New Jersey DWI Attorney Evan Levow interviewed by Lisa Bloom

I had the pleasure and honor of being interviewed by Lisa Bloom from CourtTV/truTV about being a DWI lawyer in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Ms. Bloom is an accomplished attorney and legal commentator, who was present at a national seminar where I was speaking on the Alcotest® breath test machine.

I was asked about why I do what I do in defending DWI cases in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and how I deal with my clients and their cases. I explained that anyone can be arrested for DWI in the simplest of circumstances, and find themself in a huge mess that requires effort and skill to navigate a solution.

For example, someone goes out to dinner and has a glass of wine. That person drives home, and encounters a roadblock where police are stopping all drivers, and checking for signs of intoxication. While speaking to the greeting officer at the checkpoint, the driver admits to having a glass of wine, which the officer is able to smell when speaking with the driver. It’s late in the evening, and the driver’s eyes are naturally red and glazed from a long day at work and from cigarette smoke. The officer doesn’t believe the person that he/she had only one drink, and directs the person over to the “staging” area, where the driver is required to stand on one leg and walk a line. The driver has naturally poor balance, and is wearing heeled shoes, and does poorly on the balance exercises. That person is then arrested for DWI, is taken back to the police station, and is read a confusing warning that he/she must submit to breath testing. But, the driver has been told by friends in other states that he/she should always refuse to submit to breath testing, so, he/she declines to take the breath test. The driver is released with two or more tickets, including a DWI and a Refusal ticket, and is now facing up to 15 months loss of license in New Jersey, and about $7,000.00 in fines and surcharges.

I see scenarios like this very frequently, and I described to Ms. Bloom in the video that it is situations like this that drive me to protect the rights of individuals stopped for DWI.

I also explained my involvement in State v. Chun, the landmark DWI breath testing case in New Jersey that has set the standards for DWI defense and prosecution throughout the state. I represented the lead defendant in that case, which lasted over five years of litigation. It recently ended in a dismissal of the breath testing results. This is particularly ironic, because the reasons for the dismissal of the breath tests in Ms. Chun’s own case, were based on principles established in the litigation of the case for thousands of defendants before the New Jersey Supreme Court. The case even made it as far as the United States Supreme Court.

I explained to Ms. Bloom that I leave no stone unturned on behalf of my clients and that I aggressively challenge the evidence in order to obtain the best result possible under the specific circumstances of each case.