Is a DUI a Felony in Indiana? Levels, Priors, and Penalties

In Indiana, a DUI can be a felony, but most are not. The state calls the offense Operating While Intoxicated (OWI), and a first offense with a moderate BAC is a misdemeanor. The charge becomes a felony when specific facts are present: a prior OWI conviction within the past seven years, an OWI that causes serious bodily injury or death, or a high-BAC or endangering OWI committed with a child in the vehicle. Felony levels run from Level 6 up to Level 4, and prison exposure reaches twelve years in the most serious cases.

The Misdemeanor Baseline

Knowing where the felony line sits requires knowing what a standard OWI looks like. Driving with a BAC between .08% and .15%, or with any amount of a schedule I or II controlled substance in your system, is a Class C misdemeanor. It carries up to 60 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.¹²

The offense steps up to a Class A misdemeanor when the driver’s BAC is .15% or higher, or when the driver operates the vehicle in a manner that endangers another person.¹ That carries up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.³ Anything more serious than these two misdemeanors is charged as a felony.

Prior OWI Within Seven Years

A second OWI within seven years of a prior conviction is a Level 6 felony. The seven-year window runs backward from the date of the new offense, so if the earlier conviction is more than seven years old, this repeat-offender enhancement does not apply.⁴

One category of prior conviction has no time limit. If any previous OWI resulted in serious bodily injury, catastrophic injury, or death, a new OWI is automatically a Level 5 felony regardless of how long ago that earlier case occurred. Indiana’s general criminal lookback statute expressly exempts this provision from its default 12-year window.⁴⁵

Causing Serious Bodily Injury

An OWI that causes serious bodily injury to another person is a Level 5 felony.⁶ Indiana’s definition of serious bodily injury is broad. It reaches any injury creating a substantial risk of death, as well as serious permanent disfigurement, unconsciousness, extreme pain, permanent or long-term loss of use of a body part or organ, and loss of a fetus.⁷ Injuries most people wouldn’t casually describe as “serious,” such as a broken bone requiring surgery or a concussion that produces prolonged unconsciousness, can fall within the definition.

If the driver also has a prior OWI conviction within the past five years, the charge escalates from a Level 5 to a Level 4 felony.⁶ This five-year window is shorter than the seven-year lookback used for the standard repeat-offense felony.

Causing Death or Catastrophic Injury

Causing another person’s death while operating a vehicle intoxicated is a Level 4 felony, the most serious OWI charge in Indiana. The same Level 4 classification applies to a “catastrophic injury,” meaning an injury so severe that it significantly impairs the victim’s ability to live independently for at least one year. Injuries causing blindness, deafness, paralysis, or intellectual disability fall within that definition.⁸

Each victim in a crash can support a separate charge. A single crash involving multiple injured or killed people can lead to multiple felony convictions and consecutive sentences.

OWI With a Child in the Vehicle

A driver who is at least 21 years old and commits an OWI with a passenger under 18 in the vehicle is charged with a Level 6 felony, even without any prior record. The statute has a limit: the underlying OWI must involve a BAC of .15% or higher, a controlled substance in the driver’s blood, or intoxicated operation that endangers someone. A BAC between .08% and .15%, with no endangerment, does not trigger this enhancement on its own.⁴

Habitual Vehicular Substance Offender

Drivers with longer OWI histories can face additional prison time through Indiana’s habitual vehicular substance offender (HVSO) enhancement. It adds one to eight years on top of the sentence for the underlying felony. Two prior unrelated OWI convictions can trigger it if at least one occurred within ten years of the current offense; with three or more priors, no time limit applies. A Level 6 felony OWI that would otherwise cap at two and a half years can reach up to ten and a half years with HVSO added.

Prison Time and Fines by Level

Indiana’s felony sentencing statutes set the following ranges. Courts use the advisory sentence as a starting point and adjust up or down for aggravating and mitigating factors.

Level 6 felony: six months to two and a half years in prison, one-year advisory sentence, fine up to $10,000.⁹
Level 5 felony: one to six years in prison, three-year advisory sentence, fine up to $10,000.¹⁰
Level 4 felony: two to twelve years in prison, six-year advisory sentence, fine up to $10,000.¹¹

A Level 6 felony has one unusual feature. The judge can enter the conviction as a Class A misdemeanor if certain conditions are met, which avoids the lifelong consequences of a felony record. The conversion is discretionary and far from automatic, but the option exists for some first-time Level 6 defendants.⁹

License Suspension

A felony OWI conviction triggers license suspension on top of prison time and fines. The court can suspend driving privileges for a period up to the maximum incarceration allowed for the offense. Cases involving serious bodily injury or a prior OWI conviction require a suspension of at least one year. If the OWI caused someone’s death, the minimum suspension is two years, and the driver cannot receive specialized driving privileges during that period.¹²

A separate administrative suspension can begin before the criminal case is resolved. Evidence of intoxication from a chemical test triggers a 180-day BMV suspension or a suspension until the charges are resolved, whichever comes first. Refusing a chemical test carries a one-year suspension for a first refusal, or two years for a driver with any prior OWI conviction.¹³

Commercial Drivers

Even a misdemeanor OWI has career consequences for anyone holding a commercial driver’s license. A first OWI conviction disqualifies the driver from operating a commercial vehicle for one year, even if the OWI happened in a personal car. The disqualification is three years if the driver was hauling hazardous materials at the time. A second OWI from a separate incident is a lifetime CDL disqualification, and refusing a chemical test counts the same as a conviction.¹⁴

1
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 9-30-5-1 – Class C Misdemeanor; Defense
2
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-50-3-4 – Class C Misdemeanor
3
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-50-3-2 – Class A Misdemeanor
4
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 9-30-5-3 – Penalties; Prior Offenses
5
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 1-1-2-2.5 – Criminal Law Lookback Periods
6
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 9-30-5-4 – Classification of Offense; Serious Bodily Injury
7
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-31.5-2-292 – Serious Bodily Injury
8
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 9-30-5-5 – Penalties; Death or Catastrophic Injury; Death of a Law Enforcement Animal
9
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-50-2-7 – Class D Felony; Level 6 Felony; Judgment of Conviction Entered as a Misdemeanor
10
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-50-2-6 – Class C Felony; Level 5 Felony
11
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-50-2-5.5 – Level 4 Felony
12
Indiana Courts. Driving Privileges
13
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 9-30-6-9
14
eCFR. Subpart D – Driver Disqualifications and Penalties