In the State of Mississippi, a third DUI offense can be a felony if it is a 3rd DUI within 5 years. This is called a “lookback” period, and is used in most states, but seldom for just a five-year period. Longer lookback periods create more repeat offenders being sentenced to tougher punishment.
A fourth DUI Mississippi offense now has lifetime lookback. By way how many duis is a felony of example, in Georgia, the lookback is for 10 years, and a 4th DUI within 10 years is a felony in the Peach State. Other states are more aggressive, such as Michigan. About 15 years ago, all lookback periods were abandoned.
In NC, the lookback is for 7 years for repeat offenders, but the Tar Heel State counts the seven years by measuring the date of the last conviction to the date of the new arrest. Georgia and Mississippi use dates of arrest for measuring DUIs, except that Mississippi now looks at a driver’s lifetime DUI record, when a DUI fourth offense is accused.
When are DUIs Felonies in the Magnolia State?
For several decades, a 3rd DUI in MS (or subsequent DUI, e.g., 4th, 5th DUI) within 5 years has been the threshold for a felony DUI in Mississippi. See Weaver v. State, 713 So.2d 860 (Ms. Sup. Ct., 1997), where the appeals attorney for Defendant challenged to old methods of charging DUI cases with uniform citations, unsuccessfully arguing that those should not be “counted.”