First OVI Offense in 10 yearsWhat are the Penalties for an Ohio OVI / DUI 1st Offense?

Penalty Charts for an Ohio OVI charge when it is your First Offense in 10 years (No prior convictions in 10 years)

Please Note – You may be charged with more than one OVI offense if:

1) you took a chemical test or,

2) refused a test and have a prior OVI conviction in the last 20 years.

Make sure you review each of the charges you are or may be facing.

Feel free to contact us if you have difficulty figuring out what charges apply to you.

A quick summary of the relevant First Offense OVI (Operation Under the Influence Alcohol or Drugs) penalties and a quick summary of Administrative License Suspension (ALS) sanctions you are facing or a deep, thorough analysis of the Ohio OVI statutes, which are you looking for?

This page is designed so that you can click the first box above and get a summary of the basic, critical details about the penalties you face if you are charged with any OVI offense and do not have a prior OVI conviction with 10 years.

If you click the second box above it will take you to summaries of the Ohio Administrative License Suspension (ALS) sanctions you face.

However, if you are a lawyer, a law student or someone else who wants to know the exact wording of the statutes pertaining to the penalties for a First Offense OVI in Ohio, below you will find that we have extracted the provisions of Ohio’s OVI statute (Ohio Revised Code Section 4511.19) that set forth the jail time penalties, license suspensions, vehicle sanctions and other penalties that may be applied in Ohio First Offense OVIs whether the charge is the Impaired Driving, an OVI Per Se Low Tier Alcohol Test charge, an OVI Per Se High Tier Alcohol Test charge, a Criminal Refusal charge, or a driving under the influence of marijuana or other drugs.

Even though we have included below ONLY the portions of the Ohio OVI statute related to a penalties for the various First Offense charges we warn you, it is still a lot to go through and the Ohio OVI statute has been roundly criticized by lawyers and judges alike for not being a model of clarity.

The Penalties for First Offense OVIs are found in Ohio Revised Code Section (ORC) 4511.19(G)(1)(a), subsections ORC 4511.19(G)(1)(a)(i), ORC 4511.19(G)(1)(a)(ii), ORC 4511.19(G)(1)(a)(iii), and ORC 4511.19(G)(1)(a)(iv).

Below is the actual text of those statutory provisions.

RC 4511.19 (G)(1) – OVI Penalties

(1) Whoever violates any provision of divisions (A)(1)(a) to (i) or (A)(2) of this section is guilty of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse, or a combination of them. Whoever violates division (A)(1)(j) of this section is guilty of operating a vehicle while under the influence of a listed controlled substance or a listed metabolite of a controlled substance. The court shall sentence the offender for either offense under Chapter 2929 of the Revised Code, except as otherwise authorized or required by divisions (G)(1)(a) to (e) of this section:

RC 4511.19 (G)(1)(a) First Offense Penalties

(a) Except as otherwise provided in division (G)(1)(b), (c), (d), or (e) of this section, the offender is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, and the court shall sentence the offender to all of the following: 

RC 4511.19 (G)(1)(a)(i) First Offense Low Tier or Impaired – Jail 

(i) If the sentence is being imposed for a violation of division (A)(1)(a), (b), (c), (d), (e), or (j) of this section, a mandatory jail term of three consecutive days. As used in this division, three consecutive days means seventy-two consecutive hours. The court may sentence an offender to both an intervention program and a jail term. The court may impose a jail term in addition to the three-day mandatory jail term or intervention program. However, in no case shall the cumulative jail term imposed for the offense exceed six months. 

First Offense Low Tier or Impaired – Jail – DIP and/or Treatment provisions 

The court may suspend the execution of the three-day jail term under this division if the court, in lieu of that suspended term, places the offender under a community control sanction pursuant to section 2929.25 of the Revised Code and requires the offender to attend, for three consecutive days, a drivers’ intervention program certified under section 5119.38 of the Revised Code. The court also may suspend the execution of any part of the three-day jail term under this division if it places the offender under a community control sanction pursuant to section 2929.25 of the Revised Code for part of the three days, requires the offender to attend for the suspended part of the term a drivers’ intervention program so certified, and sentences the offender to a jail term equal to the remainder of the three consecutive days that the offender does not spend attending the program. The court may require the offender, as a condition of community control and in addition to the required attendance at a drivers’ intervention program, to attend and satisfactorily complete any treatment or education programs that comply with the minimum standards adopted pursuant to Chapter 5119. of the Revised Code by the director of mental health and addiction services that the operators of the drivers’ intervention program determine that the offender should attend and to report periodically to the court on the offender’s progress in the programs. The court also may impose on the offender any other conditions of community control that it considers necessary.

First Offense Low Tier or Impaired – Special Interlock provisions and suspended jail time 

If the court grants unlimited driving privileges to a first-time offender under section 4510.022 of the Revised Code, all penalties imposed upon the offender by the court under division (G)(1)(a)(i) of this section for the offense apply, except that the court shall suspend any mandatory or additional jail term imposed by the court under division (G)(1)(a)(i) of this section upon granting unlimited driving privileges in accordance with section 4510.022 of the Revised Code.

RC 4511.19 (G)(1)(a)(ii) First Offense High Tier or Criminal Refusal – Jail 

(ii) If the sentence is being imposed for a violation of division (A)(1)(f), (g), (h), or (i) or division (A)(2) of this section, except as otherwise provided in this division, a mandatory jail term of at least three consecutive days and a requirement that the offender attend, for three consecutive days, a drivers’ intervention program that is certified pursuant to section 5119.38 of the Revised Code. As used in this division, three consecutive days means seventy-two consecutive hours. If the court determines that the offender is not conducive to treatment in a drivers’ intervention program, if the offender refuses to attend a drivers’ intervention program, or if the jail at which the offender is to serve the jail term imposed can provide a driver’s intervention program, the court shall sentence the offender to a mandatory jail term of at least six consecutive days. 

First Offense High Tier or Criminal Refusal– Special Interlock provisions & suspended jail 

If the court grants unlimited driving privileges to a first-time offender under section 4510.022 of the Revised Code, all penalties imposed upon the offender by the court under division (G)(1)(a)(ii) of this section for the offense apply, except that the court shall suspend any mandatory or additional jail term imposed by the court under division (G)(1)(a)(ii) of this section upon granting unlimited driving privileges in accordance with section 4510.022 of the Revised Code.

The court may require the offender, under a community control sanction imposed under section 2929.25 of the Revised Code, to attend and satisfactorily complete any treatment or education programs that comply with the minimum standards adopted pursuant to Chapter 5119. of the Revised Code by the director of mental health and addiction services, in addition to the required attendance at drivers’ intervention program, that the operators of the drivers’ intervention program determine that the offender should attend and to report periodically to the court on the offender’s progress in the programs. The court also may impose any other conditions of community control on the offender that it considers necessary.

RC 4511.19(G)(1)(a)(iii) First Offense Fines 

(iii) In all cases, a fine of not less than three hundred seventy-five and not more than one thousand seventy-five dollars;

RC 4511.19(G)(1)(a)(iv) First Offense Driver’s License Suspension 

(iv) In all cases, a suspension of the offender’s driver’s or commercial driver’s license or permit or nonresident operating privilege for a definite period of one to three years. The court may grant limited driving privileges relative to the suspension under sections 4510.021 and 4510.13 of the Revised Code. The court may grant unlimited driving privileges with an ignition interlock device relative to the suspension and may reduce the period of suspension as authorized under section 4510.022 of the Revised Code.