If you were just arrested for a DUI in San Diego, the paperwork in your hand probably raises more questions than it answers. You have a court date. You have a pink temporary license. You have no idea what any of it means or how much trouble you are actually in. That fear is normal, and it usually comes from not knowing what happens next.

So let me walk you through it the way I would if you were sitting across from me at my office in Old Town. A California DUI is really two separate cases running at the same time. One is the criminal case in San Diego County Superior Court. The other is an administrative case with the DMV over your driving privilege. They have different rules, different deadlines, and different people deciding them. Confuse the two and you can lose your license without ever setting foot in court.

Here is how the criminal side moves, step by step, and where the DMV case fits in.

Two Cases, Not One

Most people think a DUI is a single event. It is not. When an officer arrests you and takes your license, the DMV starts its own clock. You have only 10 days from the date of arrest to request a hearing to protect your driving privilege. Miss that window and an automatic suspension kicks in whether or not you are ever convicted of anything. I cover this in more detail on our page about DMV hearings, and it is the single most time-sensitive thing on your plate right now.

The court case moves slower and has more formal stages. It starts with a charge, usually under Vehicle Code 23152(a) for driving under the influence and 23152(b) for driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or higher. Prosecutors often file both. The rest of this article is about that court process, but keep the 10-day DMV deadline in the back of your mind the entire time.

Step 1: The Arrest and Release

For most first-time misdemeanor DUIs in San Diego, you are booked and then released, either on your own recognizance or after posting bail. You leave with a citation that lists your first court date. That date is your arraignment.

Before that date, nothing is set in stone. No plea has been entered. The prosecutor has not even finished reviewing the file in many cases. This early stretch is the best time to get a lawyer involved, because evidence like surveillance video, witness memories, and calibration records for the breath machine can fade or disappear fast.

Step 2: Arraignment

The arraignment is your first appearance in front of a judge. It is usually short. The court tells you the formal charges, advises you of your rights, and asks how you plead. In almost every case, the answer at this stage is not guilty. Pleading not guilty is not a claim that you did nothing wrong. It simply keeps your options open so your attorney can review the evidence before you decide anything.

Where your arraignment happens depends on where you were arrested. Cases from the central and coastal parts of the city are typically heard at the Central Division, the Hall of Justice at 330 West Broadway downtown. North County cases usually go to the Vista courthouse, East County to El Cajon, and South Bay to Chula Vista. The assigned courthouse can vary by charge and how the case is filed, so do not assume.

One practical benefit of hiring a lawyer early: on a misdemeanor, your attorney can often appear at the arraignment for you under Penal Code 977, so you may not have to take time off work to stand up in court yourself.

Step 3: Pretrial and Discovery

This is where most of the real work happens, and it is where most DUI cases are actually won or resolved. After arraignment, the case moves into a series of pretrial hearings. Behind the scenes, your attorney requests discovery, which is the prosecution's evidence: the police report, the arrest video, the breath or blood test results, the machine's maintenance and calibration logs, and the officer's notes.

Then we pick it apart. Was there a lawful reason to stop your car in the first place? Did the officer have probable cause to arrest? Were the field sobriety tests administered the way the training manual requires? Was the breath device working and properly calibrated? A single weak link can change the whole picture. If you want to understand how much can go wrong with the machines specifically, read our breakdown of breathalyzer errors and wrongful DUI arrests.

Pretrial is also where negotiation happens. Depending on the strength of the evidence and your record, the prosecutor may agree to reduce the charge. A common reduction is a "wet reckless" under Vehicle Code 23103 per 23103.5, which carries lighter consequences than a standard DUI. Nothing here is guaranteed, and every case turns on its own facts, but a reduction is often the goal when the evidence against you is strong but not airtight.

Step 4: Motions

Sometimes the right move is not to negotiate but to attack the evidence directly through pretrial motions. A few you might hear about:

A suppression motion under Penal Code 1538.5 asks the judge to throw out evidence that came from an illegal stop or search. If the traffic stop itself was unlawful, everything that followed can fall with it.

A Trombetta or Trombetta-style motion deals with evidence the state failed to preserve, like a breath sample that was never saved for independent retesting. A blood split motion lets us have your blood sample independently tested by a lab we trust.

Winning a motion can gut the prosecution's case or push them toward a much better offer. Losing one is not the end, but it tells us where we stand before trial.

Step 5: Trial

If the case does not resolve and you decide to fight it, it goes to trial. You have the right to a jury of 12 people, and the prosecutor has to prove every element beyond a reasonable doubt. That is a high bar, and it is the prosecution's burden, not yours. You do not have to prove your innocence.

At trial, we cross-examine the arresting officer, challenge the reliability of the chemical test, and can call our own expert witnesses to explain things like the rising blood alcohol defense or how a medical condition might have skewed a breath reading. Most DUI cases in San Diego never reach a jury, but the willingness and ability to take a case all the way to trial is exactly what gives you leverage in negotiations.

Step 6: Sentencing

If the case ends in a conviction or a plea, the judge imposes a sentence. For a first DUI in California, the exposure can include county jail of up to six months, fines and fees, a period of DUI probation that usually runs three to five years, DUI school, and possible installation of an ignition interlock device. In practice, a first offense with no injuries and no aggravating factors often resolves without significant jail, but I want to be straight with you: outcomes depend entirely on the facts, your record, and the county's current policies. Anyone who guarantees you a result before reviewing your file is not being honest.

The penalties climb sharply for repeat offenses and for any DUI involving injury under Vehicle Code 23153. If this is not your first, our page on second DUI defense explains what changes and why it matters to act quickly.

How the DMV Case Runs Alongside All of This

While the court case moves through its stages, the DMV case is on its own separate track. If you requested a hearing within the 10-day window, you get an Administrative Per Se hearing where a DMV officer decides only one narrow question: whether your driving privilege should be suspended. It is not about guilt or jail. It is about your license.

You can win the DMV hearing and still fight the court case, or vice versa. They do not automatically follow each other. That is exactly why handling both correctly, at the same time, matters so much.

What This Means for You

The process looks overwhelming from the outside, but it is a series of defined steps, and at each one there are decisions that can protect you. The mistakes I see most often are people missing the 10-day DMV deadline, pleading guilty at arraignment before anyone reviewed the evidence, and assuming a high breath reading means the case is hopeless. None of those has to happen to you.

This article is general information about how DUI cases move through the San Diego courts. It is not legal advice, and every case is different. The only way to know what your specific situation calls for is to have someone look at the actual facts.

If you are staring at a court date and a 10-day clock and you are not sure what to do first, call Crudo Law at (858) 622-7280 or reach out through our contact page. The consultation is free and confidential, and Joe Crudo will tell you honestly where you stand and what your options are.