The law of driving while intoxicated (DWI) in New Jersey gives the state multiple ways to establish that a defendant was impaired by alcohol or another drug. Blood alcohol content (BAC) is not required for prosecutors to obtain a conviction. Prosecutors can also offer testimony from an arresting officer describing a…
When prosecutors in New Jersey pursue a case of alleged driving while intoxicated (DWI), they frequently rely on evidence of a defendant’s blood alcohol content (BAC) obtained through breath or blood testing. Anyone with a BAC of 0.08 percent or above is presumed to be impaired for the purpose of…
Law enforcement agencies in New Jersey use a device known as the Alcotest to determine the blood alcohol content (BAC) of individuals suspected of driving while intoxicated (DWI). A 2008 decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court in which we represented several parties, State v. Chun, determined that the Alcotest…
The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that a person may not, “for the same offense…be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” This is known as the “double jeopardy” clause of the Constitution. Courts have interpreted it to mean—in a very general sense—that the government cannot charge…
In New Jersey, driving while intoxicated (DWI) is considered a motor vehicle offense, not a criminal offense. This has important implications for how a DWI case may proceed. In most DWI cases, jail time is largely at the court’s discretion, but fines and driver’s license suspensions are not. One situation…
A new law that will take effect in New Jersey in several months will reduce the waiting periods for the expungement of criminal records, which is the process by which a person may have records of arrests, charges, and convictions removed from the public record. Unfortunately, New Jersey law does…
New Jersey law regulates alcohol in numerous ways, from licensing sellers to penalizing the possession of alcohol by minors. These laws are distributed among various state codes, including the provisions on driving while intoxicated (DWI) found in Title 39, “Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulation.” Laws dealing with the possession of…
Ignition interlock devices (IIDs) are becoming more and more common in driving while intoxicated (DWI) cases in New Jersey and around the country. For a certain period of time after some DWI convictions, an individual may only operate a vehicle equipped with an IID, which requires the person to submit…
Laws in all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico state that a person who drives with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.08 percent or higher is presumed to have committed the offense of driving while intoxicated (DWI). This “legal limit” for BAC may be lower for…
In order to prove that a person has committed the offense of driving while intoxicated (DWI), the state must prove impairment by alcohol or another intoxicating substance. Prosecutors can do this in several ways, including blood alcohol content (BAC) based on a blood or breath test. A BAC of 0.08…