Extreme & Super Extreme DUI in Arizona: What .15 and .20 Really Mean

By Joe Styler, Editor – not an attorney · Sources checked July 31, 2026

Arizona is one of the few states that escalates a DUI purely on the number. Cross 0.15 and a first-offense DUI stops being a 10-day case and becomes a 30-day one; cross 0.20 and it’s 45. No accident, no injury, no prior record required – the breath or blood reading alone moves you into a tier with mandatory jail that judges have far less room to suspend. If you’re staring at a number in that range on a Coconino County charging document, this page explains exactly what changes and where these cases still have soft spots.

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The three alcohol tiers, side by side

Arizona splits alcohol DUIs by blood alcohol concentration. Standard DUI lives in A.R.S. § 28-1381; both elevated tiers come from A.R.S. § 28-1382.

• Standard DUI (0.08–0.149). First offense: minimum 10 consecutive days jail, up to 9 suspendable with screening and any recommended program; minimum $1,250 in fines before add-ons; 90-day license suspension; interlock at least 12 months.
• Extreme DUI (0.15–0.199). First offense: minimum 30 days jail, with a portion not eligible for suspension; minimum $2,500 in fines and assessments; 90-day suspension; interlock 12 months.
• Super Extreme DUI (0.20 and above). First offense: minimum 45 days jail; roughly $3,250 or more in fines and assessments; 90-day suspension; interlock 18 months.

All three are misdemeanors – that’s worth saying plainly, because people often assume a 0.20 reading means a felony. It doesn’t, by itself. What makes a DUI a felony is a separate set of triggers covered in our aggravated DUI guide: driving on a suspended license, a third offense inside 84 months, or a passenger under 15.

What “mandatory” actually means here

The jail figures above are statutory floors, and that’s the practical difference between the tiers. On a standard first DUI, most of the 10 days can typically be suspended once screening and any recommended treatment are done – so many first offenders serve close to the minimum. On Extreme and Super Extreme, the suspendable portion is much smaller and the floor much higher. A judge who wants to be lenient has less room to be.

That single fact drives most Extreme DUI strategy. The gap between a 0.149 and a 0.150 reading is 20 days of jail and roughly a thousand dollars – which is why the accuracy of the number itself becomes the center of the case rather than a footnote.

Where the number itself is challengeable

When a single decimal decides the tier, the testing process gets real scrutiny:

• Margin of error. Breath instruments have an inherent tolerance. A reading barely over a threshold – 0.15 or 0.20 – may fall within the range where the true value sits in the tier below, which can be the whole ballgame.
• Calibration and maintenance records. Arizona requires breath equipment to be maintained and calibrated on a schedule. Gaps in the logs, an out-of-spec device, or an officer not certified on that specific instrument all undercut the reading.
• The 20-minute observation period. Burping, acid reflux, or residual mouth alcohol during that window can inflate a breath result.
• Rising BAC and the two-hour rule. Alcohol keeps absorbing after your last drink. If you were tested well after driving, your BAC at the wheel may have been materially lower than what the machine later recorded.
• Blood draw integrity. Chain of custody, vial type, storage, and the lab’s gas-chromatography procedure each have to hold up.

None of this is a guarantee. But moving a case from Super Extreme to Extreme, or from Extreme down to standard, is a very real outcome – and it’s worth more to most defendants than any other single result short of dismissal.

Flagstaff-specific wrinkles

A few things about this town push readings higher than people expect. Alcohol is often consumed faster and at altitude – Flagstaff sits at 7,000 feet, and while altitude doesn’t change your BAC chemistry, it does affect how impaired you feel, which leads people to misjudge how much they’ve had. Ski-season and holiday enforcement around Snowbowl, Route 66, and Milton Road is heavier, and DPS works the I-17 and I-40 corridors hard on those weekends. And the roadside field sobriety tests that build probable cause for the breath test are performed on cold, uneven, often icy ground – conditions that degrade performance for entirely sober people.

Where your stop happened also sets your courthouse: inside city limits it’s Flagstaff Municipal Court; elsewhere in the county it’s a Coconino County justice court. Our main Flagstaff DUI guide covers that structure in full.

If it’s not your first

The tiers stack with priors. An Extreme DUI with a prior DUI inside 84 months carries substantially higher minimums than a first Extreme – longer jail, a bigger fine, and a one-year license revocation rather than a 90-day suspension. If you have a prior in that window, read our second-offense DUI guide alongside this one, because the prior is doing more work in your case than the BAC number is.

Frequently asked questions

Is an Extreme DUI a felony in Arizona?

No. Extreme (0.15–0.199) and Super Extreme (0.20+) are misdemeanors, though serious ones with mandatory jail. A DUI becomes a felony – aggravated DUI – only through separate triggers like driving on a suspended license, a third offense within 84 months, or a passenger under 15 in the car.

How much jail will I actually serve on a first Extreme DUI?

The statutory minimum is 30 days, and unlike a standard first DUI, only a limited portion is eligible for suspension. Expect meaningfully more custody time than a standard DUI, with the exact amount depending on your court, your compliance with screening and treatment, and how the case resolves.

Can an Extreme DUI be reduced to a standard DUI?

Yes – that’s one of the most common realistic goals in these cases. Because the tier turns entirely on a number, challenges to the instrument’s calibration, the observation period, the margin of error, or rising-BAC timing can move a case down a tier, cutting the mandatory jail floor substantially.

What’s the difference between Extreme and Super Extreme?

The threshold and the penalties. Extreme starts at 0.15 with a 30-day jail minimum and 12 months of interlock; Super Extreme starts at 0.20 with a 45-day minimum, higher fines, and 18 months of interlock.

I blew a 0.15 exactly – does that count as Extreme?

A reading at or above 0.15 falls in the Extreme range, which is exactly why borderline results get fought so hard. Instrument tolerance and testing timing matter enormously at the threshold, and a case sitting right on the line is one worth having reviewed carefully.

Do I still lose my license for 90 days?

On a first offense, yes, the administrative suspension is the same 90 days as a standard DUI – and it runs through the separate MVD track with its own roughly 15-day deadline to request a hearing. See our license suspension guide for how that process works.

Related guides

• Flagstaff DUI Lawyer: the full penalty and process guide
• First-offense DUI in Flagstaff
• Second DUI and the 84-month window
• Aggravated DUI – when a DUI becomes a felony
• License suspension and the MVD hearing
• Ignition interlock: how long and how much

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