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“First, do no harm,” counsels the Hippocratic oath. Good doctors still honor these words – and so should legislators considering revisions to New York’s drunk driving laws.

Brendan Tully, a Democrat who ran  for a seat in the state assembly, proposed a fundamental change in New York DWI law. Specifically, the proposal was to amend the law so that drivers charged with DWI are no longer allowed to plead to a lesser charge that is at the level of a traffic infraction. Although Tully did not win a seat in the Assembly, the proposal he put forward could come up again. Its flaws should therefore be confronted.

The premise of the proposal is that, under current law, the practice of allowing drunk driving charges to be plead down to a non-criminal offense amount to a loophole in the law. But this practice is not a “loophole”; it is a specific provision in the law whose removal would be a tremendous hardship for first-time, low-level offenders. Ending the ability of first-time, low-level offenders to plead down to a non-criminal offense would also greatly threaten the efficiency of the justice system. With so little incentive to plead, more and more cases would go to trial, causing long delays and multiplying inefficiencies.

To be sure, a proposal that seeks to make streets and highways safer by cutting down on drunk driving would be welcome. The statistics are sobering. Last year, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, 321 people lost their lives in New York State because of drunk driving.

Undue Hardship

Stigmatizing first-time, low-level offenders by removing the ability to plead down does not make sense. Doing so would create a form of modern-day scarlet letter that would unduly burden their job prospects and their entire futures.

Under present law, no conviction in New York State for DWI or any other crime can be expunged. A person who is convicted of Driving While Ability Impaired by Alcohol (DWAI), however, can truthfully state on an application for licensing, employment or admission into college that they have not been convicted of a crime.

This distinction is crucial. Especially for young people, a conviction for a crime could carry lasting consequences that could affect the ability to get financial aid, obtain a professional license or find suitable employment. Even those who are currently employed, such as teachers, could find their professional licenses at risk.

Under current law, prosecutors typically offer first-time offenders a chance to plead guilty to the offense of driving while ability impaired (DWAI), if offender’s blood alcohol content (BAC) levels were low and there were no injuries. To disallow prosecutors the discretion to tailor their approach to first-time offenders amounts to attacking the problem of DWI with a one-size-fits-all hammer when what is really needed is a scalpel.

Think about it. Is it really fair to treat a first-time offender who has a BAC level of .08 – the legal minimum to support a prosecution for DWI – the same as a person who has a BAC of .17? Under a proposal such as Tully’s, both persons would have a scarlet letter of a criminal conviction for the rest of their lives.

Effect on the Justice System

Besides the undue hardship that could be inflicted on low-level, first-time offenders, a proposal such as Tully’s would also be likely to create severe backlogs and inefficiencies in the court system. With the incentive removed to plead to a non-criminal offense like DWAI , more and more defendants would insist on going to trial.

At a time of tight resources, it would be very difficult to equip the system with enough prosecutors, enough juries, enough court personnel, and so on in order for it to work effectively. The result of removing the incentive to plead down would therefore be to create a bottleneck in the courts – causing excessive delays and mounting frustrations for all concerned.

Leandra’s Law

New York’s recent experience with Leandra’s law demonstrates the necessity of guarding the efficiency of an overloaded justice system. This law – named after an 11-year-old girl who died in a minivan crash – makes it a felony to drive while intoxicated with a person under 16 in the car.

Leandra’s law also led to a new requirement that the vehicles of first-time DWI offenders receive ignition interlock devices, which prevent a vehicle from starting if the driver’s blood alcohol content is over a certain point.

The challenges of enforcing Leandra’s law have strained New York’s already overtaxed criminal justice system. For example, caseloads for probation officers, who are needed to enforce the ignition interlock requirement, have increased substantially. Probation cases would surely skyrocket even further, if a proposal such as Tully’s were to pass.

All Cases Are Not the Same

Amending the law so that drivers charged with DWI are no longer allowed to plead to a non-criminal charge would do more harm than good. A parent who is way over the legal limit with a child in the back seat is justly the source of outrage. But the law has to be able to distinguish that case from that of a first-time offender with a relatively low BAC who caused no injuries.

Originally published here.

New Jersey Marijuana Possession Crimes

Marijuana possession is the number one criminal offense that clogs New Jersey county and municipal courts. According to the New Jersey State Police, there were almost 29,000 drug arrests in New Jersey in only the first six months of 2007, twice more than drunk driving arrests statewide, most of them for marijuana possession. Nationwide, marijuana use is on the rise and so are arrests for marijuana possession. According to the FBI report, in 2006 there were an estimated total of 1,889,810 state and local arrests for drug abuse violations in the United States of which 39.1% were for marijuana possession. That makes it almost 737,000.

People smoke pot in all parts of the county, but it is how states treat marijuana possession that makes all the difference. Many states, including New York and California, don’t view simple marijuana possession as the end of the world crime and most first-time offenders will get away with having the charges dismissed and paying a small fine. The penalty of first-time possessing of less than 25 grams of marijuana in New York is $100. It ’s $200 for the second time. Otherwise, half the state will end up in jail.

Not so in New Jersey. Under N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10, marijuana possession is prohibited and penalties depend on either or all of the following: (1) type of possession (possession with intent to distribute or not), (2) quantity of the drug in possession, and (2) whether it is the first, second, or third offense.

If you’re caught with more than 50 grams of marijuana, including any adulterants or dilutants, or more than five grams of hashish, you may be charged with a crime of the fourth degree, and you could get up to 18 months in jail and pay a fine of up to $25,000.00. If you are charged with possession of less than 50 grams of marijuana, including any adulterants or dilutants, or five grams or less of hashish, you will face a disorderly person’s offense charge that in the worst case scenario may get you up to 6 months in jail and a $1000 fine. You could also lose your drivers license and pay for your own rehabilitation program.

First time marijuana possession offenders in New Jersey could benefit from any of the two diversion programs, the Conditional Discharge authorized by N.J.S.A. 2C:36A-1 or the Pre-Trial Intervention Program (PTI). Under the conditional discharge law, basically, you have one chance to have your petty disorderly persons marijuana offense conditionally discharged if you qualify. How do you qualify? Your attorney should show that (1) your continued presence is not a danger to the community, which means convincing the court that no lock up or rehab is needed, (2) that the program’s supervision will correct any drug problems you have, and (3) this is your first application to the program or to Pretrial Intervention (“PTI”).

If you qualify for the conditional discharge program, the case will be suspended for a year and then, assuming you stay clean, it is dismissed. There will be no trial, no criminal record, and usually no suspension of your driver’s license. After the case is dismissed, you may expunge the arrest records.

If you fail to satisfy the program conditions, the case will be restored on the court’s calendar and then you will need your lawyer’s phone number again. After the year’s probation period, you will not have a criminal record

How the case will proceed largely depends on the prosecutor. The prosecutor may agree to downgrade your case as a disorderly persons offense and it would proceed in Municipal Court and would be eligible for Conditional Discharge. Otherwise, the case will go to the county court where you will be charged with a Fourth Degree Offense but may qualify for PTI.

Even with the existing first-timers diversion programs, traditional defense methods may be used such as evidence suppression under Search and Seizure laws. As simple as it may seem, a New Jersey marijuana possession charge may be gone for good or it may stick to you for a long time. The bottom line is, don’t try it yourself. You will need a good New Jersey marijuana defense lawyer who will walk you through the process

Originally published here.

Loss of job, loss of income, legal costs, expensive SR22 insurance costs, license suspension, license revocation, drunk driver education, embarrassment, and humiliation are all the consequences of drinking and driving.

How do I get my license back? How do I get a DWI lawyer that knows the latest defenses? How do I afford the SR22 insurance costs, etc. A Million questions, One Answer is now available.

I am going to show you what to do when when you have to deal with the consequences of drinking and driving.You are not alone. Each year 1.4 million people that is one out of every 135 people in the US are arrested by the police for possibly driving under the influence.

There is so much knowledge available now to develop strategies that will clear your driving record and or minimize the effect having a DUI will have on your life.

This has been organized into a step-by-step digitized process that literally walks you through the exact steps you must take to get this done. But not everyone will be eligible to use the information. Before I can tell you more specifics of the knowledge contained in the DUI Process Manual and how to mitigate the consequences of drinking and driving.

Please take note of the eligibility criteria below…

The following people ARE NOT ELIGIBLE: If your offense is related to vehicular manslaughter you are not eligiblle.

If your DUI offense is complicated with felony drug charges you most likely are not eligible.

If your DUI offense involves extensive property damage and/or severe accident or injury you are not eligible.

If you are ELIGIBLE …then expunging your DUI record can occur by invoking several little known laws that you are entitled to and you can accomplish this from any state in the nation.

Each state has different DUI laws, but the way in which your records are handled is similar nationwide.

Ok, so you want to know how to handle your particularDUI problems. The DUI Process Manual goes in depth on strategies that will help you through the DUI Experience.

It was written by a collaboration of people, all with different areas of professional expertise. Then edited and organized by people who have been in your exact same shoes. That is very important. This is something that no one dealing with the consequences of drinking a nd driving should be without.

Originally published here.