DWI/DUI
According to a New York Times study, New Jersey has some of the toughest laws in the Nation. [1] According to that same study, if a conviction is obtained New Jersey has some of the harshest penalties in the country. For example, unlike most states, like New York, New Jersey does not limited work driving licenses during the period of time of a DWI suspension.
Under New Jersey Law, a motorist charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI), N.J.S.A. 39:4-50, or in other states driving under the influence (DUI), a conviction can be obtained if the State proves beyond a reasonable doubt either the motorist had a blood alcohol reading of over .08 percent or exhibited behavior, usually through the police officer administering road side sobriety tests, that the motorist was driving under while impaired with alcohol or under the influence of drugs. Unlike most states, the New Jersey judiciary has eviscerated common defenses used in other states. Accordingly, New Jersey has the highest DWI conviction rates in the nation. New Jersey does not allow jury trials like most states. Further, New Jersey is the only state in the entire country that does not allow the defense of extrapolation. This defense allows the testimony of an expert witness, to calculate backward what the blood alcohol level was during the period of operation, as opposed to the time the test was administered. This is based on the scientific principal that it takes time for the alcohol in the stomach to get into the bloodstream.
In spite of those hard facts, acquittals are sometimes obtained in Municipal Court, or through appeal, the Superior Court, or Appellate Division. Faced with this tough challenge Attorney Sanzone has obtained not guilty verdicts through a variety of methods, which include, filing suppress motions to suppress the motor vehicle stop as being without reasonable suspicion. Most acquittals, however, come from actual trials, in which the State is forced to present the testimony of the police officer. In those cases the prosecutor through the direct testimony of the police officer, must get into evidence all of the documents connected with the blood alcohol machine. Under the new Alcotest 71110 machine the State must introduce correctly 19 separate documents. In these types of cases this is where the experience of trial attorney comes into play, with trial skill, use of evidentiary objections and advocacy, to prevent those documents from coming into evidence, and increasing the chances of an acquittal.
In addition to foregoing there is an automatic minimum seven months loss of license for any motorist who refuses to submit to a breath test once properly arrested, with probable cause, for suspected DWI. Note, that same refusal does not apply to a motorist who is taken to the hospital for a blood test who can still legally refuse to submit to a blood test. Of course, if a court order is issued for the taking of the blood, than the refusal would be unlawful.
With the new Alcotest 7110 machine the State must present the following. 1. The breath temperature must be measured and controlled by a breath temperature sensor. If the machine does not have a sensor, the final reading must be lowered by 6.58%. 2. If the defendant is a female over 60 years of age, her minimum volume breath rate into the machine should be 1.2 liters. 3. The tolerance range for all tests cannot exceed .005%, plus or minus. 4. The municipal court has discretion in admitting all of the machines records under the business records exception, provided however, that proper foundations are lied, including all of the foundational documents showing the machine was in proper working order. Results: The DWI charge is winnable. See my discussion of a recent case in which a number of motions were used to have the entire case dismissed.
Results: The DWI charge is winnable. See my discussion of a recent case in which a number of motions were used to have the entire case dismissed. http://vincent-sanzone.blogspot.com/2011/12/motion-to-suppress-evidence-how-to-beat.html
