Driving under the influence can be dangerous, and we encourage everyone to make smart decisions this holiday season. But we also know that people make mistakes. If you find yourself facing a DWI during the holidays, you will need to prioritize your defense—and you will need to hire an experienced New Jersey DWI lawyer who can help protect you by all means available.
Judges and prosecutors do not go easy on DWI defendants during the holiday season. Regardless of when you get charged with a DWI, avoiding unnecessary consequences requires an informed and strategic approach to your defense. With this in mind, here is an overview of what to do (and what not to do) if you are facing a DWI in New Jersey this holiday season:
Make Sure You Know Your Court Date
If you are facing a DWI in New Jersey, you need to make sure you know your court date. If you miss your court date, this can have serious consequences regardless of whether you are guilty of driving while intoxicated. Even though it is the holiday season, you need to make plans to be in court when you are scheduled to appear—unless your New Jersey DWI lawyer gets your arraignment waived. This is true even if it means rescheduling your holiday travel or using up one of your vacation days.
Make Sure You Know the Specific Charge (or Charges) You Are Facing
Along with making sure you know your court date, you also need to make sure you know the specific charge (or charges) you are facing. Not only will this allow you to determine what penalties are on the table, but it will also allow you to determine what you need to do in order to fight your case successfully.
Some examples of potential charges in New Jersey DWI cases include:
- Driving with an unlawful blood alcohol concentration (BAC) – If you are 21 or older, it is illegal to drive with a BAC of 0.08 percent or above (unless you have a commercial driver’s license (CDL), in which case the legal limit is 0.04 percent when you are driving for work). If you are under 21, you are not allowed to have any amount of alcohol in your system while you are driving. If your BAC is over the legal limit, this is all prosecutors need to secure a conviction.
- Driving while intoxicated (regardless of BAC) – In addition to facing a DWI based on your BAC, in New Jersey, you can also face a DWI based on other evidence of impairment. This means that even if you refuse to provide a breath sample, the police can still arrest you if you were driving erratically or if you show other signs of impairment—and prosecutors can still seek a conviction in court.
- Refusing the breath test during a DWI stop (DWI refusal) – Under New Jersey’s implied consent law, you are required to provide a breath sample during a DWI stop in most circumstances. If you refuse to provide a breath sample in violation of New Jersey’s implied consent law, you can face penalties regardless of whether you were driving while intoxicated. This is commonly referred to as a DWI refusal.
- Open container violation – New Jersey law prohibits any occupant of a vehicle from possessing an “open or unsealed alcoholic beverage container,” unless the container is “located in the trunk . . . [or] behind the last upright seat in a trunkless vehicle . . . .” Open container violations carry a $200 fine for a first-time offense.
- Assault by auto or vehicular homicide (in cases involving serious or fatal accidents) – If you are being accused of causing a serious or fatal accident while driving under the influence, you could be facing far more substantial penalties. Depending on the circumstances involved, assault by auto charges can carry up to five years in prison and a $150,000 fine, while vehicular homicide charges carry up to 10 years in prison and a $150,000 fine in most cases.
Each of these charges has different “elements” that prosecutors must be able to prove in order to secure a conviction. An experienced New Jersey DWI lawyer will be able to assess the charge (or charges) you are facing and determine what defenses you might be able to use to fight your case in court.
Do Not Assume You Will Be Found Guilty in Court
Regardless of the circumstances surrounding your DWI arrest, you should not assume you will be found guilty at trial. From fighting to keep evidence out of court to raising questions about whether you were drunk at the time of your arrest, there are several potential ways to defend against a DWI charge in New Jersey courts. The prosecution has the burden of proof—and, if prosecutors cannot prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, you are entitled to a “Not guilty” verdict regardless of the underlying facts at hand.
Do Not Plead Guilty So You Can Focus on Enjoying the Holidays
Just as you should not assume you will be found guilty in court, you should not plead guilty so you can focus on enjoying the holidays. This is a short-sighted approach that will negatively impact your life for years to come. A DWI conviction in New Jersey can have several serious consequences. These include not only fines, a driver’s license suspension, and possible jail time, but also other financial and non-financial consequences.
Take Detailed Notes About Your DWI Arrest
If you are facing a DWI in New Jersey, you should take detailed notes about your arrest. It will be important for you to share as many details as possible with your lawyer. Anything you can remember about the events leading up to your arrest, when you first saw blue lights in your rearview mirror, what the officer said before you stepped out of your car, and what transpired on the side of the road could be relevant to building your defense.
Do Not Post Any Details on Social Media
While it is important to write down as many details about your DWI arrest as possible, you should not post any details on social media. For now, you should keep all of the details of your arrest between you and your New Jersey DWI lawyer. If you post information about the night of your arrest on social media, prosecutors may be able to use your posts against you.
Hire an Experienced New Jersey DWI Lawyer to Represent You
Speaking of your New Jersey DWI lawyer, you will want to have experienced legal representation. As we said above, DWI convictions can have serious consequences, and you owe it to yourself to fight your DWI charge by all means available. An experienced New Jersey DWI lawyer will be able to help you make informed decisions, challenge the prosecution’s case in court, and target a favorable plea deal on your behalf if warranted.
Be Prepared to Work With Your Lawyer on Your Case
We know it’s the holiday season, and we know that you want to spend the holidays with your friends and family. But we also know how critical it is for you to prioritize your DWI case. While it might not be how you envisioned the holiday season, you need to be prepared to work with your lawyer to fight your DWI. If you don’t, you won’t get a second chance—and you could end up facing unnecessary consequences for years to come.
Do Not Try to Handle Your DWI Case on Your Own
Due to the significant risks you are facing and the substantial challenges involved in fighting drunk driving charges in New Jersey, you do not want to try to handle your DWI case on your own. If you make mistakes and face consequences you could—and should—have avoided, you might not get a second chance to protect yourself. Even if you have grounds to file an appeal, there is no guarantee that your appeal will be successful, and appealing a DWI conviction can be more costly and time-consuming than fighting a DWI at trial.
Once you hire a New Jersey DWI lawyer to represent you, your lawyer will be able to assist you by taking steps, including (but not limited to):
- Determining what evidence is available – Your lawyer can investigate your case to determine what evidence is available. This includes working to uncover any evidence that you can use to fight your case, as well as identifying any evidence prosecutors are likely to use against you in court.
- Determining what defenses you have available – After examining the available evidence, your lawyer can determine what defenses you can assert under the circumstances at hand. While there are several potential defenses to DUI charges in New Jersey, the defenses you can viably assert depend on the facts of your
- Representing you in court and filing motions as warranted – From providing legal representation during your arraignment to filing motions that seek to keep the prosecution’s evidence out of court, there are several steps your lawyer may be able to take in order to protect you. All of these steps require in-depth knowledge of the relevant constitutional principles and the relevant provisions of New Jersey law.
- Helping you decide how to approach your defense – Once your lawyer has a comprehensive understanding of the relevant facts and the relevant law, then your lawyer can help you decide how to approach your defense. Depending on the circumstances, this could involve targeting a pre-trial dismissal, targeting a plea deal, or fighting your DWI at trial.
- Helping you avoid mistakes and maximize your chances of a favorable outcome – Along with helping you decide how to approach your defense, your lawyer can also help you avoid mistakes and maximize your chances of a favorable outcome. When you are facing drunk driving charges in New Jersey, there are several mistakes you need to avoid, and there are also several steps you might be able to take to convince prosecutors, the judge, or the jury that the harshest possible sentence isn’t warranted.
From determining whether the police violated your constitutional rights or improperly administered the breathalyzer to filing motions to suppress evidence in court, nearly all aspects of defending against a DWI charge in New Jersey require legal knowledge and experience. While there are no guarantees, if your lawyer can use his or her legal knowledge and experience to help you avoid unnecessary consequences, hiring a lawyer will be far less costly than facing the unmitigated consequences of a DWI conviction.
Make an Informed Decision About Whether to Consider a Plea Deal
As we said above, one way an experienced New Jersey DWI lawyer can help you is by targeting a favorable plea deal on your behalf, if warranted. While entering into a plea deal allows you to resolve your case and move on with your life, this does not necessarily mean that targeting a plea deal is your best option.
Why? Because the “plea” aspect of a plea deal means that you are still pleading guilty to a violation of New Jersey law (typically reckless driving). If you have grounds to fight your DWI, you should not face any consequences unnecessarily. So, while it may be tempting to accept a plea deal that lets you get back to focusing on the holidays, you need to make sure it is truly the best option under the circumstances.
Discuss Your Case with an Experienced New Jersey DWI Lawyer in Confidence
If you are facing a DWI in New Jersey this holiday season, we strongly encourage you to contact us so we can help protect you in every way possible. With multiple offices across New Jersey, we handle DWI cases throughout the state. To discuss your case with an experienced New Jersey DWI lawyer at Helmer, Conley & Kasselman, P.A. in confidence, call us at 877-435-6371 or tell us how we can reach you online today.
