If you have been arrested for driving under the influence or DUI in Newark, New Jersey, you may be tempted to plead guilty and move on with your life. Even for a first time DUI arrest that could be a mistake. Gone are the days when drunk driving was considered a minor offense. Now you could be facing severe penalties, high fines and a long license suspension for a Newark DUI.
Newark Museum Facade (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Drivers who are operating a motorized vehicle in the state of New Jersey have implicitly agreed to submit to a breath, blood, or urine testing for blood-alcohol content (BAC) if they are asked to do so by a law enforcement officer.
Failure to comply with New Jersey’s Implied Consent Laws, which means they either refused to submit to the BAC test or they submitted to the test and their BAC was above the legal limit, will result in a license suspension from the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles.
Under New Jersey’s Implied Consent Laws, which are civil proceedings separate from any criminal penalties a driver might face, the Department of Motor Vehicles will impose a mandatory suspension for a 1st time offense for 90 days, one year for the second offense and three years for the 3rd offense.
What if you have a commercial driver’s license? The rules are the same, but your blood alcohol concentration must be less than 0.04%. If you are operating a motorized vehicle and the officer asks you to submit to a chemical test and you either refuse or your BAC is above the legal limit your CDL will be revoked for at least one year for a first time violation.
If you are carrying hazardous materials at the time of your drunk driving arrest you will lose your CDL for at least three years. What if you are arrested for a second DUI? Your CDL license will be permanently revoked.
We recently had a commercial driver in New Jersey ask how they can avoid a suspension of their commercial driver’s license after a drunk driving arrest in New Jersey. There are several issues to discuss:
If the driver refused to submit to the BAC test or they took the test and their BAC was 0.04% or higher the only way to save their license is to challenge the license suspension through an administrative hearing.
Most likely after your DUI arrest the officer confiscated your license. It is time to talk to a DUI lawyer. You will have a specific number of days to request an administrative hearing to review your license suspension. If you prevail at your hearing the DMV will not suspend your license for the civil infraction, but if you are convicted of DUI your license may still be suspended.
If you do not request a hearing or you do not win at your hearing your license will be suspended.
If your license was not suspended by the DMV, for instance, you submitted to the BAC test and you passed the test but you were still charged with DUI, then you will have to prove that you were not intoxicated.
For instance, let’s say your BAC was 0.03% and you passed the BAC test but the officer believed they had sufficient evidence to charge you with a DUI, you may not face an administrative license suspension but you may still lose your license if the state proves you were driving under the influence of alcohol. If this is the case you will need to prove you were not intoxicated to save your license.
According to NJSA 39:3-40, “no person to whom a drivers license has been refused or whose driver’s license or reciprocity privilege has been suspended or revoked or who has been prohibited from obtaining a driver’s license, shall personally operate a motor vehicle during the period of refusal suspension, revocation or prohibition.”
What if you are arrested and convicted of violating this statute? You can expect to be fined $500 and an additional $250 per year for three years. This fee is charged by the Department of Motor Vehicles. What if you are charged a second time? Your fines will increase to $750 and you will have to spend no more than five days in jail. Third convictions will result in a fine of $1,000 and 10 days of incarceration in jail. The courts will also extend the amount of your license suspension for no more than six months. What happens if you injure another person while driving on a suspended license? You are looking at jail time for at least forty five days.
What is the bottom line? The state of New Jersey considers it a serious offense to operate your motorized vehicle on a suspended license.
Penalties for operating a motorized vehicle with a suspended license for a DUI conviction are even more severe. Drivers will have to pay more fines and will have their license suspended for one year to two years and may have to spend up to 90 days in jail. The Department of Motor Vehicles will also charge $250 per year for three years.
Keep in mind you may not be notified that you will have to pay insurance surcharges or the mandatory fees to the Division of Motor Vehicles if you agree to plead guilty to the charges. New Jersey provisions as of April 1, 1991, allowed insurance companies to charge additional surcharge to drivers in addition to Division of Motor Vehicles annual surcharges and fees.
If you have had your license suspended for DUI you have been notified by the court that your license was suspended. In fact, the Department of Motor Vehicles should have given you a Notice of the Suspension and that they mailed the notice. They also should have an Order of Suspension and proof that they mailed the order of suspension.
If you have been arrested for drunk driving in New Jersey it is time to talk to a DUI lawyer. New Jersey lawyers understand the legal penalties and the fines you might face if you are ultimately convicted of DUI. They can also help with all administrative license suspension issues, which generally must be challenged within a few days of the DUI arrest.
If you have been arrested for operating your motorized vehicle on a suspended license after a DUI arrest or conviction a DUI lawyer can also help you.
Summer has come to an end in Jersey City. Temperatures have started to drop and soon the leaves will fall. Students are back in class and Friday nights are filled with teams and touchdowns. But even as the seasons change one thing will remain the same on the highways and byways of New Jersey, and that is the dedication that local law enforcement agencies feel toward their goal of eliminating drunk driving in their area.
Drunk driving is a serious crime in New Jersey, and the penalties for a DWI conviction have been steadily increasing in severity for the past several years. If you have been arrested for a drunk driving offense in the Jersey City area, the worst thing you can do is to doubt the serious nature of the situation you are in. You need to take immediate action to ensure the best outcome in your case. The legal procedures involved in a DWI defense are complex and can be overwhelming for those without extensive legal training. Your best response is to secure the services of an experienced DWI attorney as soon as possible. Because these legal professionals specialize in cases just like yours they will be able to quickly evaluate your case and recommend the course of action that is right for you.
A driver can be charged with DWI in the state of New Jersey if their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is .08% or greater or if they exhibit signs of intoxication as a result of the use of alcohol or drugs. A driver’s BAC is determined based on a chemical test of their blood or breath. At the time of your arrest, this sample was requested from you.
If you did not comply and provide the sample as requested, your license will be suspended for at least 7 months. This is based on the laws of implied consent that are on the books in New Jersey. These laws state that based on a driver’s choice to drive in the state of New Jersey, they have already agreed to submit to a chemical test whenever it is requested. A license suspension for a driver’s refusal to submit to a chemical test is completely separate from a license suspension in the case of a DWI conviction.
A DWI is neither a misdemeanor nor a felony. Instead, it is considered a traffic offense and as such this crime does not qualify for a jury trial. If you are convicted of a DWI in New Jersey, the penalties that are assigned will be determined based on your BAC at the time of the arrest and whether drugs were involved in your case. Drivers with a BAC of between .08 and .10% can expect fines of up to $400, a license suspension of 3 months and jail time of up to 30 days. If the driver’s BAC was .10 or greater or if drugs were involved, all of the same penalties will apply but the fines will increase to a maximum of $500 and the length of license suspension will increase to a maximum of 12 months.
All of the penalties for a DWI conviction will have a long-term impact on both the driver and their family. This is not a situation you should handle alone. Take action now to ensure that your rights are protected by contacting a qualified DWI lawyer.
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