New York uses the term Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) for its drinking and driving laws. The problem is that DWIs are a leading cause of death. The answer is to avoid drinking and driving at all. You might get a designated driver. You might call a cab. You might simply stay where you are. You do anything but drive after drinking. If you do drink and drive, you risk being charged with a DWI. New York DWI laws can be quite complex, but this blog guide can help you with the basics.

First Offense
You might expect a first New York DWI offense to be quite lenient. Actually, you can expect a fine of at least $500, to have your license suspended for six months, and to spend up to a year in jail. If you make this mistake, make it your last, and be sure to hire an experienced DWI lawyer.

Second Offense
The second DWI offense gets even more serious. As in most states, if you receive a second DUI before a certain amount of time has passed – in New York it’s 10 years – you can be charged with a felony. Felony charges are the maximum charges you can get for a driving offense. You can expect larger fines, more time in jail, and a longer license suspension.

Third Offense
If you get a third or further offense, you can expect prolonged jail time, to lose your license for years time, and to get some big fines. If you are unfortunate enough to go this far, you are at the mercy of the courts, but you may not be guilty. You should always fight the charges, and should do so with a  DWI lawyer.

DWAI
This term is driving while ability impaired, and means you were driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, if not both. The charges are similar as a DWI. If you get caught smoking drugs, for example, you can be charged with this and also be charged with possession.

DWI and Prescription Drugs
Even legal drugs can lead to DWI charges. Even if you are prescribed medicine, if it affects your ability to drive you should not take it before driving. An officer still needs a valid reason to pull you over, but if your driving is impaired, you break a law, and are pulled over, you can be charged with a DWI and get subsequent charges.

Aggravated DWI
In the state of New York, the aggravated DWI charge means you were tested as having a BAC (blood alcohol content) level over .18. It’s illegal to be at .08 in all 50 states, but if you are even further intoxicated, you are a greater danger on the road, and are subject to serious charges.

Your Right to a DWI Lawyer
No DWI charge is final. No DWI charge means guilt is assured. You should hire an experienced New York DWI lawyer if you are charged with this crime, you should question the charges, and you should plead not guilty in court.

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A DUI judge is the decision maker. DUI judges are each different, but there are some common elements in how they decisions. Your DUI defense should consider how the judge makes choices and looks at evidence. Since today most DUI trials are via judges, this blog guide can help you understand how the DUI trial time table works and how your lawyer best prepares a defense.

What They Do
The DUI judge quite often has a busy schedule. First, they often handle a high number of cases every week. If you look on their side of the court room for a while, then you may get a better perspective. Say you have a judge who has listened to 3 defendants in one day explain to them how the breathalyzer was wrong, that they had not been drinking over the limit, and that they were perfectly fine while driving. Then the evidence against them cuts holes in the defense.

How would you fair if you plead not guilty to the charges? That’s the problem with many DUI defenses: they do not consider the common pleas made by defendants. We are talking about people, not just figures, and judges have memories.

Decisions Judges Make
Your judge will almost always try to be as impartial as possible. Just because they hear common defenses does not mean they will look down on your plea. You are innocent until proven guilty. A judge will have to decide the strength of your defense. He or she will be making some decisions – life changing ones for you – on how to punish you, if punishment is needed. This includes jail time, license suspension, fines, probation, and more.

Making a Strong DUI Defense
Your lawyer is an invaluable part of this process, if not only because he or she can be on the same page as the judge. A good lawyer will understand the key problem with a not-guilty plea after a DUI – that the judge has heard all the stories before. However, some of these stories have basis in truth. For example, the breathalyzer is not a 100% accurate device. First off, there is no difference if you are a man or woman, and your size. These can vary the results greatly.

Usually you want to plead not guilty to the charges, unless the weight of evidence is too great. You can call into questions evidence such as the breathalyzer and how the officer acted.

Your Lawyer
Should you always hire a lawyer? If you want to stand a chance in front of a DUI judge, you should. If you prepare a defense yourself without any knowledge of the court process, it can cost you. Your lawyer’s job is to present evidence in front of the judge and to counter the evidence given by the prosecution. The problem is most DUI charges stick, mainly because many are guilty on some account. In order to win, you need a professional who knows the court process.

The Truth
There are points where pleading guilty might be best. Simply pleading guilty does not guarantee jail time. However, you should never make this choice without a lawyer. If you are obviously guilty – such as if you hit a car while driving drunk – pleading guilty does not always mean the maximum penalties. Again, this is not a choice to make alone.

DUI law is complex. While it’s smart to consider the role of the judge in a case, usually your lawyer will run things. Letting him or her defend you before the judge is the best choice.

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This guide will go over perhaps the biggest concern you have after being pulled over for a DUI: going to jail.

Who can help you understand this process? The first step is to hire the right DUI lawyer. The next vital step is to prepare a strong defense. Jail time does not come with every DUI charge. Let’s find out how you can at the least avoid going to jail and at the most eliminate all charges against you.

Avoiding Jail Time – When Pulled Over
When you’re pulled over, you may think your times behind the wheel are over. You might have not even drank alcohol to an extreme but still think you will get a DUI. Yes, even a little alcohol can affect your ability to drive. But it does not mean you deserve DUI charges and especially jail time. The legal limit is .08% in all 50 states. You will be asked to take a breathalyzer to test for your BAC (blood alcohol content) and then asked some questions. You might even be asked to take a sobriety test.

First, the breathalyzer is not a perfect system. It’s subject to human error. Yes, most of the time the reading is true with an experienced officer, but the most damning evidence is not breath tests but blood tests. Second, you should take the breathalyzer in any case, even if you have been drinking. If you refuse it, most states will immediately punish you by suspending your license. If you were below the limit and refuse, you just lost your license for nothing. And the officer might still have cause to arrest you.

The DUI Lawyer
Your DUI lawyer can explain much of this process to you. It’s his or her job to prove you were not intoxicated while driving. If the breathalyzer reads at .08% or close to it, there can be some doubt on the validity of the test. Your DUI lawyer can take facts like this and more in order to prevent jail time.

Costs of Abusing Alcohol and Drugs and Driving
DUI offenders are punished far worse for multiple offenses. If you have a history, it’s not going to look good for a defense. But you are innocent until proven guilty no matter how many or how few DUI charges you have. If you are charged, that means you face jail time, fines, license suspension, and further penalties. The costs are quite high, making a strong defense quite important.

Lessening Charges
Even if you are found guilty of drinking or abusing drugs and driving it does not mean you’ll go to jail. The three kinds of criminal laws – infractions, misdemeanors, and felonies – all have a place on the road. Infractions are minor and not used in DUI cases. Misdemeanors are very common for first time offenses, while also sometimes for multiple offenses. Felonies are on the extreme end, with some extended jail time involved; usually you are a multiple offender or you hurt someone.

Because these charges can be so extreme, sometimes your best defense is not winning outright but lessening the charges. In order to do that, you need a good lawyer, evidence contrary to the police report, and a fair judge.

Defining Your Defense
Getting jail time is of course the last thing you want, but it happens. Drinking and driving is too costly not to have harsh penalties. This does not mean you should just plead guilty and forgo the process. If you really want to avoid jail time, it’s time to hire an experienced DUI lawyer and prepare a defense.

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DWI charges can mean jail time, fines, license suspension, probation, and life changing problems.

DWI law is quite complex, from the moment you are pulled over to your court case. That’s what can make an experienced lawyer invaluable, and that’s what leads to our first DWI question.

Do you need a DWI lawyer?
Yes, you always need a lawyer if you’ve been charged with a drinking and driving offense (or charged with operating a vehicle while using drugs). Simply put, it can keep you out of jail, lessen license suspension charges if not eliminate them, stop fines, and more.

Is any lawyer good?
Not all DWI lawyers are equal, unfortunately, though just because one is quite cheap in price does not mean you’ll lose, and higher priced DWI lawyers do not guarantee a win. The best method is to go somewhere in the middle, to pay for value, but to understand that spending tens of thousands in defense is just unrealistic.

How much do DWI lawyers charge?
Costs are either based on flat rate fees for defending DWI or on hourly. You can typically estimate lawyer prices beforehand and get a good idea of who you can afford. If they charge an hourly rate and give an estimate on hours, you can easily compare this with others. If a flat rate, that’s easy to compare too. But note value: if they have experience in and out of the court, in winning, that’s valuable.

What is the difference between DWI, OWI, and DUI?
Different states have different terms. On this blog, we typically use DUI, but generally DUI has the same intent as OWI and DWI: to punish those who drink or abuse drugs in excess and drive. DUI stands for driving under the influence. OWI means operating while intoxicated. And DWI means driving while intoxicated. Each term used the same blood alcohol content (BAC) limit of .08%, has similar charges in terms of jail time and fines and suspensions, and has similar defenses. The only major differences are between state laws.

What should you do if pulled over?
You will likely be asked to take a breathalyzer test if the officer believes you’ve been drinking. This is pretty much the same across all states, where if you refuse you can immediately have your license suspended. If you’re pulled over, the less you say the better. This is not to say you don’t cooperate; only you avoid incriminating yourself.

How do you make a DWI defense?
You make a DWI defense with a DWI lawyer. Yet it’s more complex than that. DWI penalties can be quite stiff, but defenses can be very effective. How you act during the arrest, what your BAC level reads in the breathalyzer and potentially with blood tests, what the officer does, and how good a lawyer you hire all make complicated but winnable.

True, if you avoid abusing drugs or alcohol and driving you have nothing to worry about. But cases where you’re arrested for a DWI and have abused nothing occur all the time. The defense in this instance is based on proof.

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Abusing drugs and driving can and often is just as dangerous as drinking and driving. All states penalize you immediately for abusing any drug, prescribed or illegal, and driving. There are many reasons not to mix driving and drugs which will impair your ability. This blog guide gives you seven.

Dangerous for You
By abusing drugs, you are hurting your ability to see, feel, and make decisions. Just as alcohol can damage the nerves in your eyes and hurt your ability to see, the same is the case with many drugs. The problem is that many illegal drugs have chemicals in them you may not understand. You may be taking a drug which makes you tired, very dangerous. You may take a drug which makes you pass out. Or you may have some reaction to it. It’s very dangerous to mix even legal drugs with driving, especially if you also drink some. Be safe and avoid the dangers of drug abuse and driving.

Dangerous for Other Drivers
There are other drivers on the road too. Over 10,000 drivers die every year because of abusing drugs or alcohol and driving. Thousands of pedestrians die too. This means you are not only putting yourself at risk by driving; you are endangering the lives of others. And if you’re at fault, you can face criminal charges.

Lose Your License
If you are caught abusing drugs and driving, it’s treated just like a alcohol related offense in terms of your license. The first penalty is your license is suspended. For first time offenders, this can mean losing driving privileges for a year.

Face Fines
You will also face fines. Though minor in comparison to losing your license and going to jail, sometimes the fines can be quite high, especially if you’re not working.

Get a Drug Charge
If you are caught with illegal drugs, you face more than a DUI: you also can be charged as a drug offender. This can mean further penalties.

Go to Jail
Going to jail can occur even in a first time DUI offense. While sentences vary, you can spend days in jail to months in prison. If you have multiple DUI offenses, you can be forced to spend even more time in jail.

Other Penalties
A DUI offense can also mean being put on probation, forced to go to drug counseling, and then having to go through a lengthy process just to get your license back.

So what’s next? All DUI charges require the help of an experienced, local DUI lawyer. While you may think just because your caught means you always face charges, it does not work that way. You may in fact be able to successfully defend yourself. But you can’t without a DUI lawyer. A proper defense can have evidence thrown out, officer actions questioned, and either a lessening of charges or a not guilty decision.

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Driving while intoxicated (DWI) can lead to severe penalties. A DWI is similar in scope to a DUI, with some states differentiating themselves by using different terms. For our purposes, let’s consider them very close legally: you are drinking alcohol or abusing drugs and driving.

One question we hear quite often is when you need to hire a DWI lawyer.

They’re a variety of scenarios. You have no job, and therefore no income. You are guilty of the charges. A court appointed lawyer costs nothing. You are not guilty, but want to defend yourself. If any of these sound wrong, well, it’s because they’re all entirely the wrong reasons. There is no clear reason not to hire a DWI lawyer unless you are a DWI lawyer yourself. Why?

If you have no job, you likely cannot afford to pay the excessive fines, which can  be in the thousands. If you start working again, you won’t be able to drive. If you have no income coming in, sometimes you seem to have no options. We all have access to money, even after filing bankruptcy or losing a job. It’s time to put value on how much you want to stay out of jail, want to keep your drivers license, and want to avoid thousands in fines.

If you are guilty of the charges, it’s easy to say you need no professional DWI lawyer. This is wrong in many respects. Say, for example, you were in fact drinking, but the breathalyzer used tested you as over the limit when actually you were very close to under the limit. Or say that the officer pulled you over for no legal reason – only because he suspected by the look of your car you were a criminal, or because you are a minority, or a woman, or a variety of other reasons. In still other cases, the officer acted incorrectly by never giving you a Miranda, if not abusing your legal rights. These examples can lead to dropped charges, even if you are guilty of drinking and driving, and potentially could lead to some damages. But you need a DWI lawyer.

You may think a court appointed lawyer can handle your case. Using the above example on actually believing your guilty, you decide because of this that you should forgo hiring a lawyer. A court appointed lawyer is almost as bad as defending yourself; they rarely have the time or inclination to properly defend you. A professional DWI lawyer can find holes in the prosecution’s case given time; rarely can a court appointed lawyer with dozens of other cases spend a significant amount of time helping you.

Finally, you can defend yourself. You know your innocence, or know the officer acted wrong, and maybe you know some of the process in handling a court case. Rarely does this work out. Unless you’re a DWI lawyer, you need professional legal representation. You’ll need expert witnesses, to question what happened, to know the local laws, and to know how exactly to handle the court process with the judge and prosecution. There is a reason passing the Bar is very tough; it takes years experience.

If you’re still unsure whether a DWI lawyer can help you, consider that it might actually save you time, money, and a lot of headaches. It’s worth paying the extra money in order to get a professional defense.

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Drinking or abusing drugs and driving is quite dangerous anywhere in the world, but in the United States, and specifically New York, driving while intoxicated by drugs or alcohol is punished severely. The problem is there are so many different terms to know. Let’s focus on the New York DWI terms you need to know, what penalties you can expect,  and how you can defend against DWI charges.

DWI
This is the broadest term in drinking and driving or abusing drugs and driving in New York law.  However, it bears mentioning because of the confusion with DUI and OWI. DUI is driving under the influence, DWI is driving while intoxicated, and OWI operating while intoxicated. These are the same technical terms for similar laws punishing those who drink or abuse drugs and drive. While state laws differ in terms of punishment, just understand DWI is like a DUI is but is how New York courts term abusing drugs or alcohol and driving.

Aggravated DWI
We’ve gone over “aggravated DUI” on the DUI Law blog many times, and aggravated DWI is pretty much the New York state version. Your blood alcohol content (BAC) is much higher than a standard DWI, in this case .18 or higher. You will be punished for having a BAC over .08, but if you go even higher, you may face felony charge and much stiffer penalties.

DWAI/Alcohol
This means, according to New York state law, “driving while ability impaired (by alcohol)”, and you have a lesser BAC level, usually from .05 to .07. You may show other signs of obvious impairment. Technically, an officer can arrest you if it’s obvious by your driving that you are intoxicated.

DWAI/Drug
This term is used when the problem is drug abuse, not alcohol. Even legal drugs can lead to a DWI charge if they impair your driving. If you are obviously using other drugs, you can be arrested, and if in possession of illegal drugs, face further charges.

DWAI/Combination
Driving While Ability Impaired by a combination of drugs and alcohol. For example, you might mix a legal prescription drug with some alcohol; this is not only dangerous to you, but to other drivers.

Refusing Breathalyzer or Other Tests
In New York, you are penalized for refusing chemical tests, including breath tests and blood tests. Blood tests are the most accurate in terms of drug and alcohol abuse. If you refuse the breathalyzer, your New York license will be suspended for at least one year, you will face fines, and potentially stiffer charges if you’ve received a DWI before.

Zero Tolerance
If you are under 21 years of age, all states can charge you for just having drank any alcohol, even if not on your possession. In New York, if you drive with a alcohol level of .02 to .07, you are charged. The levels are different for some states, but just about any level of drinking can lead to DWI charges.

Defending New York DWI
You first need an experienced DWI lawyer, preferably one close to you. It’s very important to hire your own lawyer instead of using a court appointed lawyer or worse defending yourself. It does cost money, but any defense is based on a knowledge of the laws in terms of court room process and defending charges. Just because you’re charged with a DWI does not mean you will always face penalties; yes, most lead to penalties, but a good defense is invaluable in lessening charges if not having them dropped.

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In all states, drinking and driving offenses can lead to some major legal problems. State laws do however differ, and so do some terms. For our purposes, DUI and OWI and DWI, driving under the influence, operating while intoxicated, and driving while intoxicated, mean the same thing: you are driving a vehicle down the road and have high amounts of alcohol or drugs in your system. How these laws are enforced can be quite different from state to state and judge to judge.

But why are you pulled over in the first place? Who can help? Answers to these questions and many more are given in this short guide.

Why are you pulled over?
Typically, an officer pulls you over on either a suspicion you’re drinking because of your driving or because you simply broke a driving law. It can then lead to a DWI case, where you potentially face jail time, fines, license suspension, probation, and mandatory classes.

If you break normal driving laws such as speeding, it does not always mean you will be tested for alcohol. The officer may not suspect this, and you may obviously not be drinking. But if you break a law, perhaps at night, and your driving is odd, the officer may suspect you’re intoxicated. If you swerve in and out of lanes, speed, run a stop sign, or any other way your driving is hurt by intoxication, you will likely be pulled over on sight.

In some cases, the reason for you’re being pulled over is illegal. The officer must have clear suspicion you’re drinking, but may pull you over for no reason other than because you are a minority or you have a certain type of car. This can be hard to prove, but it does occur.

What if you refuse a breathalyzer or other sobriety test?
If you’re pulled over and refuse a breathalyzer test, your license will immediately be suspended. Many state laws punish you less if you take the breathalyzer and fail rather than refusing and being charged. Also, other sobriety tests, such as walking a straight line, can legally be refused with no punishment, though it depends on the state.

If you refuse a breathalyzer, in most cases you face charges.  It’s then time to contact an attorney.

What if you are on medication?
Drinking and driving is not the only DWI offense; you may be using illegal drugs, or using legal ones which you shouldn’t be taking while driving. If you take even a legal drug which impairs your driving, you can by law be charged with a DWI.

What charges do you face?
Typically, punishments are the first thing on your mind once you’re pulled over and know you’re intoxicated. Unfortunately, penalties are very high, though lesser for first time offenders. For a first offense, you can expect your license to be suspended for six months to a year, to pay some fines, to stay in jail for a few days, face probation, and be required to take some classes on driving. The more charges you get, the more penalties you receive. If you are a repeat offender, you may even face prison time because of felony charges.

Who can help you?
You have rights in any DWI case, and one key right is told to you upon arrest. You have the right to an attorney. You cannot do this alone. Attorneys are not free, but no matter the offense, no matter if you’re innocent or guilty, you need to pay the fee. However, not all DWI attorneys have the time, experience, and knowledge to defend you. Be thorough in comparing rates, experience, and time to help.

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If you or a friend or loved one has been placed under a DUI or DWI arrest and faces DUI charges there are many questions that you may have. Hopefully the answer or answers to some common questions that are asked about DUI/DWI will be helpful to you.

What do these terms mean? DUI stands for “driving under the influence“. DWI
 means “driving while intoxicated“.

You may wonder what the difference is in these two terms. In most states these two terms are used interchangeably, meaning the same thing. In some states, however, the drunk driving laws are different for a DUI and a DWI. In these states, the charges are not the same for a DUI and a DWI. In these states, the DUI is a lesser charge. Usually, in these states, a DUI means there is a lesser degree of intoxication. This is determined by your blood alcohol level at the time of arrest. Sometimes, these states will allow the charges of a DWI to be reduced to a DUI with the help of a DUI or DWI lawyer.

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