As promised in a previous DWI post, the following DWI Penalty chart provides an accused with an idea as to the penalties they are facing under N.J.S.A. 39:4-50. However, if you have a commercial driver's license (CDL) or have been charged with driving in a school zone, you should be advised that there are additional signifcant penalties and you should contact an attorney at once.
| PENALTIES FOR DWI UNDER N.J.S.A. 39:4-50 as of 6/11/08 Does Not Include the Penalties for School Zone Offenses |
| DWI 39:4-50 Operate or Allowing | 1st Offense Per Se Alcotest or Breathalyser Reading of 0.08% but < 0.10% alcohol while operating or allowing operation N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(a)(1)(i) | 1st Offense Per Se Alcotest or Breathalyser Reading of 0.10 % alcohol or operating under the influence of drugs at any intoxicating level N.J.S.A. 39:4-50 (a)(1)(ii) | 2nd Offense Within 10 years of any previous violations of DWI in NJ or any State in the U.S.A. N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(a)(2) | 3rd or Subsequent Offense Within 10 years of of any previous violations of DWI in NJ or any State in the U.S.A. N.J.S.A. 39:4-50 |
| Fines | $250-$400 | $300-$500 | $500-$1000 | $1000 |
| Jail | Up to 30 days in jail at the discretion of the Judge | Up to 30 days in jail at the discretion of the Judge | From 2 to 90 days in jail | Jail for not less than 180 days; however, the Judge may reduce such term for each day served in an IDRC approved in-patient rehab center. However, you can only get a maximum 90 days of jail time credit this way |
| Driver's License Supended or Revoked | 3 months driver's license suspension | 7months to 1 year driver's license suspension | 2 year suspension of driver's license | 10 year suspension of driver's license |
| Driver's License Suspened or Revoked Under 17 years old | Suspension to run through 17th birthday & thereafter for 3 months | Suspension to run through 17th birthday & thereafter for 7 months to 1 year | Suspension to run through 17th birthday & thereafter two years | Suspension to run through 17th birthday & thereafter ten years |
| Other $ Penalties | VCCB $50 DDEF$100 SNSF $50 N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(i) $100 Other Mandatory penalties per N.J.S.A. 39:5-41 | VCCB $50 DDEF$100 SNSF $50 N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(i) $100 Other Mandatory penalties per N.J.S.A. 39:5-41 | VCCB $50 DDEF$100 SNSF $50 N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(i) $100 Other Mandatory penalties per N.J.S.A. 39:5-41 | VCCB $50 DDEF$100 SNSF $50 N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(i) $100 Other Mandatory penalties per N.J.S.A. 39:5-41 |
| Other Non $ Penalties | Court may order participation in supervised visitation program as either a condition of probation or a form of community service as per N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(h) | Court may order participation in supervised visitation program as either a condition of probation or a form of community service as per N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(h) | Court may order participation in supervised visitation program as either a condition of probation or a form of community service as per N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(h) | Court may order participation in supervised visitation program as either a condition of probation or a form of community service as per N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(h) |
| Community Service | No community service for a 1st . offense | No community service for a 1st. offense | Shall serve 30 days Community service | No community service for a 3rd or subsequent offense |
| Intoicated Drivers Resource Center | 12 to 48 hours at IDRC & satisy the screening, evaluation & referral requirements. If the requirements are not met, then there is a two (2) day mandatory jail term & no reinstatement of driver's license until the IDRC has been completed. | 12 to 48 hours at IDRC & satisy the screening, evaluation & referral requirements. If the requirements are not met, then there is a two (2) day mandatory jail term & no reinstatement of driver's license until the IDRC has been completed. | Subject to N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(b) satisy the screening, evaluation & referral requirements. If the requirements are not met, then there is a two (2) day mandatory jail term & no reinstatement of driver's license until the IDRC has been completed. | Subject to N.J.S.A. 39:4-50(b) satisy the screening, evaluation & referral requirements. If the requirements are not met, then there is a two (2) day mandatory jail term & no reinstatement of driver's license until the IDRC has been completed. |
| Ignition Interlock Device or Suspended Registration | Court may order installation of an ignition interlock device on every owned, leased or regularly operated vehicle for not less than 6 months & not greater than 1 year after the expiration of the suspension. No registartion revocation ofr the 1st offense. | Court may order installation of an ignition interlock device on every owned, leased or regularly operated vehicle for not less than 6 months & not greater than 1 year after the expiration of the suspension. No registartion revocation ofr the 1st offense. | Court shall order installation of an ignition interlock device on every owned, leased or regularly operated vehicle for not less than 1 year to not more than 3 years after the expiration of the suspension. OR the Court shall order the revocation of the registration certificate and plates for 2 years per N.J.S.A. 39:3-40.1. | Court shall order installation of an ignition interlock device on every owned, leased or regularly operated vehicle for not less than 1 year to not more than 3 years after the expiration of the suspension. OR the Court shall order the revocation of the registration certificate and plates for 10 years per N.J.S.A. 39:3-40.1. |
ayip |
Jersey DWI & Criminal Defense Law |
San Diego DUI criminal defense lawyer news
A man facing sentencing on a drunken-driving conviction couldn't get a ride to court. So he start walking. And walking. Stephen Shoemaker was scheduled to appear at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday for sentencing.
Shoemaker, 33, of Shippensburg, doesn't have a car or driver's license. So he started hoofing it to the courthouse at dawn. He kept walking for about 25 miles in 90-plus-degree heat.
Shoemaker arrived about 3:30 p.m. - after a detour to a hospital, where he was treated for dehydration.
Judge Edward Guido had issued an arrest warrant when Shoemaker failed to appear. But he agreed to defer sentencing until July. Guido said he hesitated only because "that means he'll have to walk back to Shippensburg."
Deputy Public Defender Anthony Adams volunteered to give Shoemaker a ride home.
sandiegodrunkdrivingattorney.net/blog
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San Diego DUI |
OCEANSIDE, California
Last month, highway patrol officers visited 20 classrooms at El Camino High School to misrpresent/announce some horrible news: Students had been killed in car wrecks over the weekend. Classmates wept. Some became hysterical.
A few hours and many tears later, though, the pain turned to fury when the teenagers learned that it was all a hoax—a scared-straight exercise designed by school officials to dramatize the consequences of drinking and driving.
As seniors prepare for graduation parties Friday, school officials in the largely prosperous San Diego suburb are defending themselves against allegations they went too far.
At assemblies where speakers talked about the dangers of drunk driving, some students held posters that read: "Death is real. Don't play with our emotions."
Michelle de Gracia, 16, was in physics class when an officer announced her missing classmate David, a popular basketball player, died instantly after being rear-ended by a drunk driver. She felt nauseated but was too frozen to cry.
"They got the shock they wanted," she said.
Some of her classmates were hysterical, prompting the teacher to tell them immediately the death was staged.
"People started yelling at the teacher," she said. "It was pretty hectic."
Others, including many who heard the "news" between classes, were left in the dark until the 26 missing students reappeared hours later to enact a fatal traffic accident.
Carolyn Magos, 15, thought there might have been a gang shooting when she saw clusters of kids crying in the hall.
"You feel betrayed by your teachers and administrators, these people you trust," Magos said. "But then I felt selfish for feeling that way, because, I mean, if it saves one life it's worth it."
The stunt was a twist on a program called Every 15 Minutes, which was designed in the early 1990s, when someone was killed an average of once every 15 minutes in alcohol-related accidents. By 2006, the frequency dropped to once every 39 minutes, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which is not associated with the program.
In California, the state highway patrol, local law enforcement agencies and schools use the curriculum authored by the Every 15 Minutes Organization, based in Lehigh Valley, Pa.
Here's how the program normally works: Students chosen to symbolize the dead are pulled out of their classes by someone in a Grim Reaper costume while their obituaries are read aloud.
A few hours later, they reappear in ghoulish makeup to enact a traffic accident at an assembly. Rescue workers whisk "victims" from a mangled car to a hospital or morgue. The "dead" then spend the night at a hotel isolated from friends and family before returning the next day for an assembly with parents and professional speakers.
At El Camino, the students who were in on the secret shunned the Grim Reaper skit.
"We didn't want kids laughing at it," said Michelle Molin, 17, a junior. "It's like Halloween."
El Camino officials agreed to try to give students the experience of real grief. They defend how they handled the exercise.
"They were traumatized, but we wanted them to be traumatized," said guidance counselor Lori Tauber. "That's how they get the message."
The school had counselors on standby to calm kids who were visibly upset but didn't anticipate the power of cell phones to spread the word.
Before class, a freshman who knew her sister was playing dead texted her friends to say the girl had been killed. Word spread quickly among the school's 3,100 students, many of whom clustered between periods crying.
Even administrators who knew about the program thought there had been a terrible coincidence.
"I got a call from the principal's secretary saying, 'I heard one of our Every 15 Minutes students was really in an accident!'" said Tauber. "And I was like, 'No, they're right here.'"
Dean Wilson, executive director of Every 15 Minutes, said he didn't endorse the hoax. He knew of only a handful of schools where students were told a death was real.
In 2002, a high school in Eagle Grove, Iowa, north of Des Moines, used a hoax death to "step up" the program, said Mark Kay. His son, Aaron, dropped out of sight after school, while his brother messaged friends asking if they'd seen him. The next morning, students were invited to view a coffin in the school foyer where the boy was playing dead.
Oceanside schools superintendent Larry Perondi said he fielded only a few calls from parents, while the PTA chapter said it had not heard any complaints.
Wendy Reynolds, a former prosecutor who spoke at El Camino High about her experience being orphaned by a drunk driver, said most students would benefit.
SanDiegoDUIhelp.com
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San Diego DUI |
San Diego DUI attorneys say that when District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis cleared police officer Aaron Mansker in the shooting of former San Diego Chargers player Steve Foley, Foley's history of arrests for battery, domestic violence, public intoxication and discharging a firearm were a factor.
In Foley's civil trial, however, it is Mansker's history that was placed under a microscope.
Court papers filed by Foley's attorneys painted an unflattering view of Mansker, the Coronado police officer who, while off duty, shot the ex-Charger three times outside of his Poway home.
In the October 2006 preliminary hearing for Foley's companion, Lisa Maree Gaut, Mansker was asked, "Other than your verbal command, how does he know you're a police officer?" Mansker replied, "Verbal, I guess …"
Mansker was then asked, "Wouldn't it be better to show your badge?"
"Would've been better, yes," responded Mansker.
In a photo taken by sheriff's deputies of Mansker after the shooting, his badge was visible.
However, in a deposition, Mansker admitted the badge was covered his T-shirt at the time of the shooting and was not visible.
In their court filing, Foley's attorneys said Coronado hired Mansker after 10 other law enforcement agencies had previously rejected his applications for employment. Two agencies cited Mansker's immaturity and lack of life experience.
During his first week on the job, documents showed while off duty and driving home in his own car, Mansker's speeds were calculated to be in excess of 90 mph. Mansker wrote, "My conduct was viewed by another and seen as reckless."
Going deeper into Mansker's professional history, the court documents revealed that he previously worked as a service officer at Palomar College and was reprimanded for "his negative attitude …impulsiveness to make decisions based on emotion instead of careful thought and violations of several Palomar College Police Department policies."
"As he started reaching into his waistband, with his right hand turning towards me, I fired two shots," Mansker said in the October 2006 hearing.
Before the Foley incident, Mansker kept a MySpace page and called himself "Superman." Foley's attorneys argued that Mansker has "a bizarre fascination and over identification with the superhero, Superman," inferring that Mansker was overzealous when he pursued the legally drunk Foley in his personal car.
"A lot more information tends to come out in civil cases regarding the conduct of both parties; a clearer picture tends to emerge," said Bill Flores of El Grupo.
Flores is a retired assistant sheriff with 29 years in law enforcement. He represents El Grupo, a minority rights group that urged the state attorney general to review the Foley shooting and five other officer-involved shootings in the North County. The group said the district attorney was too cozy with local law enforcement.
"We've noticed that the district attorney's office in several officer involved shootings has released negative information on the victim of the shooting, which we find troubling," said Flores.
Only when the victim sues is information about the officer released, like in the Foley case.
Foley's lawyers argued that his injuries were so severe they ended his football career.
As for monetary damages, Foley is seeking $600,000 in medical expenses, $3 million in past economic loss, $11 million to $38 million in special damages and future earnings and $5 million to $7 million for pain and suffering.
A representative for Dumanis said the district attorney stands by the decision to clear Mansker of criminal liability.
However, the upcoming trial is about civil liability, and a jury will decide that outcome.
I-Team calls to Mansker's attorneys and the Coronado Police Department were not returned.
Foley's attorneys said it would be inappropriate to comment at this time.
Foley pleaded guilty to misdemeanor DUI related to the shooting.
However, he has more criminal trouble as he was recently indicted in Texas after two of his pit bulls attacked a woman and her puppy, according to San Diego DUI attorneys.
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San Diego DUI |
Grant to Help Fight California DUI in Contra Costa County
Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office gets money from state to target drunk driving in northern California county.
The Contra Costa Sheriff's Office has received a state grant to fund efforts to catch drivers suspected of driving under the influence in California.
A $662,000 grant will be distributed over a three year period to help fund the county's 'Avoid The 25' program, which targets drunk drivers through increased enforcement activities. The program name comes from the combined California DUI effort of the county's 25 law enforcement agencies. Its efforts include roaming DUI patrols and sobriety checkpoints. The grant will also pay for a public awareness campaign about the consequences and dangers of drunk driving in California.
A separate grant of $620,115 was given to the Contra Costa County Probation Department to fund programs targeting felony California DUI offenders. According to county statistics, law enforcement agencies arrested more than 600 motorists for DUI offenses in December 2007 alone.
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San Diego DUI |
