New Jersey DWI Lawyer Blog

July 20, 2009

Warren County, NJ, Assistant Prosecutor Arrested for Drunk Driving

As a former prosecuting attorney having handled DWI cases for a number of New Jersey municipalities in the past, I am well aware of the professional pressures associated with working in a prosecutor’s office. Furthermore, as a current New Jersey drunk driving defense lawyer, I can sympathize with many of my clients who have been accused of driving while intoxicated.

One thing I do not have much patience for, however, is a lack of discipline on the part of certain government officials and law enforcement personnel when it comes to their own personal conduct regarding drinking and driving. I’m speaking here of the danger of losing the public’s respect for those in law enforcement and in the judiciary due to the apparent hypocrisy exhibited by a small percentage of individuals in positions of authority.

Past news reports have covered members of the police and the judiciary accused and conivted of driving under the influence of alcohol. Recently, another individual, this time from the prosecutorial side of the justice system, has been arrested for DWI. A Warren County assistant prosecutor was charged with drunken driving, after he allegedly ran over a fire hose without being authorized to do so.

Kevin Brotzman, a 29-year-old newcomer to the prosecutor’s office, was picked up on June 14 by police after potentially interfering with city firefighters who were trying to extinguish a burning vehicle near his home. Based on news reports, the incident occurred in the early morning hours, when the man steered a 2004 Saturn around a tow truck and drove over an active fire hose. Officers gave Brotzman three field sobriety tests, all of which he failed, according to police.

It should be noted that although Brotzman is relatively new to the Warren County prosecutor’s office, he is by no means inexperienced — he has already handled some high-profile cases, including the conviction of Keri Ann Brekne, a former Lopatcong Township schoolteacher who molested one of her students. In this case, he should have known better than to take the wheel after consuming alcohol.

Court records show that the Brotzman’s preliminary blood alcohol content (BAC) was 0.09 percent. Although individuals with readings of 0.08 and above can be charged with drunken driving, as a seasoned DWI defense attorney, I know that there are many factors involved in being legally drunk. In many cases, a person in Brotzman’s situation could possibly be acquitted of those charges, which would certainly be awkward for an individual who more than likely prosecutes drunk driving defendants as part of his job.
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July 18, 2009

Madison, NJ, Police Blotter: Recent Alcohol DWI Traffic Stops and Arrests

by Jonathan F. Marshall

As a New Jersey drunk driving and drug DUI defense lawyer, as well as a former municipal prosecutor, I know that on any given day local police will make dozens of DWI arrests across the Garden State. Similarly, our local courts see hundreds of driving while intoxicated cases come through their doors every month. Madison, NJ, is no different than other communities throughout the country. Here are just a few recent examples of DWI arrests in this part of Morris County.

July 7 — A law enforcement officer stopped an 18-year-old man in the late evening hours after the patrolman observed a car traveling at a high rate of speed on Route 24. The officer also noticed the driver did not keep right, after which he pulled the suspect over and saw that the driver had a bottle of brandy in the car. The resident of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was arrested and charged with underage possession of alcohol. He was later released pending a court appearance.

July 9 — Following an evening traffic stop, an officer arrested two 20-year-old women from Chatham for underage possession of alcohol. The suspects’ Cadillac was observed doing 40mph in a 25mph zone and was subsequently pulled over. During the stop, the officer noticed three 30-packs of beer in the rear seat. Both individuals were later released pending their court appearances.

July 16, 2009

East Rutherford Man with 15 Career DWIs to be Sentenced by Morris County Court

by Jonathan F. Marshall

There are just some people that you can’t help. As a New Jersey DWI defense lawyer, I have represented many multiple drunk driving offenders, but few like Shaun Campbell of Bergen County, New Jersey. Most of the clients I have worked with learn their lesson and try to make a clean start of things following a brush with the law as it applies to driving under the influence of alcohol. But other people convicted of driving while intoxicated go back and make the same mistakes over and over again. So it has been for Mr. Campbell.

According to reports, the 40-year-old Campbell had his license suspended nearly 80 times during his 22-year driving career. His admission of guilt to his 15th DWI charge was the latest in a string of convictions. This particular case involved an April head-on collision in Morris Township when Campbell, self-described as being plastered on beer, drove his sport utility vehicle into a Ford pickup truck driven by a Chatham man and carrying that man’s four-year-old daughter. Luckily, no one was killed.

Campbell pled guilty to assault by auto, DWI and driving while on the revoked list. The Morris County assistant prosecutor has recommended that Campbell receive the maximum sentence of 18 months in prison for the assault by auto, and consecutive 180-day terms on the drunken-driving and revoked license charges. He also recommended that Campbell receive an extra 90-day term as an enhanced penalty on the license revocation offense.

July 15, 2009

Howard Stern Regular, Artie Lange, Charged with Drug DUI after New Jersey Car Crash

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Comedian Artie Lange, who regularly makes guest appearances on Howard Stern’s radio program, has been charged with driving under the influence of an intoxicant following a Ocean County car accident last Friday. According to reports, Toms River police made the DUI arrest of the witty stand-up artist after the 2009 Nissan Sentra he was driving ran into the back of a Pontiac Grand Am in the early afternoon.

It is widely known that the performer has had trouble with substance abuse over the years, from prescription medicines and alcohol to heroin. Although the crash was not serious, with no injuries, police noted Lange’s odd behavior following the incident and decided to arrest him.

As a New Jersey DWI and DUI defense attorney, I have represented many clients that were arrested by police due to strange behavior after an automobile accident. Although Lange has had a history of substance abuse, it would be wrong to assume the man is guilty of drug DUI simply on that fact alone.

News reports indicate that Lange, who was on his way to a promotional event for his best-selling book, “Too Fat to Fish,” was released after being issued a summons to appear in court this Thursday, July 16 — on Tuesday Lange’s attorney entered a not guilty plea, stating the comedian had passed an Alcotest breath test, which probably rules out alcohol but says nothing about impairment due to possible drug use. If found guilty of a first-time drug DUI offense, Lange could receive up to 30 days in jail, a maximum of $1,000 and possible loss of his driver’s license for as long as 12 months.

Entertainment news outlets say that Lange’s physical and mental health has been showing some signs of improvement over the past few months. The heavyset comedian had reportedly lost more than fifty pounds as well as claiming total sobriety. He has been reported as saying that that he was in love with a new girlfriend, but that if he ever started using drugs again, she should “get the hell away from me.”
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July 13, 2009

Avoid a New Jersey Drunk Driving Arrest: Know Your Limit for Alcohol Consumption

by Jonathan F. Marshall

With the Independence Day holiday behind us and summer in full swing, lots of people are enjoying themselves from Newark to the Jersey Shore and all the way down to Cape May. But along with that enjoyment comes responsibility. As a New Jersey DWI defense attorney, I’ve represented many clients who never realized they were legally intoxicated — having a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.08 percent or more. Unless you have a properly calibrated breathalyzer handy, it’s tough to know whether you’ve had one too many.

I recently ran across an article that included a chart for gauging how many drinks an individual can consume while still staying legal and avoiding a drunk driving summons. It all has to do with body weight. Comparing a 100-pound aerobics fanatic to that 250-pound linebacker sitting at the next table, the big fellow can drink more than the smaller person and still be under the legal limit for BAC. But if it’s any consolation, portly couch potatoes have to buy more drinks to get the same buzz as those svelte folks out there.

Regardless, you should never drive in an impaired state. Even small amounts of alcohol can dull your senses, decrease reaction time, and hamper judgment, vision and alertness. Very simply, if you consume any amount of alcohol and your driving is affected, you could be convicted of driving while intoxicated. The chart below illustrates the relationship between alcohol, body weight and BAC level — this is not a guide, since drinking and driving are always a dangerous combination, and there are numerous other factors that can affect your BAC as well.

July 12, 2009

Police Blotter: New Jersey Drunk Driving and Drug DUI Arrests and Summonses

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Sparta

A 47-year-old man from Newton, New Jersey, was stopped by police for careless driving and charged additionally with driving while intoxicated. The arrest occurred on Route 15 when officers observed the man’s pickup truck being driven erratically. Following the incident, he was released pending a court appearance.

A Nutley, NJ, man was recently charged with drunk driving and refusing to submit to a breath test. The DWI stop took place after the 27-year-old was observed running a red light. Police officers charged the man with additional traffic offenses, including careless driving, not maintaining a lane, unsafe tires and not wearing a seatbelt. The man was subsequently released pending a court appearance.

July 11, 2009

NJ Legislature Seeks to Extend Drunk Driving Sobriety Testing Post-crash for Serious Wrecks

by Jonathan F. Marshall

The New Jersey statehouse wants mandatory sobriety testing for drivers involved in severe traffic accidents regardless of whether drunk driving is indicated as the cause of the crash. This is significant because the current law only allows police to administer breathalyzer tests and the like when evidence points to a case of driving while intoxicated, or at least clear suspicion that the operator of a vehicle was driving in an impaired state as a result of drug or alcohol use.

As a New Jersey DWI defense lawyer, I’ve seen drunk driving law evolve during my career as a municipal prosecutor and now as a drunk driving defense attorney. Society has little tolerance for intoxicated drivers and this bill is one more step in expanding the tools police have at their disposal. The bill states that law enforcement officers must take a blood or breath sample from the driver of a vehicle involved in a traffic accident that resulted in a fatality or that caused serious injury to another person.

A driver’s refusal to submit to such a test could result in fines up to $1,000 and a possible two-year suspension of the offender’s driver’s license — the same penalty for a conviction of refusal in relation to a drunken driving charge. According to news reports, opponents of the legislation have argued the unconstitutionality of a law that forces an individual to submit to a blood or urine test when there is no probable cause to suspect them of a crime.

July 9, 2009

DWI Arrest in Bridgewater, NJ, a Matter of Attempted Suicide

by Jonathan F. Marshall

People drink for all sorts of reasons, many times because they are unhappy with life or feel that they are in a situation from which there is no escape. As a New Jersey drunk driving defense lawyer, I know that many people accused of DWI are not necessarily thinking clearly, and not just because of the physical affects of alcohol. A recent news article brought this home when I read that a woman from Middlesex County had tried to kill herself in Bridgewater Township.

According to police reports, Kathleen Hoffman, a resident of South Plainfield, was sitting in her Chevrolet Corvette at a scenic overlook near Route 78 in the early afternoon last Tuesday. Apparently distraught, the 55-year-old then crashed her sports car though a wood barrier, through a metal fence and down a steep wooded embankment, causing the car to roll several times before coming to rest at the bottom.

By the time rescuers arrived at the scene, she was trapped but still alive. Emergency workers had to cut her out of the vehicle, after which she was airlifted to nearby Morris Memorial Hospital where she was treated for moderate injuries. Thankfully, nobody else was injured in the incident, although it did tie up traffic on Route 78 for quite sometime.

July 7, 2009

Morris County, NJ, Drunk Driving News: DWI and Drug DUI Police Blotter

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Mount Olive

A 57-year-old Hackettstown woman was stopped by police last Saturday and charged with driving while intoxicated, failure to stay within her lane, and reckless driving. The drunk driving arrest occurred in Morris County, New Jersey, following a traffic stop on Oakwood Drive. The lady was released and currently has a court appearance pending.

Several potential drug DUIs recently occurred this past weekend. The first involved a 17-year-old juvenile from Long Valley, NJ, who was stopped by police for failure stay within his lane, as well as drug possession in vehicle. The stop took place on Route 46, after which the young man was released to one of his parents.

July 6, 2009

Plainfield Refusal Case Could Affect New Jeresy DWI Breathtest Instructions for Non-English Speakers

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Recent comments by a New Jersey appeals court could shift the thinking behind English-only instructions provided by state and local police during DWI stops. As a New Jersey drunk driving defense lawyer, I have represented my share of non-native-English-speaking clients over the years, and I can tell you that many of these people are at a disadvantage when it comes to DWI enforcement.

The case in question stemmed from a driving while intoxicated arrest that occurred following a September 2007 traffic accident in Plainfield, N.J. A Hispanic man, German Marquez, had his license suspended for seven months after he apparently refused to submit to a breathalyzer test. According to court records, Marquez declined to take a breath test because he didn’t understand the 11-paragraph statement that a police officer read to him in English. After the statement was read out loud, the man responded, “No entiendo,” which means “I don’t understand” in Spanish.

The appeals court upheld the license suspension. In issuing its decision, the court stated that Marquez was made aware of the rules involving breath testing when he took the driver’s license exam in Spanish. It also reminded that the driving manual, written in Spanish, makes it clear that anyone who agrees to be licensed to drive in New Jersey is also giving advanced consent to a breath test.