Michigan’s high-BAC drunk driving provision, known almost everywhere as the super drunk law, applies to a first offense at an alcohol content of 0.17 or more. The statute treats that reading as its own offense rather than as an aggravating fact at sentencing, and most of what follows a first conviction changes because of it.

A first conviction under MCL 257.625(1)(c) raises the jail maximum from 93 days to 180. The fine range moves up as well, from $100 to $500 on a standard first offense to $200 to $700. It also doubles the license suspension to one year and adds two things a standard first offense does not carry, an ignition interlock device and a court-ordered treatment program running at least one year.

Where the 0.17 Threshold Comes From

Michigan’s super drunk law is the common name for MCL 257.625(1)(c), which makes it a distinct first offense to operate a vehicle with an alcohol content of 0.17 grams or more per 100 milliliters of blood, per 210 liters of breath, or per 67 milliliters of urine.

The phrase appears nowhere in the statute. Michigan’s vehicle code defines three ways of operating while intoxicated in the same subsection, and 0.17 is simply the third of them, sitting alongside the 0.08 threshold and the under-the-influence standard in subdivision (a). Prosecutors charge it as a first offense, not as an enhancement to one.

I often get asked why 0.17 carries so much more weight than 0.16, and the answer is that the Legislature drew a bright line rather than a sliding scale. A reading of 0.16 is an ordinary first offense. At the line, every number in the case changes at once, which is why the reliability of the test result becomes the center of the defense in a way it often is not at lower readings.

The Sentence a High BAC Conviction Carries

Sentencing runs through MCL 257.625(9)(a), the same subsection that governs a standard first offense, with two figures swapped. Jail exposure rises to 180 days, and the fine range moves to $200 to $700. Community service stays at up to 360 hours, and the offense remains a misdemeanor.

The more durable consequence sits in MCL 257.625b(5). Every OWI conviction requires a screening and assessment before sentencing, and on a standard first offense the court may then order a rehabilitative program. On a conviction under MCL 257.625(1)(c) the court must order one, and the statute sets a floor of one year for an alcohol treatment program or a self-help program. The treatment plan comes from an assessment performed by a licensed alcohol assessor and approved by the court.

A high-BAC charge turns on the test result more than on anything else in the file, and our criminal defense team at Neumann Law Group defends these cases throughout Northern Michigan and statewide. If that is where your situation sits, call us at (800) 525-6386.

One Year Without a Full License

A first conviction under MCL 257.625(1)(c), with no prior convictions within seven years or not more than two within 10, carries a one-year suspension under MCL 257.319(8)(g). A restricted license is available during the balance of that year, though not during the first 45 days.

The comparison is what makes the threshold expensive. A standard first offense draws 180 days with a restricted license available after 30. The high-BAC version doubles the suspension and adds 15 days to the period of no driving at all, before any interlock question arises.

Drivers charged in Grand Traverse County and the surrounding counties often face that year while commuting between towns without transit, which is a practical reason the charge is worth contesting rather than conceding. Our Traverse City OWI attorneys handle these cases in the 86th District Court and elsewhere in the region.

How the Interlock Requirement Actually Works

The restricted license issued after a high-BAC conviction is conditioned on an ignition interlock device, under MCL 257.319(8)(h). The device may be removed once the provider verifies to the Secretary of State that the driver has operated the vehicle with no instance of reaching or exceeding 0.025 grams per 210 liters of breath.

That 0.025 figure is far below the 0.08 threshold for a charge, and it is the number that catches people out. The statute does carve out narrow exceptions. A start-up test failure within the first two months after installation does not count against removal, and after two months a failure is excused where the driver delivers a clean sample below 0.025 within 15 minutes. A retest prompted by the device is excused on a clean sample within five minutes.

The criminal statute itself does not require the device. MCL 257.625(24) permits a sentencing court to order an interlock as a condition of probation, and that order is discretionary. The requirement that actually binds comes from the licensing side, which is why it holds regardless of how the sentence itself is structured.

Violating the restricted license, or operating at 0.025 or above, triggers an additional like period of suspension and restriction under MCL 257.319(8)(i). A driver who reaches the end of the year and then registers a reading can restart the clock, which makes the interlock period part of the case rather than an administrative afterthought.

A High BAC Conviction Can Still Be Set Aside

The higher reading does not cost a driver expungement eligibility. MCL 780.621(1)(d) defines a first violation operating while intoxicated offense by reference to MCL 257.625(1) as a whole, not to any single subdivision within it, so a first conviction at 0.17 qualifies on the same footing as one at 0.09.

An application may be filed five or more years after the latest of sentencing, completion of probation, discharge from parole, or completion of any term of imprisonment, under MCL 780.621d(2). Those four events are what start the clock. The license sanction and the interlock period are not among them, so a suspension still running does not by itself delay the application.

Challenging a High BAC Test Result

A 0.17 reading is a test result, and test results rest on calibration, operator procedure, observation periods, and the physical circumstances of the sample. At Neumann Law Group, we represent drivers facing OWI and high BAC charges throughout Michigan. Call our office at (800) 525-6386, or contact us online, and we will talk it through with you.

A missed drug test or a late report to a probation officer does not put a Michigan probationer back in front of a judge facing the original sentence. The Legislature separated technical violations from new criminal conduct and capped what a court may do about the former, and the caps are specific enough to argue from.

MCL 771.4b(4) is the provision that matters most. Subject to one exception, a court shall not revoke probation on the basis of a technical probation violation unless the probationer has already been sanctioned for three or more technical violations and then commits a new one.

What Counts as a Technical Violation

The statute defines a technical probation violation as a violation of the terms of a probation order that is not on a list the section sets out, and it says expressly that missing or failing a drug test is included.

That inclusion does real work, because a failed test is the violation most often treated as though it were new criminal conduct. Under the definition it is a technical violation, and the graduated structure applies to it.

Multiple technical violations arising out of the same transaction are treated as a single violation for purposes of the section. A single incident that breaches three conditions at once counts once, not three times, toward the sanction history that eventually permits revocation.

The Jail Caps Are Graduated and Specific

A probationer sentenced to temporary incarceration for a technical violation faces limits that step up with each one. On probation for a misdemeanor, a first violation carries not more than five days in jail, a second not more than 10, and a third not more than 15. A fourth or subsequent violation may carry any number of days, not exceeding the total remaining eligible jail sentence.

On probation for a felony the tiers are longer. A first technical violation carries not more than 15 days, a second not more than 30, and a third not more than 45, with a fourth or subsequent violation reaching any number of days up to the remaining eligible jail or prison sentence.

One extension exists. A jail sanction may be extended to not more than 45 days where the probationer is awaiting placement in a treatment facility and does not have a safe alternative location to wait. That provision is aimed at housing rather than punishment, and it is worth naming as such when it comes up.

Probation Is Described as a Matter of Grace

MCL 771.4(1) opens with a statement of legislative intent that shapes everything after it. Granting probation is a matter of grace requiring the agreement of the probationer to its granting and to its continuance.

Subsection (2) then narrows when revocation and incarceration should follow. They should be imposed only for repeated technical violations, for new criminal behavior, as otherwise allowed by the graduated-sanctions section, or at the probationer’s own request. The word repeated is doing the same work there that the three-violation rule does in the companion section.

A court may also provide, in the probation order or by general rule, for the apprehension, detention, and confinement of a probationer accused of violating a condition. That authority is separate from the sanction limits and is worth reading in the order itself rather than assumed.

Whether a violation is technical at all is settled by the sanction history and the statute’s exception list, and that is worth establishing before a notice is answered. We are glad to look at it with you before anything is filed. Call us at (800) 525-6386.

A Summons Is Presumed, Not a Warrant

The section carries a rebuttable presumption against arrest. A court shall not issue a warrant for a technical probation violation and shall issue a summons or an order to show cause instead, unless it states on the record a specific reason to suspect a listed circumstance, such as the probationer presenting an immediate danger to themselves, another person, or the public.

The presumption is procedural and easy to lose track of in a busy docket. Where a warrant issues without the record the statute requires, that is a point to raise rather than a formality to absorb.

A probationer may also acknowledge a technical violation in writing, without a hearing before the court being required. That route can be sensible or costly depending on the sanction history behind it, since each acknowledged violation counts toward the three that make revocation available.

Two Exceptions Worth Knowing Before Relying on Any of This

The graduated caps in subsection (1) do not apply to a probationer serving probation for a domestic violence violation under MCL 750.81 or 750.81a, for an offense involving domestic violence as defined in MCL 400.1501, or for stalking under MCL 750.411h or 750.411i. Anyone on probation for one of those charges is outside the structure described above, and our page on Michigan domestic violence charges covers how those cases are handled.

The second limit is what revocation means when it does happen. Under MCL 771.4(5), a court that revokes probation may sentence the probationer in the same manner and to the same penalty as it might have imposed if probation had never been granted. The original exposure returns in full.

Revocation hearings themselves are summary and informal and are not subject to the rules of evidence or of pleadings that apply in criminal trials. The probationer is entitled to a written copy of the charges and to a hearing, and those two entitlements are the structure the process actually provides.

If a Violation Notice Has Already Issued

The sanction history behind a notice usually decides more than the current allegation does, and reconstructing it is the first useful step. We appear at Neumann Law Group in district and circuit courts from Grand Traverse County to Wayne County on Michigan criminal defense matters. We are happy to talk it through with you. Call (800) 525-6386 or contact our office.