What is DUI with serious bodily injury?
This is the threshold where a DUI case becomes a felony without any prior record at all. Up to five years in prison, up to $5,000, and a license revocation of at least three years.
The definition of serious bodily injury does real work here. It isn't any injury — it requires injury creating a substantial risk of death, serious personal disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of a bodily function. Whether a given injury meets that standard is frequently disputed, and it's a fact question rather than a medical formality.
Causation is the other battleground, and it's often stronger ground. The State has to show that the impaired driving caused the injury, and in multi-vehicle crashes, crashes with contributing road conditions, or crashes where the injured person's own conduct contributed, that link is examinable.
These cases move quickly and evidence disappears. The vehicles, the scene, and the electronic data all have limited windows.
If there's any chance of this charge, evidence needs preserving now rather than after filing. ---
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