New Jersey DWI Attorney Blog

The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees criminal defendants the right to a speedy trial. If this right is denied, the court may dismiss the charges. The New Jersey Supreme Court considered this issue in New Jersey v. Cahill, ruling in early April 2013 that a sixteen-month wait for a DWI trial in municipal court denied the defendant’s right to a speedy trial. Applying a four-part test developed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 in Barker v. Wingo, the court affirmed the dismissal of the DWI charge.

The defendant was ticketed on October 27, 2007 for driving while intoxicated and other motor vehicle charges. Six months later, on April 10, 2008, a grand jury indicted him for fourth-degree assault by auto. The defendant pleaded guilty to the assault by auto charge in Camden County Superior Court on September 19, 2008. A judge sentenced him to one year of probation, plus fines and other penalties, on November 14, 2008.

That same day, the Camden County prosecutor sent written notice to the Pennsauken Municipal Court administrator that the Superior Court was remanding the October 2007 motor vehicle tickets to the municipal court, and that the defendant had waived double jeopardy. The municipal court notified the defendant in March 2010 that it had set the DWI and other motor vehicle charges for trial on April 12, 2010. This date was sixteen months after notice of remand was sent to the municipal court, and almost twenty-nine months after the date of the tickets. Continue reading

As a New Jersey DWI lawyer, my goal is always to do the best job for my client, which means seeking to get the DWI dismissed. If that cannot be accomplished based on the circumstances of the case, then the next goal is to seek a reduction of the suspension time.

In first offense DWI cases in New Jersey, there is a two tiered sentencing structure.

If your breath or blood alcohol result was 0.10% or greater, then you are an alleged second-tier offender. This means, that if convicted, you face a license suspension of 7 to 12 months. If your breath breath or blood alcohol result was 0.15% or higher, then you are also subject to mandatory installation of an ignition interlock device.

A New Jersey DWI charge is very serious and has significant consequences if you are convicted. As a result, your defense must be thoroughly planned and executed to obtain the best results possible.

It is always the goal of the qualified DWI defense attorney to attempt to have a DWI charge dismissed. The success of having the DWI dismissed, of course, depends on the specific facts and circumstances of the case and the overall situation.

Your DWI lawyer must always be ready to go to trial in your case. That doesn’t mean that your case will end up in trial, however if your lawyer is ready to actually try your case, the prosecutor, police officer, and judge may look at your circumstances differently.

I just finished meeting with a NJ DWI client, prepping him for a potential trial. The client said to me that when he chose my law firm, he had spoken with other attorneys trying to decide which law firm was best for him. He wanted to know whether I was going to “show him the beef, and not just the sizzle”. I looked quizzically at him, and asked him what that meant.

He told me that when researching my firm and discussing his options with the other lawyers he was interviewing, one lawyer had the nerve to say that the “high-priced lawyers are all sizzle and no beef”. The lawyer went on to say that he could do the same job that the more expensive lawyers do at half the cost.

During the balance of the prep time, we discussed “the beef”. We discussed how I will defend his case at trial, how I will not back down, and how I will fight for him until the very end. That “sizzle” is the beef. When hiring a lawyer, the client must be certain that that lawyer and law firm will follow through on his or her behalf. In other words, the potential client must make sure that the lawyer and law firm will fight all the way and try a case. You may not end up a trial, but you want to make sure that the lawyer you hire is preparing your case as if it will go to trial. That is the best way to assure that your case is prepped properly and fought fully.

In a New Jersey DWI case, the prosecutor must prove the basic elements of the offense. The simplest of those elements is whether the individual arrested actually operated the motor vehicle.

Often, New Jersey DWI arrests are made as a result of tip call, or someone calling into the police department reporting an erratic driver. The caller will sometimes give the license plate number of the vehicle, which can then be traced to the owner’s residence. If the police then locate the car in the driveway of the residence, without that driver in the vehicle, there is a question as to who operated the vehicle. Unless the caller can identify the driver, or if the driver admits to operating the vehicle, the state will have a difficult, if not impossible time, in establishing who operated the vehicle.

Even if operation is established, the state must still prove that the operator drove the vehicle while intoxicated. Depending on how long the vehicle was stationary at the residence, it may be difficult for the state to establish that the driver did not drink alcohol once the motorist arrived at the residence.

As a New Jersey DWI lawyer that only practices DWI law and nothing else, the first question I am often asked is, “What is your fee?” I don’t like that question, because it doesn’t take into account the reality of why a person is searching for a lawyer to defend one of the most serious charges that the person will likely ever face.

My answer is, “It depends on what you mean by ‘affordable’.”

You can spend anywhere from $750 to $7500 in initial fees. Chances are that if you are on a limited budget, say a couple thousand, what you define as affordable, may end up costing you a lot more in the end. For instance, if you hire someone that doesn’t have the knowledge or skill to really fight your case, what are you spending your money on? If you are convicted, as a first offender, you will not only pay the $700 or so in court costs, but there might be an interlock requirement for your car depending on your breath reading, which will cost you more than $1000.00; you will be surcharged by the State $3000, and your insurance company will separately surcharge you anywhere from $3000 to $10,000 or more over three years.

As a New Jersey DWI lawyer who vigorously fights for my clients, I am honored to have been selected to Best Lawyers in America® for the fifth consecutive year. Today, I received the following email from Steve Naifeh, President of Best Lawyers:

“Congratulations on having been selected by your peers for inclusion in the 2012 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® in the practice area of DUI/DWI Defense. For nearly three decades, Best Lawyers has been regarded – by both the profession and the public – as the definitive guide to legal excellence in the United States.

“Selection to Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive and rigorous peer-review survey (comprising more than 3.9 million confidential evaluations by your fellow top attorneys) and because no fee or purchase is required to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is rightly considered a singular honor. Our annual, advertisement-free publication has been described by The American Lawyer as “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”