A first DUI in Alabama: what it can result in

The confinement is a ceiling rather than a floor on a first conviction, but the license consequence is automatic: a 90-day suspension, which is stayed if you elect to install an interlock for 90 days instead. Four facts remove the choice and impose a full year of the device — refusing the test, a child under 14 in the car, someone else injured, or a reading of 0.15 or more.

Start from what the statute forces and what it leaves to the judge. The floor here is up to 1 year, and it moves on the facts: refusal, a child under 14, an injury, or 0.15 or more means a full year of the interlock instead of a 90-day choice. Everything above that floor is argued, and the same conviction can end up served in custody, on work release or as a condition of probation depending on the county and the judge. What no one can promise you is a sentence below the statutory minimum — that is not a question of persuasion.

Misdemeanor under § 32-5A-191(e): up to 1 year, and a fine of $600 to $2,100. The range is set by Ala. Code § 32-5A-191(e), and the figures on this page come from the statute rather than from a summary of it.

Refusal, a child under 14, an injury, or 0.15 or more — a full year of the interlock instead of a 90-day choice.

Alabama makes the interlock a way to stay on the road rather than an extra punishment: on a first conviction below 0.15%, ALEA states the entire 90-day suspension is stayed if you voluntarily elect and install the device. At 0.15% or above it becomes mandatory for a year, with the suspension stayed on proof of installation. The device requirement and the criminal penalty are separate tracks: one is handled by the court, the other by Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, on the convicting court order.