We like to report on particularly gratifying results reached on behalf of our DWI clients. Last Thursday was especially pleasing as I was able to achieve some great results in two Monmouth County DWI cases.
In the first case, a man was charged with his fourth (4) DWI, along with a refusal in Red Bank, NJ. The gentlemen was not entitled to a stepdown (i.e. drop off of any of the convictions) and was therefore facing six months in jail if found guilty of DWI. Our Monmouth County DWI defense attorneys worked significantly hard to attack the DWI charge based on lack of proper administration of Field Sobriety Tests. The arresting officer had inadequate training in Field Sobriety Testing and his superior, who performed the HGN test, lacked an up-to-date certification to support his administration of the test. Our efforts proved successful and we were able to avoid a DWI conviction in this Monmouth County Case. Our client avoided jail time altogether.
In the second case, a Rumson stockbroker was charged with his First DWI in Fair Haven. His breath test readings exceeded .10 thereby exposing him to a license suspension of seven (7) months or more. We explored numerous issues concerning admissibility of the breath test results, including the twenty minute issue. In this regard, CAD (computer assisted dispatch) reports were demanded and obtained which pinpointed the time that the arresting officer brought our ciient into the station. When this time was compared to the time of the breath test, we were able to raise a viable twenty minute issue. While the municipal prosecutor, Hank Gilbertson, also fought hard on this issue, we were ultimately able to convince the Judge that this Monmouth County DWI defendant should not be bound by the breathalyzer readings. The Judge agreed with our position and ultimately suppressed the readings thereby allowing us to achieve a first tier result and a limited suspension of three months for our client. The client was extremely pleased.
We are fortunate enough to be exposed to many DWI fact patterns and so too, opportunities to refine our identification of bona fide issues. The identification of these issues is imperative to our defense of those charged with DWI in NJ as prosecutors and Courts are strictly prohibited from downgrading and/or dismissing DWI tickets absence proper legal basis.