Wyoming DUI Statute: Penalties, License Suspension, and Interlock

Wyoming DUI penalties start at up to six months in jail and a $750 fine for a first conviction and climb to as much as seven years in state prison and a $10,000 fine for a fourth conviction within ten years.¹² Every conviction also brings a license suspension, and most repeat convictions require an ignition interlock device at your own expense. The ten-year lookback window is what drives the escalation: prior convictions outside that window don’t count toward enhanced penalties, but every one inside it does.

Penalties by Offense Number

First Offense

A first DUI is a misdemeanor. The ceiling is six months in jail and a $750 fine.¹ There is no mandatory minimum jail time at this level, and many first-time offenders avoid the maximum. The court will commonly order a substance abuse assessment and can require treatment based on what that assessment finds. The conviction creates a permanent criminal record and triggers a 90-day license suspension on the civil side.

If your BAC at the time of the test was 0.15% or higher, you also face a six-month ignition interlock requirement on top of everything else.³ First-time offenders who blew below 0.15% are not required to install an interlock.

Second Offense

A second DUI within ten years carries the same six-month maximum, but a judge no longer has discretion to keep you out of jail entirely. The mandatory minimum is seven days behind bars. Fines range from a mandatory $200 to a maximum of $750.¹ The court will order substance abuse treatment and typically impose probation with conditions like random testing.

The license suspension jumps to one full year, and an ignition interlock is required for one year after reinstatement regardless of what your BAC was.⁴

Third Offense

A third conviction within ten years still sits inside the misdemeanor tier, but the mandatory minimum jail time rises sharply. You are looking at at least 30 days in jail, up to six months. Fines run from $750 to $3,000.¹

Up to 15 days of the mandatory 30 can be suspended if you complete an inpatient treatment program approved by the court. That is the one meaningful lever available at this stage, and it rewards getting into treatment early. The license consequence also sharpens: WYDOT revokes rather than suspends, for three years, and the ignition interlock requirement lasts two years once you can drive again.

Fourth or Subsequent Offense

A fourth DUI within ten years is a felony. The maximum sentence is seven years in state prison, with fines up to $10,000.² A felony conviction follows you well past the sentence itself: it affects employment, housing, and firearm rights.

The ignition interlock requirement at this level is lifetime. You can petition the court for removal after five years, and every five years after that if the first petition is denied. The court will only grant removal if you have no new DUI convictions since the original felony offense.⁵

Enhanced Penalties With a Child in the Vehicle

If you are 18 or older and have a passenger under 16 in the vehicle during a DUI offense, Wyoming adds a separate charge on top of the standard DUI. A first conviction under this enhancement carries up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $750, or both. A second conviction jumps to up to five years in prison.³

These sentences stack with the underlying DUI penalty. A first-time offender with a child in the car is exposed to both the standard misdemeanor DUI consequences and the separate enhancement, which effectively doubles the maximum jail exposure for a first offense.

License Suspension

Two separate suspensions can come out of a single DUI arrest. The first is administrative, triggered the moment a chemical test shows a BAC of 0.08% or higher. WYDOT suspends your license for 90 days through what’s called an Administrative Per Se (APS) suspension, and this happens whether or not you are eventually convicted.⁶ You have 20 days from the notice to request a hearing. Miss that window and the suspension begins automatically after the 30-day temporary permit expires.

Refusing the chemical test does not spare you. Refusal triggers its own administrative suspension, and prosecutors can introduce the refusal at trial as evidence of consciousness of guilt.⁶

The second suspension kicks in on conviction, and the length depends on how many offenses you have in the previous ten years:

If a conviction later results from the same incident that triggered the APS suspension, WYDOT reduces the conviction-based suspension by 90 days to account for time already served administratively.⁶ In practice the two overlap rather than running back to back.

Suspension and revocation are not the same thing. A suspension is temporary and the license is restored once you complete the reinstatement requirements. A revocation cancels the license entirely, and you have to reapply from scratch. If your vehicle registration is in your name and you had a prior DUI in the previous two years, WYDOT can also suspend the registration itself for the duration of the license action.⁷

Ignition Interlock Costs and Duration

An ignition interlock device (IID) wires into your vehicle’s ignition and requires a clean breath sample before the engine will start. You pay for installation and monthly monitoring; WYDOT maintains a list of approved providers.⁴ If you qualify as indigent and receive SNAP benefits, you may be eligible for state funds covering half the cost.

Required duration by offense:

Underage DUI

Drivers under 21 face a separate statute with a 0.02% BAC threshold, low enough that a single drink can trigger it.⁹ Penalties start at a fine of up to $750 and a license suspension for a first offense. A second offense within one year brings up to 30 days in jail; a third within two years brings up to six months.

Note the short lookback windows. A prior underage DUI only counts toward enhancement if it falls within one year (second offense) or two years (third offense) of the current one. The adult DUI’s ten-year window is much longer. An underage driver who blows 0.08% or higher can be charged under the adult statute instead, with the heavier adult penalties attached.

Getting Your License Back

Finishing the suspension period is not enough on its own. You must file an SR-22 certificate, proof of financial responsibility that your insurance company submits directly to WYDOT, and the requirement stays in place for three years. Your driving privileges remain suspended until the SR-22 is on file, even if the suspension clock has run out.⁸ SR-22 coverage typically costs noticeably more than standard auto insurance.

Fees include a $50 reinstatement fee, the standard driver license fee, and, if an IID is required, a $100 ignition interlock administrative fee.⁴

A limited probationary license is available during the suspension period, but only to first-time offenders whose BAC was below 0.15% and who have not held a probationary license in the previous five years. Second and subsequent offenders cannot get one, and anyone whose license was revoked rather than suspended is also ineligible.⁸ That rules out third-offense drivers entirely, since their license is revoked.

When to Call a Lawyer

A DUI arrest sets two clocks running at once: the administrative license process at WYDOT and the criminal case in court. The 20-day window to request an administrative hearing is the easiest deadline to miss and the one that eliminates any chance of challenging the suspension before it starts. For a first offense, an attorney may be able to negotiate a plea to a lesser charge such as reckless driving, which sidesteps the mandatory IID installation, the SR-22 requirement, and the DUI conviction itself. For a second offense or higher, mandatory minimum jail time and (at the fourth) felony exposure make legal representation worth pursuing early.

1
Wyoming Legislative Service Office. Topic Summary – Driving Under the Influence
2
Wyoming Governor’s Council on Impaired Driving. Wyoming Laws
3
Justia. Wyoming Code 31-5-233 – Driving or Having Control of Vehicle While Under Influence of Intoxicating Liquor or Controlled Substances; Penalties
4
Wyoming Department of Transportation. Ignition Interlock Program
5
Wyoming Legislative Service Office. Topic Summary – Ignition Interlock Removal Hearings
6
Justia. Wyoming Code 31-6-102 – Test to Determine Alcoholic or Controlled Substance Content of Blood
7
Justia. Wyoming Code 31-7-128 – Mandatory Suspension of License or Nonresident Operating Privilege for Certain Violations
8
Wyoming Department of Transportation. Driving Privilege Withdrawal
9
Justia. Wyoming Code 31-5-234 – Unlawful Operation of Vehicle by Youthful Driver With Detectable Alcohol Concentrations