Some of my clients ask me how they may avoid spending so much time in jail for a second offense in the event they are convicted. Unfortunately, many lawyers are not even aware that Tennessee law provides for exceptions to the minimum mandatory jail time of 45 days in confinement. A commonly used exception permits credit for a portion of the driving under the influence jail sentence if the defendant received alcohol or drug treatment.
If this option is used to receive jail credit for either inpatient or outpatient treatment, the defendant may elect to participate in either a residential and/or intensive outpatient (IOP) substance abuse treatment program. However, the substances abuse service providers are required to be licensed in the State of Tennessee. To receive this jail-time credit, the defendant must first complete a clinical substance-abuse assessment by a licensed facility. Moreover, this assessment must be administered by qualified substance abuse personnel, as defined by the rules promulgated by the department of mental health and substance abuse services.
Based upon the assessment, the court may then order the person to an appropriate treatment program, which has been licensed or certified by the department of mental health and substance abuse services, including a certified drug or DUI court. A list of facilities that have been licensed may be found by visiting the website of the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Accordingly, back to the original concern, a list of these facilities that are approved for treatment allowing such credit may be found by clicking here. The court must, however, still approve the facility.
If approved by the court, a person may receive the following sentence reduction credits:
- Day-for-day credit for the period of time spent in a residential treatment program; and
- One day credit for every nine hours of successfully completed intensive outpatient treatment.
Unfortunately, even if a defendant accrues the maximum amount of jail-time credit, one must still serve at least 17 days of the sentence. accordingly, there are no credits available for spending more than 28 days of inpatient treatment or more than 252 hours of intensive outpatient treatment.
Of course, there are a lot more details and nuances associated with this potential jail credit that would take far too long to explain in this blog post. Therefore, it is highly recommended that one hire an experienced DUI defense lawyer for assistance. It is further recommended that the defense lawyer be board-certified in the specialty area of DUI Defense Law.
About the Author: Steven Oberman has been licensed in Tennessee since 1980, and successfully defended over 2,500 DUI defendants. Steve was the first lawyer in Tennessee to be Board Certified as a DUI Defense Specialist by the National College for DUI Defense, Inc. (NCDD). Among the many honors bestowed upon him, Steve has served as Dean of the NCDD and currently serves as chair of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers DUI Committee.
He is the author of DUI: The Crime & Consequences in Tennessee, updated annually since 1991 (Thomson-West), and co-author with Lawrence Taylor (1942 – 2023) of the national treatise, Drunk Driving Defense, 9th edition (Wolters Kluwer/Aspen). Steve has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee Law School since 1993 and has received a number of prestigious awards for his faculty contributions. He is a popular international speaker, having spoken at legal seminars in 30 states, the District of Columbia and 10 foreign countries. After being named a Fulbright Scholar, Steve was honored to teach as a Visiting Professor at the University of Latvia Faculty of Law (Law School) in the capital city of Riga, Latvia for a semester during 2019. In 2023, Steve was accepted an offer to teach for a semester as a Visiting Professor at Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Law in Budapest, Hungary. Steve was designated a Fulbright Scholar for a second time and taught American Criminal Law and American Trial Advocacy at The University of Ljubljana Faculty of Law in the capital city of Ljubljana, Slovenia for the 2024 spring semester. If you would like to contact the author, please visit his website at www.tndui.com.
