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New York DWI Attorney: Protect your rights

Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) laws in New York have become much stricter over the years making it more important that you hire a DWI attorney who is quite familiar with the new laws.  In January of 2007, a new law created the offense of Aggravated DWI.  Aggravated DWI is a new category of DWI with stricter penalties and new plea-bargaining restrictions.  After one DWI conviction, your next DWI may be charged as a felony.  John also handles Boating While Intoxicated (BWI) matters.  Penalties for BWI are now quite similar to DWI offenses making it important to hire an experienced attorney to protect your rights.  Click the following link to learn more about Boating While Intoxicated in New York.

New Legislation enacted in late 2010 under “Leandra’s Law” elevates DWI to the felony level where there is an allegation that a child was also riding in the vehicle.  That same legislation also requires that anybody convicted of DWI as a misdemeanor or higher level to have an ignition interlock device for a minimum of six months following the sentence.  Perhaps this makes more of a reason to hire an experience DWI Attorney.  As a former Public Defender John has handled numerous DWI matters and is familiar with legal defenses and mitigating factors.

Once you are arraigned on your DWI charge, your license will be suspended pending prosecution if your alleged BAC is .08 or above.  If there was a refusal alleged, your license will be suspended immediately (at the time of refusal) although you are entitled to a refusal hearing.  Recently enacted legislation has increased the penalty for a refusal to a one year license revocation, although you may be entitled to a conditional license depending upon the outcome of your charges.

There are certainly many ways to fight a DWI charge.  Perhaps the most common reasons for challenging a DWI charge are the reason for the stop of the vehicle or the validity of the breath test results.

If you prefer to seek a deal instead of fighting the charges there are certain factors that the District Attorney may weigh including the alleged BAC reading, driving history, and whether there was an accident involved.  In many situations, the District Attorney may reduce your misdemeanor DWI charge to the violation of Driving While Ability Impaired (DWAI).  Having the DWI charge reduced to DWAI will protect you from having a criminal record.

The consequences of DWI or DWAI convictions are quite severe.  These can include incarceration, probation, mandatory Court imposed fines and surcharges, driver’s license suspension or revocation, proof of alcohol-related treatment, attendance at a victim impact panel, increased insurance rates, and a mandatory driver assessment fee of $250 to New York for three years. 

Protect your rights.  If you are charged with DWI, call John at (518) 605-9106 for a free consultation.