DUI Great Bodily Injury Defense in Oklahoma

When an impaired driver causes an accident resulting in great bodily injury to another person, the state prosecutes the act under a severely enhanced framework separate from standard impaired driving statutes. Great bodily injury is legally defined under Oklahoma law as trauma that creates a substantial risk of death, causes serious permanent disfigurement, or results in the protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ. This offense is classified as a Class B1 felony under the Modernization Act. Class B1 felonies represent conduct that demonstrates an extreme indifference to the physical safety of the public, carrying exceptionally steep base sentencing ranges of seven to twenty years in prison. The elevation of this crime to the B1 tier underscores the state's recognition of the profound physical, psychological, and economic externalities inflicted upon innocent victims of impaired driving collisions.