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Queens DWI Lawyers
Anyone facing charges for Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) will likely need to secure legal support soon. This is because there are a variety of complex laws that will govern the way that many people tend to proceed to trial. Hiring on a lawyer in Queens for DWI could be the most effective step that many people will want to take. There are actually clients at many different stages of the trial process that could use legal advice. These lawyers will likely be ready to help people understand more information about what they might face as the trial itself tends to go underway.
Preparing for the trial itself will tend to take a lot of work, which people will need to face down over time. This is part of the reason why everyone will want to link up with a service professional operating in the area. The terms of the case may be determined by the severity of the intoxication and whether or not the defendant is a repeat offender. If they have had multiple DWI offenses in the past, they may face some more difficult penalties as well. This is part of the reason why many people will want to secure support through a few different types of challenges along the way.
There are some mitigating factors that might also be included as part of the trial. Some defendants may have committed other crimes as part of this initial arrest, which will be considered during the case. Juvenile defendants will tend to face different types of challenges of their own. This is why the defendant should seek out support from a legal expert who has experience in their area. This can help them avoid felony charges, which can help them reduce some of the different types of penalties that they might encounter as well.
Finally, most people will want to consider managing some of the after effects associated with the trial. For instance, some people may notice that they have had their license suspended as part of getting these services put in to effect. They will likely want to get this restored as soon as possible, which will be an invaluable consideration for people to remember. The lawyer in Queens for DWI will be able to help people understand more about what services they can install soon. They should try to set up an initial consultation to cover the basics of getting this done.
The first step in choosing a DWI or DUI lawyer is using the same mantra that a realtor suggests for their clients: location, location, location. But for the DWI defense mantra what you need is: research, research, research.
Basically meaning you want a lawyer who specializes in this type of legal representation and knows what the inside of a courtroom looks like. There are many benefits of having the best legal assistance in your corner and one of the best is a DWI defense lawyer specialist who knows the inner workings of the legal system, ergo, can successfully navigate the process.
For a DWI “first-timer this is a major plus in that they’ll be your parachute from the time of arrest to the end of your initial hearing or trial to insure that you receive the best possible representation. On the other hand if this is your second, third or maybe your fourth DWI, and face some serious jail time, the right DWI defense lawyer could make the difference in the amount of time you spend behind bars with strangers you don’t know, or care to know.
That said no matter what your state DUI statutes lingo is: DUI, DWI, DWAI, driving under the influence is not only dangerous; it’s illegal. If a police officer pulls you over for whatever reason and suspects that you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, they can issue a test to determine your blood alcohol content (BAC) via a “Breathalyzer” test. Of course you can refuse, but that sets-up a whole different scenario for you the driver. Most all states DWI laws are similar, in terms of specific drunk-driving penalties, yet you can pretty much expect beforehand that you will face one or more of the following:
- License revocation
- Thousands of dollars for DWI fines, court costs and lawyer fees
- Jail time or community service or both
- Fees to reinstate your license: Think an SR22 filing
- Limited driving privileges – work to home only
- Car insurance rates going through the roof
DUI and DWI lawyers are experts on drunk driving laws in your state. They have been “through-the-mill” many times with clients like you and know the law and the penalties therein. Chances are your lawyer may “luck-out” and come before a judge he respects and vice versa. So when choosing a DUI lawyer eschew the “yellow pages” and find the best.
Hiring on DWI defense lawyers could prove to be the best decision that many clients will make. Since this represents a valuable investment for them to make, they should carefully think through their choices in the matter. They should try to find aggressive defense lawyers that will be ready to defend their rights during the court system.
People everywhere need to think about how they can work with a service team to help everyone understand more information going forward. They should try to research the basics of DWI law in the area and find out more information about what attorney is right for them.
The first step will be to simply take stock of the situation. DWI lawyers will tend to vary across a few different locations throughout the United States. This is owing to the fact that most people will be ready to lend their support for a few different types of projects soon. They should try to work with the court system to narrow down a date of arraignment and other important steps along the way. This will make it much easier for people to manage this process as well, since it will add structure to the courtroom process.
If this sounds overwhelming, people need to consider the advantages of working with a legal defense lawyer soon. They will have the experience necessary to explain some of these details to people in need. Most people will be interested in learning more information about how DWI defense lawyers tend to work.
Prospective clients may want to review the websites maintained by lawyers in the area. They will discuss their educational background and relevant experience during the course of this process. This will help people understand the impact of how these cases may tend to unfold over time.
Finally, most clients will want to consider working with a no win, no fee lawyer in their area. These lawyers will often work on a contingency basis, offering their services for only a minimum cost. This will help make sure that people link up with the best overall option that will suit their needs. They should try to balance their need for experience with the budget that they have to hire on a lawyer. This will give them the best overall chance to secure support from a committed legal defense team in the area. They will also have a chance to see if they will simply mesh up with the personality of these lawyers soon.
In Queens and in all of New York, drunk driving is called Driving While Intoxicated. There’s also a related offense called driving while ability impaired. There are multiple ways to be a drunk driver, and the offense may be a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the circumstances.
The legal limit
The first way to be a drunk driver is to operate a motor vehicle while your blood alcohol level is over the legal limit. For most drivers, the legal limit is a .08 or more per 210 liters of breath or per 100 milliliters of blood. For commercial drivers, the legal limit is a .04. For offenders under the age of twenty-one, the legal limit is a .02. This is commonly referred to as New York’s zero tolerance law. The penalties for zero tolerance are a bit different than they are for driving with a .08 alcohol content. Unlike DWI offenders, zero tolerance violators don’t face jail, but they face a longer license suspension than drunk drivers.
Under the influence
Another way to be a drunk driver is to drive while ability impaired. This means that a person operates a vehicle while alcohol or drugs impairs their driving. A person can also face charges if they drive under a combination of drugs and alcohol. It doesn’t matter how much of the influence comes from the alcohol and how much comes from drugs. Either way, the person can face charges of driving while ability impaired.
Aggravated DWI
If you have an extremely high blood alcohol level, you can face enhanced charges. This is called aggravated DWI. When a driver’s blood alcohol level is a .18 or more, they can face charges of aggravated DWI. As your Queens DWI lawyer might explain, the logic is that drivers with very high blood alcohol levels are more likely to cause crashes and also more likely to need help addressing a drinking problem. An aggravated DWI charge brings enhanced penalties.
Queens DWI Lawyers Penalties
The penalties for Queens DWI vary depending on the specific conviction. At the most basic level, a driving while intoxicated conviction can bring up to one year in jail. The driver might have to pay a fine of up to $1,000 plus court costs. They face a license suspension of at least six months.
For repeat offenders, the charges are much more serious. A second DWI or driving while ability impaired within ten years of a prior conviction is a class E felony. That means spending up to four years in jail and facing a year without a driver’s license. It means all of the things that go along with having a felony conviction such as difficulty finding work.
A third offense brings a maximum possibility of up to seven years in prison. There are other circumstances that might make a drunk driving charge more serious. It’s a serious offense to operate a motor vehicle with a child fifteen years of age or less in the vehicle. This is called Lendra’s Law. Even a first offense is a felony. If the driver causes the death of the child because of drunk driving, they face many years in prison.
Defenses
There are many defenses available to a person that faces drunk driving charges. In fact, it’s up to the state to prove the charges against you beyond a reasonable doubt. If they don’t collect evidence in lawful ways or if that evidence fails to convincingly show your guilt, you may not be convicted of drunk driving.
It’s important to consider the legality of the traffic stop. In the United States, people have a right to go about their business without the unreasonable interference of law enforcement. That means that law enforcement must have a constitutional reason to stop your vehicle. Seeing you weave over the center line repeatedly is a constitutional reason to stop a vehicle. Not liking the way a person looks or their choice of vehicle is not. An attorney can help you review the police report and bring a motion to suppress the state’s evidence if it’s appropriate.
Even if the initial traffic stop is legal, law enforcement has to collect evidence the right way. They have to perform field sobriety tests in a certain way. Standardized field sobriety tests are the result of federal studies and tests. If law enforcement chooses not to follow protocols, the results of the tests don’t say much about your level of intoxication.
Finally, law enforcement also has to follow standards in order to assure the accuracy of the breath test. If they don’t do these things, the result can be dismissal of your case even before a trial or a finding of not guilty by a jury.
Begin your defense
If you’re facing a Queens DWI charge, contact us to begin working on your case. When we represent a drunk driving client, we go to work immediately to conduct an investigation and demand evidence from the state’s attorney. The sooner you contact us, the sooner we can begin preparing your defenses. Please call us today to talk with one of our experienced attorneys.
New York Lawyers Invalidate Field Sobriety Tests
It’s a common request when a police officer pulls you over and suspects that you’re under the influence of alcohol – field sobriety tests. Many drivers comply and go through with these tests under the mistaken belief that if they do everything right, the officer will let them go. The reality is that the officer is unlikely to let you leave, regardless of your performance on a field sobriety test, and there’s nothing for you to gain by taking them.
When an officer suspects you of driving under the influence, there are three things that they can do: they can arrest you, they can request that you take a breathalyzer or they can request that you take a field sobriety tests. They will typically perform those in order, starting with the field sobriety test, moving on to the breathalyzer and then finally making the arrest.
The difference between those three things is that an arrest and a breathalyzer both require the officer to have probable cause, while a field sobriety test requires your consent. The officer may not make it seem like it requires your consent. In fact, they’re likely to phrase their request in a way that makes it seem like you have no choice in the matter, such as saying “I’m going to have you do a field sobriety test, okay?” Remember that you do have the right to refuse a field sobriety test, and there’s no penalty for doing so.
The reason why you should not take a field sobriety test is because in doing so, you can hurt your defense by giving the officer probable cause for a breathalyzer or an arrest. If you’re arrested for a DUI after not consenting to any field sobriety tests, a criminal defense lawyer can argue that the officer didn’t have probable cause to make the arrest. If the judge or jury sides with your defense lawyer, then your case may end up getting dismissed, because the officer didn’t follow the correct procedures or have enough evidence to arrest you.
On the other hand, if the officer didn’t have enough probable cause, but then you took a field sobriety test, any mistake you make can give the officer the probable cause he needs. And since the officer is judging the test and the criteria are very subjective, the odds aren’t in your favor. To demonstrate how subjective these tests can be, let’s go over a few of the standard field sobriety tests.
- One involves the officer holding an object for you to watch while they move it back and forth, as the officer watches your eyes for exaggerated jerking that could indicate intoxication.
- Another involves walking a straight line heel to toe for nine steps, then turning around and walking back, without getting off balance or stepping with too much of a gap between your heel and your toe.
- Finally, there’s the test where you stand on one foot and count to 30, again without getting off balance.
In all three, the results of the test depend on the officer’s evaluation of you, so they can fail you for any minor mistakes.
Keep in mind that the officer can still have probable cause even if you don’t take a field sobriety test, such as in situations where you’re showing strong signs of alcohol intoxication. However, in those type of situations, the officer is going to place you under arrest regardless of whether or not you take a field sobriety test. The field sobriety test is one of those situations where you can only harm yourself and your defense, and you don’t have anything to gain. A police officer who suspects you’re drunk won’t let you go just because you do well on a test. The only reason they’re having you take the test is so you can provide them with more evidence to use against you.
If you’re asked to take a field sobriety test, calmly and politely tell the officer that you don’t consent to any tests. For any subsequent requests, ask if you’re being detained or if you’re free to go. If the officer arrests you, contact a defense lawyer as soon as possible to get to work on your defense.
When You Do Not Need a DUI Attorney
Even though you should never hesitate to ask an attorney for legal advice if you’re facing a DUI charge, you might not require their representation in court if it is your first offense and there were no injuries. If it is on record that your blood-alcohol concentration was fairly high (such as anything above a 0.08) and there is evidence that shows that you were impaired, there isn’t much you can do to avoid a DUI conviction. You are usually better off facing the standard penalties for a first-time offender rather than spend time and money defending yourself in court.
When You Should Hire a DUI Attorney
On the other hand, there are some situations where you should definitely hire a DUI attorney to represent you in court. If it turns out that the case against you isn’t as airtight as it first seemed, you might be able to arrange for a plea bargain and accept a plea for a lesser charge. You can also negotiate for a lesser sentence if you are willing to have a DUI on your record.
In any case, you will need a DUI attorney to help negotiate the charge. Your attorney will have experience with such scenarios, so while there is no guarantee that you will succeed in reducing your sentence or be convicted of a lesser charge, you will stand a much better chance if you have someone on your side.
Even though there are situations where it seems easier to not hire an attorney for an expensive court battle, you should never hesitate in speaking to a DUI attorney if you feel like you need one. An experienced attorney will be able to provide you with all the counsel you need to face the charges against you, and they might even be able to arrange for a lesser sentence.
With as serious as a DUI charge can be, you will need all the help you can get. Driving while drinking or on drugs is a serious offense with serious consequences. Fines and jail time are common place in these scenarios and if you don’t have someone in your corner, the prosecution will be free to push for as high of a penalty as possible.
A DUI attorney, like any other attorney, has the job of protecting your rights and helping you take the minimal penalty. Their technical jargon and knowledge of the state laws, depending on the state Your in, can pull you through what would otherwise be a total disaster. Let’s have a look at some of their knowledge base.
Do You Need One?:
Before we look into what a DUI attorney can do, we need to establish if you can receive help in your situation. An attorney won’t be able to help you, or won’t need to help you in these situations:
- First Offense- penalty will of course still be applied, but it probably won’t be as bad as if you were a repeat offender
- No One Was Hurt- this is the ideal scenario if you are convicted
These situations will probably result in a guilty plea or “no contest”. At that point the penalty is assigned and it’s curtains for you. Even still, it couldn’t hurt to consult an attorney in the situation where a factor in your case requires legal assistance.
What an Attorney can Do:
Now that we’ve ruled out the possibility of not needing an attorney, let’s go over the knowledge base of a DUI attorney.
A Plea Bargain- If the case for the prosecution isn’t rock solid, further trials can be made to come to a final conclusion. This of course costs the state more money and that’s not always something they’re willing to give up. In this scenario, your DUI attorney can negotiate with the prosecution on a plea bargain. This is where your attorney’s charisma comes into play.
If your attorney can convince the prosecution, you can plea guilty and receive a lower penalty. Go you! The potential charges you can plead down to are things like “reckless driving”, but in California there’s something called “Wet Reckless”.
This means that the use of alcohol is recognized, but the sentence is far less intense than a DUI charge, keeping you out of jail and protecting your licsense from being suspended if your BAC isn’t above .08%. Keep in mind that “Wet Reckless” is still a DUI charge on your record, so don’t get convicted twice.
DUI Involving Drugs:
In addition to helping with the sentence, a DUI attorney can also negotiate away any random drug testing or conditions of probation. In retrospect, it seems a bit underhanded, but not if you’re the one getting help.
What is Horizontal Gaze Nystgamus? The horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) is a sobriety test that police officers use to check for possible impairment. A nystagmus is an involuntary jerking or twitch in the eyes, and it occurs when you look to the side over 45 degrees, which triggers your peripheral vision. When you’re under the influence of liquor, this jerking of the eyes can occur before 45 degrees, giving police an indicator of alcohol use. The test itself is simple enough. The officer will stand in front of you and hold a penlight in front of your eyes approximately a foot from your face, instructing you to watch the light. They will then move the light from side to side, looking for a few things that can occur in one or both eyes. The first is eyes that move with twitches instead of moving smoothly. The second is if your eyes start twitching when you’ve moved them all the way to the side, and the third is if your eyes start twitching before they’ve reached a 45-degree angle. For the HGN test to be admissible in court, the officer must be able to see your eyes clearly, so they must conduct the test in an area with sufficient lighting or use a flashlight on your face. They also must make sure you’re not looking towards flashing lights or oncoming headlights, as these can cause nystagmus even in people who aren’t impaired. One thing that many drivers don’t realize is that they’re not required by law to take the HGN or any other field sobriety test. A police officer can request that you take a field sobriety test, but they can’t force you to take it, and you should always exercise your right to refuse these type of tests. The reason for this is because when an officer has you take a field sobriety test, they’re only collecting evidence that they can use against you. They’re asking you to take the test because they already suspect that you’re impaired, which means they’re planning to arrest you. Drivers take field sobriety tests because they think that they need to and that if they pass, the officer will let them go. Neither of these are true. Police officers often make it seem like you need to take a field sobriety test or that it’s in your best interest to do so. They may use wording that tricks you into giving up your legal rights, such as saying “I’m going to have you take a quick sobriety test,” which sounds like you don’t have a choice in the matter. You do, and the smart response is “I don’t consent to any tests.” Will the officer let you go if you do well enough on your field sobriety test? The chances of that happening are minute. This is the process of gathering evidence for them, not determining your guilt or innocence. Also keep in mind that all field sobriety tests have a subjective element to them. The officer is making the determination on whether or not you demonstrate impairment, and if they already suspect that you’re impaired, how impartial are they going to be? An officer who has pulled you over can request that you take a field sobriety test, which requires your consent. They can also ask you to take a breathalyzer or arrest you, both of which require probable cause. Your performance on that field sobriety test can give them the probable cause they need to have you take a breathalyzer or arrest you, which is why they’ll typically do the field sobriety test first. For the officer, it’s a simple three-step process: get probable cause through field sobriety tests, use that probable cause to have you take a breathalyzer and then arrest you if you were driving under the influence. Refusing to perform any field sobriety tests allows your defense attorney to argue that the officer didn’t have probable cause in arresting you. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the judge or jury will agree, but you’re at least minimizing the evidence that can be used against you.