DUI Manslaughter Defense

When a crash ends in death or catastrophic injury, a DUI case stops being a misdemeanor about a traffic stop and becomes the gravest kind of felony prosecution — one driven by grief, press coverage, and a State Attorney's office under pressure. It is also, legally, one of the most technical cases Florida prosecutes: the State must prove impairment and causation to a standard that crash reconstruction and toxicology often cannot honestly support.

If you were involved in a serious crash after drinking — even if no one has charged you yet — the investigation is already running. Call or text 407-846-8008 before you give any statement to any investigator, including the “traffic homicide” unit.

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The Charges and Penalties

• DUI with property damage or non-serious injury — § 316.193(3)(c)1. First-degree misdemeanor: up to 1 year in jail.

• DUI with serious bodily injury — § 316.193(3)(c)2. Third-degree felony: up to 5 years in prison, with the victim's injuries driving the sentencing scoresheet well beyond probation ranges in most cases, plus a 3-year license revocation.

• DUI manslaughter — § 316.193(3)(c)3. Second-degree felony: up to 15 years in prison and a mandatory minimum of 4 years, plus permanent license revocation.

• DUI manslaughter with failure to stop or render aid: a first-degree felony — up to 30 years.

Florida's sentencing scoresheet makes prison the presumptive outcome in a DUI manslaughter conviction; the practical sentencing range is usually measured from the 4-year minimum upward, which is why these cases are defended rather than pled quickly.

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Causation: The Defense the Headlines Ignore

The statute requires that the defendant caused or contributed to causing the death or injury. That is a real element — and in crash litigation it is frequently the weakest link in the State's case:

• Who actually caused the collision? If the other driver ran the light, pulled out, was speeding, or was themselves impaired, impairment alone does not convict.

• Crash reconstruction — speeds, angles, timing, visibility — is expert work, and the State's reconstruction deserves an independent rebuild, not deference.

• Medical causation in delayed deaths raises its own issues.

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The Blood Draw

Serious-crash DUI cases usually rest on blood evidence, and blood is where constitutional litigation lives: warrantless draws, defective warrants, medical-blood subpoenas, chain of custody, fermentation and storage errors, and hospital-lab versus FDLE methodology. Suppressing the blood result transforms the case. These issues are preserved — or lost — early, which is why counsel must be involved before the lab results are even back.

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The First Days Matter More Than Any Other Case

Traffic homicide investigations run for weeks or months before charges. In that window the defense can preserve the vehicles' event data recorders, photograph the scene before it changes, retain its own reconstructionist and toxicologist, and — critically — keep the client from narrating the crash to investigators. If you have been asked to “come in and give your side” after a fatal crash: decline, politely, and call counsel the same day.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The crash wasn't my fault, but I'd been drinking. Can they still convict me?

Not without proving you caused or contributed to the death or injury. Fault is the fight — and it's winnable with real reconstruction work.

Is the 4-year minimum truly mandatory?

If convicted of DUI manslaughter, yes — the court cannot go below it. Avoiding the mandatory term means defeating or reducing the charge, which is exactly the defense's job.

Will I be arrested right away?

Often not. Serious-crash cases are frequently charged by warrant months later, after lab and reconstruction work. The quiet period is not safety — it is the State building its case, and it is the defense's best window to build ours.

What is “serious bodily injury”?

Injury creating a substantial risk of death, serious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of a body part or organ — a definition with real edges that juries, not police reports, decide.

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Defended From Day One

Chad Seibel is a former prosecutor who has handled fatality cases from both sides of the courtroom. If the worst has happened, get counsel between you and the investigation now. Call or text 407-846-8008 — any time. Office visits are by appointment only.