Nys Dwi Laws
Reading Between the Lines of the New New York DWI Law Author: DWI Defense Lawyer Larry Newman Yesterday I was first up in Ithaca City Court (first come first served), with four DWI cases in various stages of disposition. Judge Rossiter began the morning by announcing to a full Courtroom (240 c...
Reading Between the Lines of the New New York DWI Law
Author: DWI Defense Lawyer Larry Newman
Yesterday I was first up in Ithaca City Court (first come first served), with four DWI cases in various stages of disposition. Judge Rossiter began the morning by announcing to a full Courtroom (240 cases on her docket) about the new New York Drunk Driving legislation that was a coming.
On November 18, 2009, Governor Paterson signed into law, Governor's Program Bill Number 204, The Child Passenger Protection Act, also known as Leandra's Law, it passed by the wide margin of 58-0. Although the law was focused on the protection of children (and those with driving children as passengers) it will have far reaching ramifications to all first time DWI offenders. New York State now joins 35 other states that make it a class E felony for first time DWI offenders driving with children as passengers. Just so we are all clear, Class E Felonies in New York State carry State prison terms of 1 to 4 years, and 5 years of probation. Compared to say, New Jersey where your first two DUIs do not even count as misdemeanors and are merely treated as traffic violations. This new law also makes Ignition Interlock Devices Mandatory for first time DWI offenders. This is something the Court must impose for a period of at least 6 months. Illinois just put this into their law in 2009, and many other states are following suit. Specifically under the new law: 1. First time DWI offenders (the DWI VTL 1192 (2) per se violation of a BAC .08 or higher and/or VTL 1192 (3) common law DWI) or Impaired by drugs (DWAI drugs) driving with a child (16 years or under) may be charged with a Class E Felony. In the past, DWIs were only charged as Class E felonies in New York State after a second DWI was committed within a 10 year time period. 2. Mandatory Driver License Suspension (pending prosecution) for people so charged. This is no different than the law in it's current form. 3. Courts MUST order an ignition interlock device on all those convicted of DWI. There is a minimum 6 month time period for Installation and maintenance of the device on any vehicle owned and operated by those convicted of DWI. 4. The Probation Department within each respective county will monitor, issue regulations, and oversee these Ignition Interlock Devices, and their usage. Reading between the lines that means Probation Supervision is a likely possibility ( 3 years for a misdemeanor DWI, and 5 years for a felony DWI) for those convicted as well. That means no drinking for 3 or 5 years with regular random (unannounced) monitoring of urine, blood, and/or breath.
5. Drivers who cause serious physical injury (the threshold for serious injury is not very high) to children 16 or younger will be charged with a Class C Felony, punishable by up to 15 years in State Prison.
6. Drivers who cause the death of child may be charged with a Class B Felony, punishable by up to 25 years in State Prison.
7. Drivers (who are also parent, guardian, or legally responsible for a child) charged with any DWI or DWAI drugs while "that" child is a passenger will also be reported to the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment. Child endangerment charges are another likely scenario as well as being held as an unfit parent or legal guardian. The good news is that this year I have not had any DWI cases where my clients had children 16 years or younger as passengers in their cars. I do not think it is a common situation. Although I did refer a DWI case with a NY driver traveling through another state who did have his children asleep in the back seat of his car. If that same case played out here, with this new legislation in place, it would be a potential nightmare on so many levels. In that situation, the Office of Children and Family Services would be involved, and those parents would be facing criminal court and family court, and an open Pandora's box of problems. Charges of Child maltreatment, Child neglect, and Child abuse may add to all the other issues facing these first time DWI offenders.
What are the laws in NYS regarding teachers and alcohol abuse?
I know someone who is a teacher but also an alcoholic. She will one day, without a doubt, we charged with DWI. How will this affect her career?
Croweye- I DID NOT EMAIL YOU. Get a life and stop creating new IDs to stalk me.
get a lawyer..
If it at all affects her work, or she is caught drunk at school, she will most likely be called in to the schools HR dept. and offered help, via treatment programs which are sometimes covered in her insurance. If she doesn’t take the help, then probably she will lose her job. If she does chose to get help, and she wants/ needs to take off some time from work, she is able to get disability if a doctor signs the proper forms.
Question about nys dwi common law opposed to an atv vtl 2404 1h?
Was wondering if anyone knows about aggravated dwi and dwi common law opposed to the nys vtl 2404 1h which is driving under the influence of alchool or drugs on an atv. I cant find any information anywhere on this charge and I beleave thats the charge I should have recieved instead of the common law dwi and agravated dwi. Any help would be greatly appreicated, and any knowledge on the penaltys and fines for the 2404, thanks in advance.
I lost my NYS drivers license after the cop didn’t show up for 2 administrative hearings. What do I do?
I made a cop angry,the kind that is suffering “roid rage”, and I had not broken a law. He charged me with DWI, I was a sober pedestrian, easily defended and exonerated, but he failed to show up for the administrative hearing for refusal??? Twice! I was at the first hearing and the judge postponed it to whenever.I was arrested again on more bogus charges and I couldn’t make bail.I got the notice of the hearing while in jail and I petitioned the judge to postpone,he didn’t and the cop’s lie won.He didn’t show either! I was exonerated on all charges,but I was in jail for four months. If I had been convicted of the of all charges, the max for the misdemeaner would have been 60 days-20 days,1/3 off for good behavior, and if all charges ran consecutively the two violations would have added 20 days,60 days! I waited 2 months in jail, for my,postponed (of course) demanded jury trial, they dropped the misdemeaner to a violation and I won that in a judge trial.Do I have a case and who do I sue?
I think you are correct on all counts.
I once had to pick up a friend in jail because he got a DWI. He blew a .28! However, he remembered everything the next morning. Sometimes a person who is heavily intoxicated will hallucinate. That’s probably what happened to your friend.
I know a little bit… the penalty is as though you were driving an automobile.. meaning you lose your license for a year, etc…
Buddy had a rough night, freaked himself out the next morning?
He drank a good amount. Here’s the thing, he woke up after a night of drinking – probably didn’t drive anywhere or anything – but freaked himself out thinking he got a DWI. I told him he’s an idiot and not to drink so much that you’d forget something like that, but I also told him it’s impossible he wouldn’t know. Here’s my question:
If he wakes up and his car is PARKED AT HIS HOUSE, he couldn’t have gotten a DWI, right? It would have been towed. He was alone, and had no record of calling anyone to pick it up. Where he was driving, it would have been illegal to park over night.
Evidence #2 – He had no paperwork, nothing, to show evidence of getting arrested
Evidence #3 – There is no way a cop would have let him go if he was still drunk enough not to remember anything
Evidence #4 – His license is still in his possession – In NYS, they have a law that permits a cop to seize the license if he failed or refused the breath test.
Evidence #5 – It’s been 4 weeks and there is no record (all police forces here put their records online) of a DWI the night he was drinking.
Help calm my buddies fear and let him know he didn’t get a DWI. I understand he is an idiot and drank wayyyyyy too much. So no judging please. Just back up my points of evidence if I am correct. You wouldn’t not know you got a DWI right?
Also, I’m doing a large paper on DWI’s (kind of sparked by his worries), so all this information helps me too.
One more thing I keep telling him – He probably would have woken up in freaking jail, correct?