Community Service Requirement

What’s up? I’m attorney Derek gray of Graystar legal. We are a criminal law firm in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and this is our FAQ series. Today’s question will deal with DWIs, which stands for “Driving While Impaired” charges. Specifically, the question is, “What is the community service requirement behind a DWI conviction?”

Mandatory Community Service

So for us to get into the ins and outs of the community service requirements, we have to talk about the law of DWI, that’s 20-138.1 here in North Carolina, and what you need to know about DWIs is their sentence at different levels. Okay, in North Carolina, once you’re charged with a DWI, you start at a level for DWI. Now there are six different levels. Let’s go through them briefly. You have, at the top, the highest level DWI, misdemeanor DWI, which we call an A one or aggravated level one DWI. Below that, we have level one. Then it goes to level two, level three, and level four, and the lowest level DWI you can be sentenced for is a level five DWI.

Understanding The Levels

So understand that levels three, four, and five are the only levels in which there’s typically a community service requirement.

• A level three DWI, which means that there are aggravating factors in the particular case, I won’t get into the arc of the list of aggravating factors that could typically apply.
• But if you are sentenced under level three to DWI, your community service requirement will be 72 hours.
• Under a level four DWI, your community service requirement will be 48 hours.
• And under a level five DWI, your community service requirement will be 24 hours.

Now, what you need to understand about the requirement is it’s either active time or community service. Most judges on three, four, and five always opt for the community service option. But theoretically, they could put you in jail for three days, two days, or one day, depending on your conviction level. Furthermore, a community service fee is typically associated with completing those hours. Often, with my clients, I like to have them do the community service requirement before the court. Of course, we’ll accept that if you’ve completed the community service at a reputable agency that the court recognizes and that will save clients some money on the back end as far as court costs are concerned. They also get credit for the completion of that community service requirements. So hope that answers your question. If you are, level three is 72 hours, level four is 48 hours, and level five is 24 hours regarding community service requirements. I hope that answers your question.

Experienced Criminal Defense Attorney In North Carolina

Suppose you have any other follow-up questions about what we discussed today. Don’t hesitate to drop a question below, or feel free to reach out. I’d love to talk about it. I’d love to help, take care. If you are in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, area and need legal representation in the Criminal Court, speak to a criminal defense attorney at McMinn, Logan & Gray.

In the meantime, peruse other practice areas:

• Can I Refuse A Breathalyzer in North Carolina?
• How Can Police Tell If You’re Driving High?
• Pulled Over For DWI in Winston Salem? Here’s What You Need to Do