When a DUI becomes a felony in Wyoming
Wyoming’s habitual offender statute turns what would otherwise be a misdemeanor DUI into a felony when a driver accumulates a third DWUI conviction within a ten-year lookback period. The ten years are calculated from conviction to conviction, not from the arrest date or the offense date. If your prior convictions fall within that window, you are facing felony charges regardless of the circumstances of the current stop.
It’s worth understanding what this means practically. A standard first DUI in Wyoming is a misdemeanor. A second is still a misdemeanor, with enhanced penalties. The third is the threshold that changes everything. At that point, the prosecution is no longer treating you as someone who made a mistake. They are treating you as a repeat offender, and the charges, the bail, and the plea offers will all reflect that.
Penalties for felony DUI in Wyoming
A third DWUI within ten years in Wyoming carries up to five years in state prison and fines up to $10,000. The court also has the ability to impose additional conditions, extended license revocation, ignition interlock requirements, and mandatory treatment, on top of any prison sentence. And unlike a misdemeanor, a felony conviction in Wyoming triggers permanent collateral consequences: loss of the right to own firearms under federal law, limitations on professional licensing, and a record that does not disappear.
How we defend felony DUI cases in Wyoming
Felony DUI defense starts with the prior convictions. If either of the qualifying prior DWUIs can be challenged, on constitutional grounds, on the validity of the plea, or on whether the ten-year calculation is correct, the felony charge may not stand. We examine every prior conviction that the prosecution intends to use before anything else.
We also examine the current stop with the same rigor we bring to any DUI case. Was the stop lawful? Was the breathalyzer properly maintained and administered? For the blood draw, was it obtained legally? A felony charge does not make the constitutional protections disappear; if anything, the stakes make them more important to enforce. We have taken serious DUI cases to Wyoming juries and won. State v. Ault is one example. We fight these cases because they are worth fighting.
