does a defendant have to prove that a prior felony DUI conviction was not a "prior" to the current violation?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Silver, C076715 (Cal. App. 2016):

Defendant also contends that her other felony DUI conviction was not a "prior violation" because it occurred after the current offense was committed. At the time of defendant's current violation and her sentencing, former section 23550.5, subdivision (a)(1), provided that "[a] person is guilty of a public offense, . . . if that person is convicted of a violation of Section 23152 . . . and the offense occurred within 10 years of . . . [a] prior violation of Section 23152 that was punished as a felony." This section was amended, effective January 1, 2015, to substitute the word "separate" for "prior." ( 23550.5, subd. (a), as amended by stats. 2014, ch. 509, 1.) The People concede that the former rule was applicable in this case and that because the prior felony DUI alleged by the prosecution was committed and adjudicated in 2013, after the current offense was committed in 2011 (but before defendant was sentenced in 2014), it did not qualify as a "prior violation." We agree. (See People v. Baez (2008) 167 Cal.App.4th 197, 202 [distinguishing use of "prior violation" in section 23550.5, subdivision (a), with "having previously been convicted" in subdivision (b)].)

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