A second OVI in Ohio

A second offense inside ten years carries a mandatory ten consecutive days, and the court must impose them unless it substitutes a combination of jail and house arrest with electronic monitoring, continuous alcohol monitoring, or both. Where the higher-tier division applies, the alternative is ten days in jail plus at least thirty-six consecutive days of monitored house arrest.

Start from what the statute forces and what it leaves to the judge. The floor here is 10 consecutive days, 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: 10 consecutive days, up to 6 months in total, and a fine of $525 to $1,625. The range is set by Ohio Rev. Code § 4511.19(G)(1)(b), (G)(3), 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.