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The most important case in New Jersey DWI history is State v. Chun, decided in 2008, which set the standards for DWI defense and prosecution for breath testing cases statewide. Despite significant evidence to the contrary, the New Jersey Supreme Court in Chun determined that the new Draeger Alcotest 7110 MKIII-C breath testing machine was scientifically reliable.

In Chun, the reliability of the machine was based on the safeguards of the testing procedure, one of which was an apparatus known as an Ertco-Hart Digital Thermometer. This thermometer insures that the temperature of the various simulator solutions used for calibration of the Alcotest during the control and linearity testing are at the required 34.0 degrees Celsius, with a tolerance of plus or minus 0.2 degrees.

These Ertco-Hart digital thermometers were calibrated by Draeger, which also supplied a NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Certificate of Traceability with each calibration. Draeger, however, decided it would no longer produce the certificates of calibration, and the Ertco-Hart digital thermometer used by the State is no longer manufactured. As a result, the required calibration had to be done with a different digital thermometer.

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A New Jersey DWI stop, arrest or conviction for an an illegal immigrant involves special and significant concerns. The immigrant has no driver’s license or other documents to establish the privilege to drive or to be in this country, and the arrest and conviction may result in his or her deportation.

According to an article in USA Today, published at http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-07-22-criminal-immigrants_n.htm, drunk driving arrests or convictions are resulting in an increasing number of deportations. Until recently, this was not as big of an issue for New Jersey DWI arrests, as a New Jersey DWI is considered a traffic offense and not a criminal offense. New Jersey is one of only two states to categorize DWI as a traffic offense.

However, depending on how Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) views the arrest, conviction and circumstances of the New Jersey DWI arrest, even a New Jersey DWI arrest or conviction could form part or all of the reasoning for ICE to commence deportation procedures. It is therefore extremely important to hire a qualified New Jersey DWI attorney to review your case and fight the charges against you. You should also consult with immigration counsel to determine the possibility or likelihood of deportation.

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Police departments in many towns in New Jersey are now utilizing portable hand held breath testing devices known as preliminary breath testers, or PBT’s. A PBT can either report an actual breath test result in numerical format such as 0.08% breath alcohol, or it can simply show a positive or negative result, signifying whether alcohol is present in the breath or not.

The PBT’s are generally supposed to be used at the end of the investigation, and not as the basis to continue an investigation. The theory is that once the officer confirms the presence of alcohol, any subjective evidence collected thereafter, such as field exercises administered to the suspect and interpreted by the officer, may be tainted by the positive result on the PBT. Therefore, PBT’s are intended to be “confirmatory” devices once the officer has undertaken other subjective testing.

No one ever has to submit to a PBT roadside. The implied consent law, which states that a driver in New Jersey must submit to breath testing where an officer has reasonable suspicion that he or she is under the influence of alcohol, applies only to evidential breath testing on an approved machine, such as the Alcotest 7110 MKIII-C, which is the only approved evidential breath testing machine currently in use in New Jersey.

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As a New Jersey DWI defense attorney, I always review my client’s prior convictions to determine which, if any, can be overturned or to determine if the effect of the conviction can be minimized for sentencing issues in the current pending case. I have written in this blog quite a bit about New Jersey Post Conviction Relief, or PCR, practice, because it is so important in the assessment of an alleged multiple offender’s case.

A case that was recently decided by the Appellate Division in New Jersey, State v. Weil (decided July 5, 2011), outlines the PCR process and what is needed to seek relief from the courts.

Petitions for PCR must be filed in the court where the original conviction occurred. In a case called State v. Bringhurst, the Appellate Division stated that the time limit for filing a PCR petition in a DWI case could be relaxed from the general five year rule, since the prior conviction would “be of no moment unless and until there was a subsequent DWI conviction.” If the prior conviction is more than five years old, the defendant has to establish that any delay in filing was not the result of neglect or some other disqualifying reason. In relaxing the time limitation, the court will consider the extent and cause of the delay, whether there is any prejudice to the State, and the importance of the claim.

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There are still significant opportunities to defend New Jersey DWI Refusal charges after the New Jersey Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Schmidt on May 26, 2011. The most important thing to remember when addressing the defense of a refusal charge is, never assume that simply being charged with a refusal means that a conviction will automatically follow.

Understanding of the law and the individuals involved is key to attempting success in what appears to be a very difficult charge to defend.

Schmidt now states the general proposition that if you blew into the machine but didn’t give a complete sample that the machine “accepted”, you cannot claim that the officer should have then read you the second part of the implied consent warning as a defense to the charge. This doesn’t mean, however, that you will automatically lose your case and suffer the consequences of a refusal charge.

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Until May 26, 2011, there was a defense to a refusal charge that you had attempted to blow into the machine, but the machine did not register or accept the breath sample. However, this is no longer a defense.

This is how the defense worked: Implied consent warnings are eleven paragraphs of written warnings read to you by the police officer in the police station prior to the breath testing. The warning states that if you do not submit to the breath testing you will be given a separate ticket for refusal with separate penalties from a DWI conviction. If you started to give a breath sample, but for any reason were unable to give a complete sample that the machine accepted, the officer would likely have charged you with refusing to submit to the testing. However, if the officer did not read the “Additional Statement” that is printed after the eleven paragraphs, then you would claim that you were not adequately warned at that point that failure to complete the testing would result in a refusal charge.

This defense was intuitively sound, since you had not actually refused to give a breath sample, and had in fact provided a sample. The officer should have separately advised you that you would be subject to a refusal charge where you had already blown. Then, you would have been on notice to continue to attempt to blow into the machine, rather than stop, subjecting yourself to a separate suspension for refusal.

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New Jersey DWI cases are subject to the sixty day guideline for case resolution in the New Jersey Municipal Court system. However, it is extremely difficult, if not unlikely to resolve a contested DWI in that amount of time.

The guideline is just that — a guideline. It is not a requirement, and courts are supposed to be fairly liberal in their interpretation of the rule. Some courts are very strict and press the case forward to the detriment of the State or the defendant, but this is rare, as the courts understand that the cases are supposed to be decided on their merits rather than a calendar. However, if the 60 days have passed and there is an unwarranted delay, the court should move the case forward. In all circumstances, the defendant’s constitutional rights must always be considered and protected.

Once discovery (police records, video, etc.) has been requested, it must be provided on an expeditious basis. Often, while some discovery is provided, not everything that is requested or required is given. In that situation, one of the primary ways to enforce defendant’s rights is to file a Motion to Compel Discovery. Once the court enters an order compelling the State to provide discovery by a date certain, if the material is not provided by that date, a Motion to Dismiss for failure to supply the court ordered discovery should be filed.

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Most New Jersey DWI automobile stops occur when a police officer has personally viewed a traffic violation. The officer then reports the violation in his or her report, and this is then the subject of scrutiny as to whether the officer had the requisite “reasonable articulable suspicion of criminal activity” required to make a stop based on constitutional law, i.e. the Fourth Amendment.

More and more, since almost everyone has a cell phone with them on the road, stops are often being made based on citizen tips — other drivers on the road who view erratic driving and dial 911 or the local police department. These are particularly interesting cases that add an additional layer to what your qualified New Jersey DWI lawyer should be doing in your case.

The law on anonymous tips, is that the tip, standing alone, is rarely sufficient to establish a reasonable articulable suspicion of criminal activity. The analysis has changed, however, with 911 calls. The New Jersey Supreme Court stated that a 911 caller “place[s] his anonymity at risk by virtue of using the 9-1-1 system” because the records required to be made of such calls “provide the police with an ability to trace the identity of the caller in a manner that enhances his reliability.” State v. Golotta, 178 N.J. 205, 225-26 (2003). The Court said that such a call should not be ” ‘viewed with the same degree of suspicion that applies to a tip by a confidential informant.’

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If you are charged with refusal to submit to breath testing in a New Jersey DWI / Refusal case, but you don’t speak English well enough to understand the implied consent warning, you may have a defense to the refusal charge. Refusal convictions require proof that the officer requested that you submit to a chemical breath test and informed you of the consequences of refusing to do so. Even though motorists are deemed to have given their consent to submit to breath testing, the officer must still inform the driver of the consequences of refusal.

In a case decided by the New Jersey Supreme Court called State v. Marquez, the Court stated that the obligation to “inform” requires more than a recitation of English words to a non-English speaker. “Knowledge cannot be imparted in that way.” The officer must convey the implied consent warning in a language the person speaks or understands.

The point of the officer advising a driver of the penalties for refusal “is to impel the driver to take the test so that the State will have the evidence necessary to prosecute a DWI charge.” That aim cannot be accomplished, according to the court, by reading words in a language the motorist does not understand.

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In a New Jersey DWI case, there are many documents that the State must provide you so that you can defend your case. This is called “discovery”. The discovery includes everything from the stop of your vehicle, through the roadside testing, to the breath or blood testing, and your release from police custody.

In order for the prosecutor to get Alcotest results admitted into evidence against you, the State must establish that: (1) the machine was in working order and had been inspected according to procedure; (2) the police officer who ran the testing on the machine was certified to do so; and, (3) the test was administered according to official procedure.

A significant challenge to the machine and admission of the Alcotest results is whether the machine was in “proper working order”. There are three core foundational documents that the State must admit into evidence to establish this:

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