RI DUI Blog

A Rhode Island DUI arraignment is the first court appearance after arrest. The judge reads the charges, the defendant enters a plea, and the case gets a pretrial date. It is short, procedural, and not the place to fight the case. But what happens at the arraignment, what the defendant says, and whether counsel is […]

A Rhode Island DUI plea bargain rarely makes the conviction disappear, but it often makes it survivable. Prosecutors in District Court frequently offer reductions to reckless driving in exchange for a guilty plea. That reduction keeps the DUI off the record, avoids the high-risk insurance repricing, and shortens or eliminates the license suspension. For a […]

A Rhode Island DUI motion to suppress is the defense lawyer's biggest single tool. When police procedures fail to meet legal standards at the stop, the arrest, or the chemical test, that evidence can be excluded from trial. Suppression weakens the prosecution's case, often to the point where the charge collapses or gets reduced to […]

Rhode Island field sobriety test errors are the entry point for a lot of DUI defenses. The three NHTSA-standardized tests (Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus, Walk and Turn, One Leg Stand) have specific administration requirements. When an officer cuts a corner on the protocol, scores a clue that was not there, or runs the test in conditions […]

A Rhode Island CDL DUI ends careers more often than it does drivers. Federal and state rules combine to disqualify a commercial driver license on any DUI conviction, including one committed off the clock in a personal vehicle. The 1-year disqualification is mandatory, the BAC threshold while operating a commercial vehicle is 0.04 instead of […]

A Rhode Island DUI professional license exposure goes well past the fine, the suspension, and the criminal record. For drivers who hold a state-issued license to practice their trade, the conviction triggers a separate review at the licensing board. That review can end the career the criminal sentence merely interrupts. Knowing how the 2026 lookback […]

To fight a DUI charge in Rhode Island, you attack the evidence: the legality of the traffic stop, the calibration records of the breathalyzer, and the subjective scoring of the field sobriety tests. Contact a DUI defense attorney within 24 hours of arrest, because the DMV hearing to contest your license suspension must be requested […]

Rhode Island DUI penalties in 2026 start with a first offense fine of 250 to 400 dollars, a 30 to 90 day license suspension, up to one year in jail, and a minimum one year ignition interlock requirement. A second offense within ten years brings a mandatory minimum of ten days in jail and a […]

Rhode Island's unusual DUI cases of 2026 show that impaired driving charges are not limited to cars. Courts upheld a DUI for a registered golf cart, convicted a woman found asleep in the driver seat with the keys in the cup holder, and prosecuted a bicyclist under a city ordinance, while a riding lawn mower […]

Drinking alcohol in the winter does not actually warm you up. Alcohol dilates the peripheral blood vessels near your skin, which makes your cheeks feel warm while pulling blood and heat away from your core, so your core body temperature drops. That is why winter drinking raises the risk of hypothermia along with the risk […]

Rhode Island DUI statistics show a real death toll: of the 52 car accident deaths in Rhode Island in 2014, 18 involved alcohol, which is 34 percent of all car accident fatalities, and the state has recorded 354 deaths in alcohol-related incidents since 2002. Nationally, 9,967 people died in drunk driving accidents in 2014, about […]

Boating under the influence, or BUI, is illegal in Rhode Island, and police are enforcing it harder than ever. The blood alcohol limit on the water is 0.08 percent, the same as for driving, and the charge applies to any vessel, from a yacht to a fishing boat to a personal watercraft. A first offense […]

The controlling breathalyzer refusal case is Birchfield v. North Dakota (2016), where the U.S. Supreme Court held that warrantless breath test refusals can be penalized but warrantless blood draw refusals cannot be criminalized. In Rhode Island, refusing the chemical breath test under RIGL § 31-27-2.1 triggers a civil license suspension, not a separate criminal offense, […]

Fighting a Rhode Island DUI is not a single defense - it is a sequence of decisions and motion filings that compound across the case. The decisions made in week one (refusal hearing, retention of counsel) set the trajectory. The motions filed in months two and three (suppression, calibration challenges) determine whether the case collapses […]

Rhode Island enforces a zero-tolerance BAC threshold of 0.02% for drivers under 21 - meaning even a single drink, or sometimes residual alcohol from a recent drink several hours earlier, can trigger a per se DUI violation. The penalty framework largely mirrors the standard adult framework, but the practical consequences extend further: campus disciplinary action, […]

A Rhode Island DUI defense attorney does more than show up at arraignment. The case unfolds across two parallel tracks (Traffic Tribunal and District Court) with separate deadlines on each. The 15-day Traffic Tribunal hearing window starts at arrest. Pretrial motion practice runs through months two and three. Plea negotiation happens at the leverage point […]

Rhode Island's ignition interlock law (RIGL § 31-27-2.8) requires installation of an approved ignition interlock device on the vehicles of certain DUI offenders before driving privileges are restored. The device measures breath alcohol before allowing the engine to start, and intermittently while the vehicle is in motion. For most defendants, the interlock requirement adds 1 […]

You can get a DUI in far more than a car. In most states, anything with a motor or a drive train qualifies, and people have been charged with driving under the influence on a Zamboni, a motorized wheelchair, a ride-on lawn mower, a horse, and even an inflatable raft. Whether an unusual vehicle counts […]

Beware of American drinking culture because alcohol has become the default at social gatherings, family events, and workplace functions, and that normalization feeds peer pressure and makes DUIs more common. You do not need to drink to have a good time, and if you do drink, have someone drive you home or take a cab. […]

In Rhode Island, campus police are usually equivalent to regular police officers. Since 2011, when campus officers at Brown University, Rhode Island College, the University of Rhode Island, and the Rhode Island School of Design were granted peace officer status, they can search, arrest, and detain suspects on campus, including for underage drinking and drunk […]

Men are still arrested for drunk driving more often than women, but the gap is closing. FBI data from 2003 to 2012 showed a 21% rise in drunk driving arrests of women, up to 211,000, while arrests of men fell by about 17%, from 780,000 to 650,000. Quick answer: Men still account for far more […]

A Rhode Island DUI conviction has consequences that extend well beyond the criminal court - particularly for students. The campus disciplinary process operates separately from the criminal case. Financial aid, transcript notations, study abroad eligibility, and graduate school admissions all trigger off the conviction record. For students pursuing professional careers, the disclosure obligations attached to […]

During a Rhode Island DUI stop, be respectful, provide your license, registration, and proof of insurance, and say nothing about what you have had to drink. Field sobriety tests and the roadside preliminary breath test are voluntary and can be declined. The chemical test at the station is different: refusing it triggers an automatic 6 […]

DUI expungement in Rhode Island is not available. RIGL § 12-1.3-2 specifically excludes DUI convictions from the state's expungement statute. The conviction stays on the criminal record permanently - visible to background checks, professional licensing boards, employer screenings, and graduate school admissions for life. Understanding this rule shapes the entire defense strategy on a Rhode […]

Alcoholism Is alcoholism genetic? The answer is yes and no. Studies show children of alcoholics are about four times more likely to become alcoholics themselves, but more than half of all children of alcoholics never do, because genetics is only one of the factors that determines whether someone becomes an alcoholic. Quick answer: Alcoholism has […]

A DUI arrest as a University of Rhode Island student carries the standard Rhode Island DUI penalty package plus a separate set of campus-side consequences that can be larger than the criminal sentence itself. URI's student conduct code treats off-campus criminal conduct as grounds for disciplinary review. Financial aid, housing, athletics eligibility, and study-abroad privileges […]

A Rhode Island DUI conviction triggers a chain of insurance consequences that play out over the next three to seven years. Your insurer is notified. Your rate climbs 50% to 200%. You are reclassified into a high-risk underwriting tier, and some carriers non-renew at the next cycle. One thing that does not happen: an SR-22 […]

The Ways Drinking Affects Your Ability To Drive Drinking impairs the mental and physical abilities you need to drive safely. It blurs vision and depth perception, makes it harder to track your position in the lane, slows fine and gross motor skills, weakens focus, and clouds judgment. Even a person who says they do not […]

Alcohol causes memory loss by interfering with the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for recording memories. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, and consumption in any amount can impact cognitive functioning. Researchers even have a name for the condition it causes: Alcohol Related Brain Impairment, or ARBI. Quick answer: Drinking affects how […]

Looking Out For Signs Of Alcohol Abuse The signs of alcohol abuse fall into three categories, physical, mental, and social, and most of the time a person shows a combination of all three. The National Institute Of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism outlines four symptoms that generally denote an alcoholic: craving, loss of control, physical dependence, […]

Ten NFL players charged with DUI in the two years before this post were Michael Floyd, Dak Prescott, Troy Hill, Alvin Bailey, Damontre Moore, Josh Huff, Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Jonathon Williams, TJ McDonald, and Shiloh Keo. Most of the arrests came in 2016, and the outcomes ranged from acquittal to probation, license suspension, and NFL suspensions. […]

The six jobs where you are most likely to become an alcoholic are mining, construction, the service industry, arts and entertainment, utilities, and wholesale trade. In the studies behind this list, alcohol abuse means consuming more than five drinks in one sitting. Quick answer: Miners are almost 20% more likely to have an alcohol abuse […]

The short answer: most Rhode Island DUIs are misdemeanors, but a third DUI within ten years (a lookback extended from five years on July 1, 2025) is a felony under RIGL § 31-27-2(d)(3) - and any DUI causing a death is felony manslaughter under § 31-27-2.2. Knowing the felony threshold matters because the consequences scale […]

Rhode Island's penalty framework for repeat DUI offenses is layered and unforgiving. A second DUI within 10 years of a prior conviction carries mandatory jail - at least 10 days, with 48 consecutive hours minimum. A third DUI within the same 10-year window crosses into felony territory under RIGL § 31-27-2(d)(3), with mandatory state prison […]

Rhode Island DUI penalties have tightened materially since 2014, with the legislature amending § 31-27-2 and related provisions multiple times. The trend is unidirectional - toward stricter penalties, longer license suspensions, broader ignition interlock requirements, and tougher refusal consequences. For anyone facing a Rhode Island DUI charge today, the penalty package is meaningfully heavier than […]