New Oklahoma DUI makes it easier than ever to become a felon.
Starting November 1st, 2025, SB 54, c. 347, § 1 will go into effect giving Oklahoma one of the harshest DUI statutes in the country. Thankfully, the legislature gave us a reprieve that will go into effect on January 1st, 2026, with HB 2104, c. 486, § 33 that will amend the DUI statute to more closely resemble what we have today. But, for the period of November 1st, 2025, through January 1st, 2026, it will be easier than ever before to get a felony DUI for a first offense.
The Oklahoma statute that deals with DUIs is 47 O.S. §11-902 (OSCN 2025). The specific sections that are so drastically changing things in November are §11-902(D)(3) and (7) which states:
D. Any person who is convicted of a violation of driving under the influence while also committing one of more of the following acts:
3. Driving in a manner that violates the provisions of Section 11-301, 11-302, 11-306, 11-309, or 11-311 of this title.
§11-301, 302, 306 and 311 all deal in driving on the righthand side of the roadway and when it is legal to be in the lefthand lanes for passing, emergency or hazardous situations. A person violating one of these statutes would get a ticket saying something like “weaving” or “driving left of center”.
§11-309 sets out the rules for proper turn signal usage and when it is permissible to be in a turn only lane. A violation of this statute would commonly be called something along the lines of “improper signal use”, “failure to signal” and “improper lane usage”.
With (D)(7) stating in relevant part;… shall, upon conviction, be guilty of aggravated driving under the influence, which shall be a felony offense.
Why does this matter? It matters because people are usually found to be driving under the influence after they have been pulled over for something else. Common examples of reasons for stops include the examples given above like “weaving” and “failing to signal”. All of which, by themselves, would only qualify to be a misdemeanor DUI today where the punishment could be imprisonment for ten (10) days up to one (1) year in county jail, and up to a $1,000 fine. Whereas from November 1st through January 1st, that same DUI will become a felony that carries the possibility of one (1) to five (5) years in the custody of the Department of Corrections and a fine up to $2,500.00.
Aside from it costing more time and money, becoming a convicted felon has some serious long-term consequences. The first of which is losing the right to own or even be in the same vehicle/house as a firearm. If a convicted felon is caught near a firearm, regardless of whether they were aware of its presence, they could be punished by up to 10 years in the Department of Corrections. It is also irrelevant whether it’s an actual firearm in the way most people think as the statute dictating punishment for this includes language such as “air or toy pistols”. 21 O.S. § 1283 (OSCN 2025). Further, convicted felons lose the right to vote in elections until they have completed the entirety of their sentence. 26 O.S. § 4-101 (OSCN 2025).
Guns and voting aren’t a convicted felons only concern though. Having a felony on your record has the possibility of drastically raising the punishment of any crime that might be committed in the future. Continuing with our DUI example, if you have a felony DUI on your record and you pick up a misdemeanor DUI as discussed above, it automatically turns from a misdemeanor into a felony that is punishable by (1) to (10) years in the Department of Corrections and a $5,000 fine. 47 O.S. § 11-902(C.1)(2)(b) (OSCN 2025).
Thankfully, this craziness will only last this 2025 holiday season, and our DUI statute will go back to resembling what we have today. Until then if anyone needed anymore reasons to call an Uber, here it is.
Felony Process for Tulsa County
Arrested for a felony? Here's what's next.
While this is specific to Tulsa County, this will also be generally applicable to the surrounding counties.
ARRAIGNMENT
The first court appearance after an arrest and charges are filed is called the arraignment or initial appearance. The most important part of the arraignment is that the defendant appears to answer the charges against them. It will be here that the court informs the defendant of the crime that they are being charged with and enters a not guilty plea on their behalf. After which the court will give the defendant a new court date, their Preliminary Hearing. The Preliminary Hearing setting will generally be within 14 days of the date of arraignment.
PLEA BARGAIN
Unlike on TV where everything goes to trial, most cases here in the real world are resolved through plea bargains. A plea bargain is simply an agreement between the Prosecution and the defense that provides a resolution to the case without it having to go all the way to trial. A plea bargain in a felony case can occur at any time after the arraignment and all the way up to trial in some circumstances.
PRELIMINARY HEARING
The Preliminary Hearing is often referred to as a “mini trial” where the prosecution will provide witnesses and evidence to a magistrate judge to prove that there is probable cause to believe a crime was committed and probable cause to believe that the defendant committed the crime. This is as low of a standard as it sounds. Probably a crime was committed and probably the defendant committed it. If the prosecution meets this burden, the defendant will be bound-over for District Court Arraignment.
DISTRICT COURT ARRAIGNMENT
District Court Arraignment, or DCA, is very similar to the initial arraignment with the exception that this appearance is the first time that a defendant will meet the Judge who will handle the case through trial if necessary. At DCA the court will again inform the defendant of the charges against them and set a date for what is referred to as an Allen Hearing.
ALLEN HEARING
An Allen Hearing is used by the court to ensure that the defendant has received all of the evidence, referred to as discovery, concerning the case. The defendant has the right to obtain evidence that the prosecution is going to use against them, including but not limited to relevant police reports, search warrants that were issued, and the names of the witnesses that the Prosecution plans to present. If the Prosecution has turned over all the evidence, both the Prosecution and defendant will announce that discovery is complete or if it has not, the court will set a new Allen Hearing date and order the Prosecution to turn over the discovery by that date.
PRETRIAL MOTIONS
Defendant’s counsel may choose to file certain motions prior to the trial. If the defense files a motion prior to trial the court will set a hearing date at which time the court will rule on the issue presented in the motion. Motions may be filed for many reasons which are too numerous to mention.
TRIAL
The trial is composed of the jury selection, followed by the opening statement from the defense and the prosecution, the presentation of both side’s evidence, the jury instructions, the closing arguments and finished up with jury deliberation.
Jury Selection: Also known as Voir Dire, is done through a question-and-answer process where both the prosecution and the defense will choose a jury from a panel of individuals that were summoned for Jury Duty.
Opening Statements: Are statements made to the jury by both the prosecution and the defense that will outline the case and give the jury an initial picture of where the trial is going.
Presentation of Evidence: This is the part that TV loves to show and what most people would imagine when thinking of a trial. This portion involves the calling of witnesses and presentation of any physical evidence by both the prosecution and defense.
Jury Instructions: At this point the Judge will instruct the jury on the law that is applicable to the case. Instructing the jury quite literally means reading the applicable jury instructions to the jury.
Closing Arguments: This is where the prosecution and defense will argue their interpretation of the evidence to the jury and rest their case.
Deliberation: This is the part on TV where the court sends the jury out of the courtroom where they will attempt to reach a decision in the case.
Misdemeanor Process for Tulsa County
Facing a misdemeanor charge? Here's what you can expect.
Though this is specific to Tulsa County, this will be the same general process that other counties in Oklahoma follow.
ARRAIGNMENT
The first court appearance after an arrest and charges are filed is called the arraignment or initial appearance. The most important part of the arraignment is that the defendant appears to answer the charges against them. It will be here that the court informs the defendant of the crime that they are being charged with and enters a not guilty plea on their behalf. After which the court will give the defendant a new court date, referred to as the Jury Trial Sounding Docket. The Jury Trial Sounding Docket setting will generally be within 30 days of the date of arraignment.
JURY TRIAL SOUNDING DOCKET
The Jury Trial Sounding Docket setting, or JTS, is the first setting that the defense has a chance to negotiate with the prosecution to possibly resolve the matter. From this point the case will go one of three directions: 1) plea bargain 2) motion hearing 3) trial. The decision on which of these options to take is up to the defendant and only them and should only be made after discussing all the options with their attorney.
PLEA BARGAIN
Unlike on TV where everything goes to trial, most cases here in the real world are resolved through plea bargains. A plea bargain is simply an agreement between the prosecution and the defense that provides a resolution to the case without it having to go all the way to trial. A plea bargain in a misdemeanor case can occur at any time after the arraignment and all the way up to trial in some circumstances.
MOTION HEARING
A motion hearing is used when there is an issue in the case that the defense feels needs to be ruled on by a judge before continuing towards a plea bargain or trial. Procedurally, the motion hearing is a mini trial on the issue that the defense feels needs ruled on. For example, the defense might request a motion hearing to suppress evidence that was the result of a defective search warrant. At this hearing, testimony will be heard and the prosecution and defense counsel will both make legal argument to the Judge who will rule on the issue. If the Judge rules in the defendant’s favor, the evidence will be suppressed, the case may be dismissed, or possibly reduced to a lesser charge by the prosecution, or the prosecution could decide to pursue the case without that evidence. If the case is dismissed the defendant will be free to go. If the case is not dismissed the defendant has the option of entering into a plea bargain or setting the case for trial.
ALLEN HEARING
An Allen Hearing is used by the court to ensure that the defendant has received all of the evidence, referred to as discovery, concerning the case. The defendant has the right to obtain evidence that the prosecution is going to use against them, including but not limited to relevant police reports, search warrants that were issued, and the names of the witnesses that the prosecution plans to present. If the prosecution has turned over all the evidence, both the prosecution and defendant will announce that discovery is complete or if it has not, the court will set a new Allen Hearing date and order the prosecution to turn over the discovery by that date.
TRIAL
The trial is composed of the jury selection, followed by the opening statement from the defense and the prosecution, the presentation of both side’s evidence, the jury instructions, the closing arguments and finished up with jury deliberation.
Jury Selection: Also known as Voir Dire, is done through a question-and-answer process where both the prosecution and the defense will choose a jury from a panel of individuals that were summoned for Jury Duty.
Opening Statements: Are statements made to the jury by both the prosecution and the defense that will outline the case and give the jury an initial picture of where the trial is going.
Presentation of Evidence: This is the part that TV loves to show and what most people would imagine when thinking of a trial. This portion involves the calling of witnesses and presentation of any physical evidence by both the prosecution and defense.
Jury Instructions: At this point the Judge will instruct the jury on the law that is applicable to the case. Instructing the jury quite literally means reading the applicable jury instructions to the jury.
Closing Arguments: This is where the prosecution and defense will argue their interpretation of the evidence to the jury and rest their case.
Deliberation: This is the part on TV where the court sends the jury out of the courtroom where they will attempt to reach a decision in the case.
General Types of Sentences in Oklahoma
Sentences generally fall into one of four categories; 1) straight sentence, 2) split sentence, 3) suspended sentence and, 4) deferred sentence.
Straight Sentence: A straight sentence is when a defendant pleads or is found guilty by the trier of fact, the court enters a finding of guilt, which is formally convicting the defendant of the crime, and the defendant is sentenced to serve time in either jail or prison. In this situation the defendant will be taken into custody immediately to begin serving their sentence. This means that the defendant will physically do the time that they have been sentenced to in a correctional facility. This is commonly referred to as "in time".
Split Sentence: A split sentences occurs when a defendant pleads or is found guilty, the court enters a finding of guilt, which formally convicts the defendant of the crime, the defendant is sentenced to serve time in either jail or prison and the sentence is split between "in time" and probation. An example of this would be a defendant who is sentenced to 1 year in jail with 6 months to be served in jail, “in time”, and the other six months is suspended, which means that the defendant will be released from jail after six months to finish their remaining six months on probation. Time spent on probation is commonly referred to as doing time “on paper” or “paper time”.
Suspended Sentence: A suspended sentence occurs when a defendant pleads or is found guilty, the court enters a finding of guilt, which formally convicts the defendant of the crime, the defendant is sentenced to serve time in either jail or prison and that time is suspended by the court allowing the defendant to do complete their entire sentence on probation rather than in a jail cell.
Deferred Sentence: A deferred sentence occurs when a defendant pleads guilty and the court defers the finding of guilt for a set period of time. This means that the court never enters a finding of guilt formally convicting the defendant; instead, the court withholds the finding of guilt during the defendant's term of probation. If the defendant successfully completes their probation the court will withdraw the defendant’s plea of guilty and dismiss the charges against them. The benefit of a deferred sentence is that a defendant has the ability to keep a criminal conviction off their record, and they will end up at the same place as if they had received a “not guilty” at a trial without the risk of 12 strangers deciding their future.
