OWI vs. OWVI vs. High BAC in Michigan: What Changes With Each Charge

Three charges that look alike on paper

Your ticket or complaint probably says "OWI," "OWI High BAC" or "OWVI," and you may have heard the words "super drunk" or "impaired driving" from the officer. These are three separate offenses inside one statute, MCL 257.625. Which one you face changes the maximum jail time, what happens to your license, your points and what the prosecutor has to prove.

Michigan does not charge "DUI." The legal term is operating while intoxicated, or OWI, and the older labels you may see in old articles have been retired. This page compares the three current charges. It is general information about Michigan law, not advice about your case, and you should talk to a lawyer about your own facts before you make any decision in court.

For the firm's pages on these charges, see drunk driving defense in Grand Rapids and the page on High BAC, the "super drunk" charge.

What each charge requires

OWI, MCL 257.625(1). The statute gives the prosecutor two routes. Under 625(1)(a), the person was "under the influence" of alcohol, a controlled substance or another intoxicating substance. Under 625(1)(b), the person had an alcohol content of 0.08 grams or more per 100 milliliters of blood, per 210 liters of breath, or per 67 milliliters of urine. The number route does not require any proof that the alcohol affected your driving.

High BAC, MCL 257.625(1)(c). This is OWI with an alcohol content of 0.17 or more. It is part of subsection (1), so it is a form of OWI rather than a separate crime, but it has its own penalty figures and its own license rule. The jury instructions call it OWI with a high bodily alcohol content; "super drunk" is a nickname. The High BAC article in the OWI guide covers its history and the one-year treatment requirement.

OWVI, MCL 257.625(3). Operating while visibly impaired means that, because of alcohol or drugs, "the person's ability to operate the vehicle is visibly impaired." There is no alcohol number in this subsection. A driver under 0.08 can be charged with it, because the question is visible impairment, not a test number. The OWVI article explains the jury instruction.

A fourth charge sits alongside these. MCL 257.625(8) makes it an offense to drive with any amount of a Schedule 1 controlled substance or cocaine in your body, often called OWPD. It carries the same first-offense penalties as OWI under MCL 257.625(9).

First-offense penalties, stated as maximums

The criminal penalties below are maximums for a first offense, meaning no prior conviction within 7 years and fewer than two at any time. A judge may impose one or more of them. None of these figures predicts what a particular judge in a particular court will do.

• OWI (0.08 or under the influence): a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail, up to 360 hours of community service, and a fine within the range set in MCL 257.625(9)(a).
• High BAC (0.17 or more): a misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail, up to 360 hours of community service, and a higher fine range, all under MCL 257.625(9)(a). The court must also order a rehabilitative program of at least 1 year under MCL 257.625b(5).
• OWVI: a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail, up to 360 hours of community service, and a smaller fine under MCL 257.625(11)(a).
• All three: before sentencing, the court must order a substance abuse screening and assessment under MCL 257.625b(5). The court may also order vehicle immobilization on a first offense; see the first-offense penalties article for the full list.

License sanctions and points

The Secretary of State, not the judge, imposes the license sanction once it receives the conviction under MCL 257.319(1). The periods are fixed by statute, so they are not "up to" figures.

For a first OWI under 625(1)(a) or (b), MCL 257.319(8)(a) sets a 180-day suspension. The Secretary of State may issue a restricted license for part of it, but not during the first 30 days. For a first OWVI, MCL 257.319(8)(b) sets a 90-day suspension (180 days if the impairment came from a controlled substance), and a restricted license may cover all or part of it. For High BAC, MCL 257.319(8)(g) sets a 1-year suspension with no restricted license for the first 45 days, and MCL 257.319(8)(h) allows the restricted license only in a vehicle with an ignition interlock.

Points follow the charge: 6 points for OWI and High BAC under MCL 257.320a(1)(c), and 4 points for OWVI under MCL 257.320a(1)(i). The sibling guide on getting your license back after an OWI walks through what ends each suspension.

How an OWI charge can end as OWVI

MCL 257.625(3) says that when a person is charged with OWI under subsection (1), "a finding of guilty under this subsection may be rendered." In plain terms, a judge or jury hearing an OWI case may find the driver guilty of the lesser OWVI instead, and the jury instructions allow OWVI as a lesser offense on both OWI and High BAC charges.

Plea agreements that reduce OWI to OWVI also exist. Whether one is offered is the prosecutor's decision, and whether to accept it is the judge's, and practice varies by county and by court. MCL 257.625(16) bars one specific trade: a court may not accept a plea to the under-21 zero-tolerance offense in exchange for dismissing an OWI or OWVI charge, though the prosecutor may still move to dismiss.

OWVI is still a crime with a license suspension and points, and under MCL 257.625(25)(b) it counts as a prior conviction. A second offense within 7 years under MCL 257.625(9)(b) carries a mandatory minimum of either 5 days in jail or 30 days of community service, and two convictions within 7 years lead to license revocation under MCL 257.303(2)(c). After two priors, a third offense is a felony under MCL 257.625(9)(c). The sibling guide on misdemeanors versus felonies explains what that change means.

What to do with this comparison

Read the exact subsection on your charging document. "625(1)(c)" means High BAC, "625(1)" or "625(1)(a)/(b)" means standard OWI, "625(3)" means OWVI, and "625(8)" means the drug offense. Then look at the test result and how it was obtained, because the difference between 0.16 and 0.17, or between a valid and an invalid test, is the difference between two charges. The sibling guide on the PBT and implied consent explains which test result counts.

This is the point where a lawyer matters most for your own case: a High BAC charge rests on a number that can be examined, an OWVI finding is available on any OWI charge, and the license consequences differ by months. A lawyer can review the breath or blood records, explain how plea discussions work in your court, and tell you what each path means for your license and record. The office of Attorney Shawn Haff, with offices in Wyoming and Grand Rapids, defends OWI cases in the Kent, Ottawa, Allegan and Barry County district courts and offers a free consultation at 616-438-6719.