Florida’s DUI laws changed on October 1, 2025, and anyone arrested for drunk driving in Miami after that date is operating under a different set of rules. Trenton’s Law, signed by Governor DeSantis on June 5, 2025, added a criminal charge for refusing a breath test and doubled the sentencing ceiling for repeat fatal-crash offenders. If you or someone in your family has a prior DUI conviction and is now facing new charges, the question on your mind is probably whether that history puts you in the worst-case scenario the law creates. The answer depends on exactly which prior conviction is on your record, and getting that distinction wrong is costly.
Attorney Michael Mirer spent years prosecuting cases in Miami-Dade before founding Law Office of Michael Mirer, P.A.. That experience on the other side of the courtroom shapes how we read a law like this one: not just what it says on paper, but how prosecutors at the Eleventh Judicial Circuit are actually using it, and where the defense opportunities live.
What Trenton’s Law Is & Why It Passed
HB 687, now codified as Chapter 2025-121, is named after Trenton Stewart, an 18-year-old Stetson University football player killed in May 2023 in Jacksonville. The wrong-way driver who struck him, Ariel Monteagudo, had previously served 10 years for vehicular homicide in Broward County. Under Florida law at the time, both a first and a second DUI manslaughter conviction carried the same maximum sentence. Monteagudo’s second fatal offense drew no greater penalty ceiling than his first.
The legislature responded with near-unanimous agreement, passing the bill in both chambers without a single dissenting vote. The law has two main components. First, it makes a first-time refusal to submit to a breath or urine test a criminal offense, where before it was only an administrative matter. Second, it elevates repeat DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide convictions from second-degree to first-degree felonies, raising the maximum sentence from 15 to 30 years.
The Refusal Change: What Every Miami Driver Needs to Know
Before October 1, 2025, declining a breath or urine test after a DUI arrest for the first time carried one consequence: a one-year administrative license suspension under Florida’s Implied Consent Law, F.S. § 316.1932. No criminal charge attached to a first refusal. Trenton’s Law changed that.
A first refusal after a lawful DUI arrest is now a second-degree misdemeanor under F.S. § 316.1939, punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine, on top of the one-year license suspension. A second or subsequent refusal remains a first-degree misdemeanor, carrying up to one year in jail, a $1,000 fine, and an 18-month suspension.
There’s a built-in defense angle worth understanding. Florida law now requires the arresting officer to advise you that a refusal may result in criminal prosecution, not just license suspension. That’s a more demanding warning than what officers were trained to deliver before October 1, 2025. If an officer in Miami-Dade fails to deliver that updated implied consent warning correctly, the refusal charge may be suppressible. We examine this in every case where a refusal has been charged, because procedural gaps by law enforcement can carry real consequences for the prosecution.
The Repeat-Offender Enhancement: Who It Actually Applies To
This is the part of the law most people misread, and the misreading creates unnecessary fear. A prior conviction for a standard DUI misdemeanor doesn’t trigger the 30-year enhancement under Trenton’s Law. Neither does a third-degree felony DUI, the kind that results from a third conviction within 10 years under existing F.S. § 316.193. Those convictions are serious, but they’re governed by separate provisions that Trenton’s Law doesn’t touch.
The 30-year first-degree felony enhancement applies only when someone is convicted of a second or subsequent DUI manslaughter, BUI manslaughter (under F.S. § 327.35), vehicular homicide (under F.S. § 782.071), or vessel homicide, and already has a prior conviction for one of those same qualifying offenses. The prior conviction must be for a fatal-crash offense, not just any impaired driving charge.
Here’s what the elevation means in concrete terms:
- Before Trenton’s Law: Both a first and second DUI manslaughter conviction were second-degree felonies with a 15-year maximum.
- After Trenton’s Law: A second conviction for one of the qualifying offenses becomes a first-degree felony with a 30-year maximum.
- Criminal Punishment Code impact: Trenton’s Law elevates the offense severity ranking under Florida’s Criminal Punishment Code for repeat DUI and BUI manslaughter convictions, increasing sentencing points and resulting in greater prison exposure. A statutory mandatory minimum of 4 years applies to DUI and BUI manslaughter convictions.
- License consequences: Judges now have discretionary authority to permanently revoke the driver’s license of anyone convicted of vehicular homicide, eliminating reinstatement pathways that existed before.
How Trenton’s Law Changes DUI Defense in Miami-Dade
Prosecutors at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building, where Miami-Dade DUI cases are heard in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, have been filing the refusal as a separate criminal count since October 1, 2025. That’s an additional charge they can offer to dismiss, reduce, or press depending on how negotiations develop. It shifts the leverage dynamic in plea discussions in ways that weren’t present before.
A parallel clock also starts running the moment of arrest. Under F.S. § 322.2615, you have 10 calendar days from the date of a DUI arrest in Miami-Dade to request a formal review hearing with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Miss that deadline and the administrative license suspension becomes automatic with no right to challenge it. Requesting the hearing within the window preserves your right to fight the suspension, secures a temporary driving permit in the meantime, and creates an early opportunity to cross-examine the arresting officer under oath before the criminal case fully develops. That hearing is a strategic tool, not just a procedural formality.
On the defense side, Trenton’s Law created additional points of challenge that didn’t exist before. Our review in any post-October 1, 2025 DUI arrest examines several layers:
- Reasonable suspicion for the stop: Whether the traffic stop was legally justified from the outset
- Implied consent warning accuracy: Whether the officer delivered the updated warning required by Trenton’s Law before a refusal was recorded
- Test reliability: Chain of custody and calibration records for any breath or urine test administered
- Enhancement eligibility: Whether any prior conviction alleged to trigger the 30-year enhancement is actually a qualifying conviction under the statute
What Trenton’s Law Does Not Change
Trenton’s Law isn’t retroactive. If the offense occurred before October 1, 2025, the version of the statute in effect at the time of arrest controls. Applying a harsher law to conduct that predates it would violate the constitutional prohibition on ex post facto laws, and any attempt to do so is a ground for challenge.
The existing felony provision for a third DUI conviction within 10 years, a third-degree felony under F.S. § 316.193, also remains exactly where it was. Some published summaries have conflated this track with Trenton’s Law, which creates confusion. They’re distinct: the third-DUI-within-10-years felony predates Trenton’s Law and covers repeat impaired driving; Trenton’s Law covers repeat fatal-crash offenders with a prior qualifying conviction. A first DUI offense resulting in a death also remains a second-degree felony with a 15-year maximum. The elevation to 30 years applies only when the defendant already has a prior conviction for one of the qualifying fatal-crash offenses.
Two Problems, Two Clocks
Anyone arrested for DUI in Miami after October 1, 2025 faces two separate legal problems running on two different timelines: the criminal case and the 10-day administrative license deadline that runs alongside it. Handling one without the other leaves serious consequences unaddressed. A refusal charge, if present, adds a third dimension that affects plea posture from day one.
Michael Mirer spent years prosecuting these cases in Miami-Dade and now applies that knowledge to defending them. If you’re trying to understand how Trenton’s Law applies to your situation, we can walk you through it. Reach us at (800) 798-0243.