First Offense DUI in Nashville
A first offense DUI in Nashville carries a jail minimum of 48 hours. The part that reshapes the next year is the license and the fact that a DUI conviction never comes off your record. And whether this is really a first offense depends on a rule most people get wrong.
What Actually Happens on a First DUI in Tennessee
A first-offense DUI conviction in Tennessee carries a mandatory minimum of 48 consecutive hours in jail under § 55-10-402, a fine of $350 to $1,500 under § 55-10-403(a)(1), and a one-year license revocation under § 55-10-404(a)(1)(A). The jail minimum rises to 7 consecutive days if the blood alcohol concentration was 0.15% or higher. A DUI conviction cannot be expunged short of a governor's pardon.
Most people arrive here worried about the jail time. It is usually the least disruptive piece. The license, the ignition interlock that comes with getting back on the road, and the permanence of the record are what change the next several years, and all three follow from what the charge ends up being rather than from how the sentencing hearing goes.
Whether an Old DUI Counts Depends on What Came After It
Tennessee does not simply ask whether your last DUI was inside ten years. Under § 55-10-405(a), if any prior violation falls within ten years of this one you are a multiple offender, and once that is true, each older violation also counts if it falls within ten years of the violation that came after it. Nothing more than twenty years old ever counts.
| Step | The rule |
|---|---|
| 1. Look at your most recent prior | If ten or more years separate this violation from the immediately preceding one, you are not a repeat offender § 55-10-405(a) |
| 2. If it is inside ten years | You are a multiple offender and face multiple-offender penalties |
| 3. Then older priors chain backward | Once you are a multiple offender, every earlier violation that falls within ten years of the violation after it also counts |
| 4. The outer limit | A violation more than twenty years from this one is never counted |
| Exception: vehicular assault or homicide | Counts regardless of how long ago it happened. No time limit applies § 55-10-405(c)(1) |
| Boating under the influence | Counts as a DUI prior, but only within ten years § 55-10-405(c)(2) |
| Out-of-state convictions | Can be used in determining multiple offender status § 55-10-405(b) |
Two Examples, Because Step 3 Surprises People
One prior, twelve years ago. Ten or more years separate it from this violation, so you are not a repeat offender. This is charged as a first offense, and the twelve-year-old case does not pull you up to a second.
Two priors, one six years ago and one fourteen years ago. The six-year prior is inside ten years, so you are a multiple offender. That turns on step three: the fourteen-year-old violation is within ten years of the six-year-old one and inside the twenty-year outer limit, so it counts too. That is a third offense, not a second, and not a first.
This is the single most misread provision in Tennessee DUI law, and it moves in both directions. It is worth getting an actual answer on your record rather than assuming either way.
What 48 Hours Actually Means
On conviction, § 55-10-402 requires not less than 48 consecutive hours in the county jail or workhouse, served day for day before any alternative sentencing applies. It rises to 7 consecutive days where the blood alcohol concentration was 0.15% or more.
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Consecutive, Not Cumulative
The statute says consecutive hours. It is served in one stretch rather than spread across weekends at your convenience, though when that stretch begins is a scheduling question that can often be worked with.
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0.15% Changes the Number
A first offense with a BAC of 0.15% or higher carries a minimum of 7 consecutive days rather than 48 hours. Where a test result sits near that line, the accuracy of the test stops being academic.
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A Child Under 18 Adds 30 Days and $1,000
Section 55-10-402 enhances the sentence by a mandatory minimum 30 days of incarceration where the person was accompanied by a child under eighteen, and § 55-10-403(a)(5) adds a mandatory $1,000 fine on top of the DUI fine. Both sit on top of the offense-level penalties.
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The Minimum Only Applies to a Conviction
Every one of these numbers assumes a DUI conviction. They are the reason the real work happens on the charge itself rather than at sentencing, and the reason a reduction is worth more than a good sentencing argument.
Your License, and How You Keep Driving
A first-offense conviction revokes your license for one year under § 55-10-404(a)(1)(A). A restricted license is available under § 55-10-409, and first offenders are eligible. If the judge grants one, an ignition interlock is ordered as a condition of probation whenever one of the statutory triggers applies.
Read that sequence carefully, because it is commonly described wrong. The interlock does not attach to the conviction. It attaches to the restricted license. You apply, the judge approves, and then the device becomes a condition of the probation you are on.
| Situation | Interlock |
|---|---|
| BAC 0.08% or higher, or alcohol combined with drugs | Ordered |
| A minor was in the vehicle | Ordered |
| A reportable traffic accident that was the proximate result of the intoxication | Ordered. A collision you did not cause does not trigger this |
| Anything else, including a conviction with no test result | The court may require or allow one, in lieu of geographic restrictions |
Row one is the one that catches most people. If there is a breath or blood result at or above 0.08%, which describes most first-offense convictions where a test was taken, the interlock comes with the restricted license rather than being optional. Where no interlock is ordered, the restricted license instead names the purposes you may drive for: work, probation meetings, an alcohol safety program, college, interlock service appointments, treatment, religious services and medical care.
The Practical Read
For most people this is the real sentence. A device in the car, the installation and monthly monitoring fees that come with it, and a conversation with every passenger who gets in. It is survivable and a lot of people do it every year. It is also the strongest argument for spending the effort on the charge rather than on the plea.
How long it stays on is tied to the restricted license and the probation period rather than to a single fixed number, so it is a question to ask about your own case rather than something to read off a chart.
The Fine Is Not the Cost
The statutory fine on a first offense runs $350 to $1,500 under § 55-10-403(a)(1). That is the smallest line on the list. What actually leaves your account over the following year is court costs, interlock installation and monthly monitoring, towing and storage, a treatment or safety program, and an insurance increase.
This page will not publish a total, because the real number depends on your insurer, your interlock vendor and your county, and any firm that quotes you a tidy figure is guessing. What Austin can tell you from handling these cases is that the fine is the part people budget for and the insurance is the part that surprises them, and carrier surcharge periods are set by the insurer rather than by Tennessee law.
There is also a cost that never shows up on a statement. A DUI conviction is a public record that appears on background checks, and unlike most first-time misdemeanors in Tennessee, it is one you will still be explaining in a decade.
A Tennessee DUI Conviction Is Permanent
A DUI conviction cannot be diverted, and it cannot be expunged short of a governor's pardon under § 40-32-107(d). Judicial diversion excludes it at § 40-35-313(a)(1)(B), pretrial diversion excludes it at § 40-15-105, and it sits on the expungement exclusion list at § 40-32-107(a)(1)(D)(xlv). No waiting period reaches it.
Which Is Why the Charge Matters More Than the Sentence
A first-offense DUI that stays a DUI is with you permanently. A first-offense DUI reduced to reckless driving is a Class B misdemeanor that is not on the expungement exclusion list, which makes it eligible to be cleared five years after the sentence is complete under § 40-32-107(a)(3)(B)(i).
That is the whole game on a first offense. Not the 48 hours. Not the fine. Whether the thing on your record has an end date.
A reduction is negotiated, not requested, and it is not available in every case. In Austin's experience in Davidson County, prosecutors do not reduce a DUI simply because it is a first offense. A reduction comes from a problem in the State's proof, or from mitigation that changes how the case gets valued.
What to Do Between Now and Your First Court Date
Write It Down While It Is Fresh
Where you were, what you drank and when, what you ate, what the officer said, what you said. Memory for this degrades fast, and the details that end up mattering are rarely the ones you expect.
Do Not Discuss It
Not on the phone, not in a text, not on social media. If you were held, assume the jail calls were recorded, because they were.
Keep Every Piece of Paper
The citation, the bond paperwork, anything handed to you at the jail. Your court date is on one of them, and missing it creates a second and entirely avoidable problem.
Get Counsel Moving on Discovery
Body cam, dash cam, calibration and maintenance records, the observation period, the lab packet. This is something your lawyer requests, not something to pursue yourself, and video is not always kept forever. The sooner a lawyer is in the case, the more of it still exists.
Do Not Assume It Is Hopeless
A breath or blood number feels like the end of the discussion. It is a measurement, taken by a person, on a device, under a procedure, and every one of those has requirements behind it.
Ask Before You Plead
The first offer is not always the best one, and a plea entered to get it over with is the decision people regret longest, because it is the one that cannot be undone.
First Offense DUI in Nashville FAQ
Will I actually go to jail for a first DUI in Tennessee?
On a conviction, yes. Section 55-10-402 sets a mandatory minimum of 48 consecutive hours, served day for day, and 7 consecutive days if the blood alcohol concentration was 0.15% or higher. A child under eighteen in the vehicle adds a mandatory minimum 30 days and a $1,000 fine under section 55-10-403(a)(5). Those numbers all assume a DUI conviction, which is why the defense work goes into the charge rather than the sentence.
I got a DUI twelve years ago. Is this a second offense?
If that is your only prior, generally no. Ten or more years separating this violation from the immediately preceding one means you are not treated as a repeat offender. But if you have another prior that is inside ten years, the rule changes: you become a multiple offender, and the older conviction can then be counted too if it falls within ten years of the violation after it. A prior vehicular assault or vehicular homicide counts regardless of age.
Can I keep driving?
A first-offense conviction revokes your license for one year under section 55-10-404(a)(1)(A), but a restricted license is available under section 55-10-409 and first offenders are eligible. If the judge grants one and your test result was 0.08% or higher, an ignition interlock is ordered as a condition of probation. Where no interlock is ordered, the restricted license instead lists the purposes you may drive for, such as work, treatment, school, medical care and religious services.
Can a first-offense DUI be expunged later?
A DUI conviction never can. It is on the expungement exclusion list at section 40-32-107(a)(1)(D)(xlv) and no waiting period reaches it. A DUI charge that is dismissed or tried to an acquittal is a different question and can be expunged under section 40-32-106. A DUI reduced to reckless driving can become eligible five years after the sentence is complete.
Will this cost me my job?
It depends entirely on the job. If you drive for work, hold a commercial license, hold a professional license, or hold a security clearance, the conviction reaches the license or the clearance rather than just the calendar. Those cases need the collateral consequence identified in the first conversation, because it usually changes what outcome is worth fighting for.
Should I just plead guilty and get it over with?
Understand what you are buying before you do. A guilty plea to DUI buys a finished case and a permanent record that no petition reaches. It is the one decision in this process that cannot be revisited, and it is worth at least one free conversation before you make it.
Do I need a lawyer for a first offense?
A first-offense DUI carries mandatory jail, a year without a normal license, an interlock requirement in most cases where a test was taken, and a conviction that is permanent. Whatever else that is, it is not a minor traffic matter, and it is the category of case where getting it right the first time costs less than living with it.
A First DUI Is Not a Small Case
It is the case most often treated as a formality by the person charged, and least often treated as one by the record afterward. Austin Tomlinson defends a first offense DUI in Nashville the same way he defends a felony, and he handles every case himself, start to finish.
The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. It is usually enough to tell you whether the State's case has a problem in it, and whether your record makes this a first offense or something else.
Call (615) 669-8312The Charge, Not the Sentence
Every number on this page follows a DUI conviction. What the charge becomes decides all of them, and that gets decided early.
Your Record, Read Properly
Whether an old conviction counts is a specific statutory question with a chaining rule in it. Getting that answer right changes which case you are actually defending.
The Discovery Gets Read
Body cam, calibration logs, the observation period, the lab packet. The problem in a first-offense DUI is usually in a file somebody did not open.