What Sentences Are Imposed for DUI Causing Injury in Los Angeles?
Three agency-reported crash prosecutions involving DUI injury have totals of 3 years 8 months, 11 years and 12 years 8 months. These are not clean section 23153-only endpoints: Villegas and Macias also have fatal-crash convictions, and Makowski’s release reports two DUI-injury convictions and four prior DUIs. The releases identify imposed sentences, not time served, release dates or exhaustion of every appeal. The sample is not a citywide distribution.
Quick Answer
- Reported prosecution clusters: 3
- Source-described areas: Boyle Heights/near downtown, Elysian Valley, and North Hills
- Outcome type: state prison
- Comparable range: not calculated because conviction structures and prior records differ
- System: California state/local prosecution
See the Los Angeles hub, compare gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and assault with a deadly weapon, and read our methodology.
What Is DUI Causing Injury?
California Vehicle Code §23153 covers impaired driving that concurrently involves an unlawful act or neglected driving duty which proximately causes bodily injury to someone other than the driver. The statute has separate subdivisions for alcohol, a blood-alcohol concentration of at least .08 percent, drugs, and combined alcohol-and-drug impairment.
Statutory Sentence
For a first §23153 conviction, Vehicle Code §23554 authorizes state prison or 90 days to one year in county jail, plus a fine of $390 to $1,000 and license consequences. Other provisions can add or alter custody. Section 23558 provides a one-year state-prison enhancement for each additional injured victim, up to three, when pleaded and proved. Section 23566 specifies two, three or four years for its qualifying repeat-offender circumstances. Its subdivision (c) adds three consecutive years only for a subdivision (b) conviction with four qualifying priors within ten years and a pleaded/proved allegation. A news report of four priors alone does not allocate this enhancement. The current linked statutory passages were actually read September 28, 2026; they are background, not a retrospective finding of every historical count, prior or enhancement. These statutory rules are not the observed totals below.
Reported Outcomes
| Case | Los Angeles conduct | Disposition | Reported total | Allocation note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wendy Villegas | September 14, 2013 crash described in Boyle Heights; no independently certified municipal point | No-contest plea to vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI causing injury, and hit-and-run | 3 years 8 months | Aggregate plea outcome; no count-by-count term reported |
| Konstanty Makowski | September 7, 2012 crosswalk collision described in Elysian Valley; exact street not supplied | Jury conviction for DUI causing injury and driving with .08 percent BAC causing injury; four prior DUIs reported | 11 years | Multiple DUI counts and substantial prior record |
| Jose Armando Macias Jr. | November 26, 2017 Woodley Avenue near Parthenia Street; earlier plea release describes North Hills | Guilty plea to DUI alcohol-and-drug causing great bodily injury to a child and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated | 12 years 8 months | Aggregate outcome includes fatal-crash offense |
Case Details
Wendy Villegas: The April 22, 2014 release reports that day’s three-year-eight-month sentence after a March no-contest plea to vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI injury and leaving the scene. It supplies one total, not separate terms for those convictions. This is the same prosecution used in the leaving-scene guide, not an extra independent case.
Konstanty Makowski: The July 23, 2014 release reports sentencing the preceding day to eleven years following May jury convictions. Its four prior DUIs are reported history, not a reconstructed enhancement allocation. The $30,000 restitution order is separate from prison time and is not a statutory fine. The release supplies no count-by-count term or exhaustive appeal history.
Jose Armando Macias Jr.: The May 22, 2019 release reports sentencing the preceding day in PA089981 to twelve years eight months. The earlier March plea announcement was an expected disposition, not that May imposed judgment. This is the same fatal-crash prosecution used in the manslaughter guide; its multi-count total is not allocated to DUI injury alone.
Why No Numerical Observed Range Is Claimed
The shortest and longest totals are not like-for-like measurements of §23153 alone. Fatality counts, hit-and-run conduct, multiple injured people, great-bodily-injury findings, and prior DUI convictions materially change exposure. Presenting 3 years 8 months to 12 years 8 months as a target-offense range would therefore be misleading.
Methodology and Limitations
Three reported crash prosecution clusters are described, but none is assigned a clean target-only numeric endpoint. Source neighborhood descriptions and defendant residence are not independent exact-city certification. Multiple injured people, convictions and separate guides do not add independent prosecution clusters. Relevant one-page releases were actually read; original sentence allocation, exhaustive subsequent review and case-specific historical-law qualification remain incomplete.
Sources
Disclaimer
General information only, not legal advice.