I have a pending DUI charge and IC 9-30-5-3 has recently changed. Prior occurrence has changed from 5 years to 7 years. My first DUI occurred November of 2012 but was not decided until April of 2013. My pending charge occurred on 02/05/2020. So because of this change my charge is somewhere in between a felony and a misdemeanor depending on how the this section is interpreted.
The seven year time period begins on the date of the prior conviction. In your situation, the new charge is a Felony because it is within seven years of your most recent OWI conviction. If you have not previously had a Felony conviction reduced to a Class A misdemeanor through the Alternate Misdemeanor Sentencing provisions, you may be eligible to still get your current case entered as a misdemeanor upon the taking of a guilty plea or even if you take your case to a trial and lose.
You will be well served to hire a criminal defense attorney with extensive experience handling OWI cases. That will give you the best opportunity to obtain a better result.
The calculation goes from date of CONVICTION of the earlier case to date of OCCURRENCE of the newer case. The Level 6 charge is appropriate. If you need more questions answered, you can contact attorneys privately through this site---you should not post details about your case in "Ask a Lawyer".
You should expect to be charged with a felony OWI since it has been less than 7 years from your last conviction.
