A first OVI in Ohio: what it can result in

The statute defines its own floor in hours: three consecutive days means seventy-two consecutive hours. A court may substitute a driver intervention program for those days, and may add jail on top of either, but the cumulative term cannot exceed six months. The fine range in this division has been revised more than once, which is why figures in circulation differ — read the current text rather than a summary, this page included.

Start from what the statute forces and what it leaves to the judge. The floor here is 3 consecutive days (72 hours), up to 6 months in total. 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 of the first degree: 3 consecutive days (72 hours), up to 6 months in total, and a fine of set by § 4511.19(g)(1)(a)(iii) and revised periodically. The range is set by Ohio Rev. Code § 4511.19(G)(1)(a), and the figures on this page come from the statute rather than from a summary of it.

Ohio makes the interlock a genuinely better deal for a first offense: petition the court and you can swap limited driving privileges for unlimited ones — unrestricted as to purpose, time and place — as long as the car has a certified device. Granting them also suspends any mandatory jail term. The device requirement and the criminal penalty are separate tracks: one is handled by the court, the other by The sentencing court, with the restricted license issued by Ohio BMV.