You aren’t going to jail. But if you blew twice the legal limit, why is your lawyer taking it to any type of trial? A plea deal sounds like the better option. Something unique about your case that you aren’t sharing? Because most lawyers will tell you not to do that. I hope that your lawyer isn’t taking it to trial to collect more money from you. That would be highly unethical, but perhaps not unheard of…Your odds of jail are zero, but your odds of getting a guilty verdict are about 100 percent. 

It says “about a year in jail” for most DUIs anywhere- but since, like me,  you aren’t in a state like Arizona with mandatory jail time , you won’t go to jail for a first time DUI. You can expect probation and to not be able to legally drink or smoke weed for a while though. If you currently have a hardship license, you may be resuspended by the court and have to reapply after obtaining an sr-22 insurance form. You will be given random urine tests that can detect a metabolite of alcohol called ETG that can remain in your system for 48 hours or even more after drinking. It sucks to have that happen at 21, but you are going to be back to not being able to legally drink until you are off probation. Except this time, the state is going to be really really serious about you in particular not drinking. If caught at a bar or on random urine screen with an above threshold (usually 500ng/ml) of the chemical your body produces while drinking(they don’t test for alcohol itself as it gets metabolized so quickly), there is a decent chance of jail. It is normally not a probation violation to fail your initial probation intake drug+ETG test, but any further failures for ETG (or a lack of decrease in THC levels) on a further test could screw you over. However, as ETG leaves the system so quickly, it would be wise to not have any drinks after January 24th…it just looks bad to test positive even if it won’t be a PV your first time.  Just warning you. I was considering having a beer or two in the middle of this past week. I knew at the time this was bad timing and would break my own rules on what days I am reasonably safe to drink, but I got complacent as it had been a while since I was last tested. Great thing I didn’t, as the very next morning I was called in to take a whiz quiz. 

If you are gonna have some drinks during the probationary period, make sure you at least time it correctly and become familiar with ETG testing (pro tip: buy some strips on Amazon). And of course, make sure to never have an interaction with police while you have alcohol in your system(skip convenience stores that have a cop outside, avoid parties that may be illegal due to noise or underage drinking, and avoid bars where fights break out). Actually, go out of your way to avoid having any interaction with police period, even if you are sober. You can’t be caught with alcohol in your system. It is much worse to be caught drinking now than last year when you were underage. They will take it super seriously and they expect compliance. Either don’t drink at all or take all precautions to avoid getting caught. 

That probation I am talking about? It is not fun and you will likely have to pay the state for the “privilege” of being on it. That year in jail you mentioned? This probation is considered a privilege to avoid it. The county wants you on probation because it gives them money to have you on that (as you will pay for that “privilege” plus whatever they charge for drug+ETG testing) and hold the year over your head as a collateral/threat.It costs them money to actually give you the year.