State of Tennessee v. Ricky R. Bowen

The defendant, Ricky R. Bowen, is charged with driving under the influence of an intoxicant (DUI). The state was granted an interlocutory appeal from the trial court's order dismissing the second "count" of the indictment by which the defendant was subjected to enhanced minimum sentencing as a second time offender. The issue presented is whether a conviction for the first DUI offense must precede the commission of the second offense before a defendant may be convicted of DUI, second offense. We hold that the conviction must only precede the second conviction, not the second offense.