New Jersey DWI Lawyer Blog

June 16, 2009

Bergen County, NJ, Drunk Driving and Marijuana DUI Police Blotter

Lyndhurst — a 52-year-old driver was picked up for driving under the influence of alcohol during the evening of May 14. The Rutherford, New Jersey, resident was arrested for DWI, possessing an open alcoholic beverage container in his car, careless driving, as well as improper parking. The incident occurred in the parking lot at 540 New York Avenue in Lyndhurst. According to police reports, the man’s vehicle was observed parked partially in the parking lot and partially in the roadway. After being charged for drunk driving, as well as the other offenses, he released to Hackensack University Medical Center.

Lyndhurst — Hours later, during the early morning of May 15, a 41-year-old man from Milton, MA, was also arrested for driving while intoxicated, as well as refusing to submit to a breath test following a motor vehicle stop on Ridge Road near New Jersey Avenue. Prior to being released to a responsible party, the man was also charged with being an unlicensed driver, careless driving and failure to maintain a lane.

North Arlington — During a routine motor vehicle stop in the late evening of May 8, police reportedly detected the odor of burnt marijuana in a vehicle at Ilford and Prospect avenues. Police determined that both a 16-year-old male from North Arlington and the driver, a 17-year-old male from Lyndhurst, had smoked marijuana. The passenger was charged with being under the influence of marijuana and released to his parents. The driver was charged with having tinted windows, violating his provisional driver’s license for having four people in the car, DWI and being under the influence of marijuana. He was also released to his parents.

June 15, 2009

Bergen County Drunk Driving Crash Sends New Jersey Postal Employee to Hospital

by Jonathan F. Marshall

An allegedly drunk out-of-state driver caused a severe traffic accident in Closter, New Jersey, when he blew past a stop sign in his SUV and struck a sedan driven by a career postal employee, sending that man to the hospital with multiple injuries. The DWI traffic accident occurred today at West Street and Harrington Avenue where Kevin Greutert, 57, ended up being pinned in his vehicle until rescue workers could get him free and transported to Hackensack University Medical Center.

According to police reports, Patrick Martin Doyle, a resident of New York, was moving south on West Street in a white Nissan Pathfinder. As he approached the Harrington Avenue intersection, he apparently didn’t notice the stop sign and slammed into an Oldsmobile sedan being driven eastbound by Greutert, a resident of River Edge, NJ.

Greutert, a 30-year employee with the U.S. Postal Service, suffered a fractured pelvis and a collapsed lung, as well as a number of other minor injuries, according to Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor John Higgins, who also heads the county’s Fatal Accident Unit.

June 12, 2009

Drug DUI in New Jersey: Marijuana Possession in a Vehicle

by Jonathan F. Marshall

As a New Jersey resident, have you been issued a summons for possession of marijuana, or weed, in a motor vehicle? Or worse, been charged with drug DUI, or DWI, involving marijuana? With the likely increase in the legal use of medical marijuana in New Jersey and other states, it is conceivable that use of this drug may become more prevalent. Meanwhile, there is obviously a steady illegal trade in marijuana ongoing now throughout the Garden State. As a drug, the use of marijuana can affect a person’s ability to operate a motor vehicle.

If marijuana is found in your car, the police will usually issue a summons for possession in a motor vehicle. As experienced DWI and marijuana DUI defense attorneys, we at the Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall are fully prepared to defend you or a loved one in court. We know drunk driving and DUI law inside and out, which is why you can turn to us when faced with a driving under the influence or possession charge.

Under New Jersey law, persons are prohibited from operating a motor vehicle while knowingly in possession of marijuana. You should know that this law (N.J.S.A. 39:4-49.1) is directed at the driver of a vehicle and does not apply to the other occupants. In order to prove a violation, the state must establish several facts:

June 11, 2009

New Jersey Drunk Driving Legislation Calls for Mandatory Ignition Interlocks for DWI Offenders

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Future convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol could result in the offender’s vehicle being fitted with a type of breathalyzer-ignition interlock device if drunk driving legislation in Trenton continues to move foward. The specter of ignition interlocks for nearly all DWI offenses has been raised this time with the help of three New Jersey assemblymen, Gordon Johnson, Nelson Albano and Patrick Diegnan.

Under the proposed legislation (A-3073), any person convicted of a second, third or subsequent DWI offense would be required to have an ignition interlock device installed on all vehicles they either lease or own, or any vehicle that the person would operate for work, or other purposes, during their driver’s license suspension period.

Even first offenders would be affected. If a person convicted of a first-time DWI had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.15 percent or higher, the law would require the offender to have the device installed on his or her vehicle. In addition, the current legislation calls for the device to remain installed for six to 12 months following restoration of the individual’s driver’s license. The courts would retain discretion as provided under current law to require installation of the device for all other first offenders.

June 8, 2009

DWI Convictions Haunt Two New Jersey Judges Disciplined by State Supreme Court

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Two New Jersey municipal judges arrested for drunk driving were recently disciplined by the state supreme court. One of the judges, Peter Tourison, received a more serious sanction because his DWI offense included property damage from a collision, as well as an effort to interfere with the results of the Alcotest breath testing machine.

On Tuesday, June 2, the New Jersey Supreme Court censured Judge Tourison, who presides over the municipal courts in Stone Harbor, Cape May and Middle Township, for the arrest precipitated by his public intoxication. The court also reprimanded Judge Robert Jones, of Livingston. Under a new policy adopted by the Court, judges convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol are disqualified for one year from presiding over DWI cases.

Tourison, arrested in early 2008, was stopped by police after he allegedly drove his BMW against the flow of traffic on Bayshore Road in Lower Township. He reportedly forced another driver to swerve his car onto the shoulder and then ended up in a Wawa parking lot where he ran into a parked Ford Explorer. The arresting officer stated that he detected the odor of alcohol on Tourison, who claimed he had consumed only two drinks, but then failed most of the field sobriety tests.

June 7, 2009

Jersey City Cop Charged with DWI After Off-duty Crash and Speeding Episode

by Jonathan F. Marshall

The recent DWI case involving a New Jersey police officer arrested for driving drunk at break-neck speeds in a 25-mph zone is difficult to imagine, but it did happen. The intoxicated cop, Jersey City Police Officer Kevin Cieslak, has only been on the force for two years. Regardless of the circumstances, his actions are totally unacceptable.

Officer Cieslak was arrested in Belmar on Memorial Day by the New Jersey State Police around 2 a.m., according to reports. An officer from the East District, Cieslak allegedly collided with a bread truck, after which he reportedly left the scene. He was subsequently observed driving 89 miles per hour in a 25-mph zone before being pulled over by State Police. According to police, he was issued summonses for DWI after refusing a Breathalyzer test, as well as for reckless driving, leaving and accident scene, failing to report an accident, running a red light and driving in the opposing lane.

We should all be proud, and rightly so, of the hard work that our law enforcement officers do for society, but when they step over the line and break the same laws they are entrusted to enforce there should be no leniency. These are the same individuals that make judgments on whether to stop other citizens for driving while intoxicated. They, of all people, need to set an example for the rest of the us — there is no middle ground here.

June 5, 2009

Homicide Charges Dropped in New Jersey DWI Fatality Case

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Family members of a pedestrian killed last summer in Belmar by a drunk driver have expressed their anger over the recent reduction in charges against the defendant in the case. Despite having struck and killed 22-year-old Christopher Nowak while driving drunk on New Jersey’s Route 35, Mark Rich of Neptune City, NJ, now faces only a driving while intoxicated charge that carries with it a $500 fine, a 30-day maximum jail sentence, and a one-year license suspension.

Last December, a grand jury turned down an indictment of vehicular homicide against Rich, 53, that would have called for a maximum of 10 years in prison. Upon the grand jury’s rejection of the indictment, the case was handed back to municipal court, where Rich pleaded guilty this past Wednesday to DWI. According to reports, the Belmar prosecutor in the case requested that the judge also dismiss the other charge of careless driving. This has enraged the victim’s family.

Any loss of life through an automobile accident is a tragic event, but the facts of this case make for a difficult defense, as well as prosecution. Being a New Jersey DWI Defense Attorney and former municipal prosecutor myself, I have been involved in cases that seemed clear cut on their face, but which had many grey areas.

June 4, 2009

New Jersey DWI Sobriety Checkpoint in Marlboro Scheduled for this Friday Night

by Jonathan F. Marshall

The Marlboro Police Department will be checking for drunk drivers this Friday night and into the early morning hours of Saturday, June 6. Working in cooperation with the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, members of the Monmouth County DWI Task Force will be checking for drivers who may be under the influence of alcohol, marijuana or other drugs, along the southbound lanes of Route 9 in Marlboro.

Officers will be signaling to drivers to pull over into the local Lowe’s parking lot in Marlboro to check driver sobriety between the hours of 11 p.m. on Friday night and 3 a.m. on Saturday morning. This is according to Brielle Police Chief Michael W. Palmer, the task force coordinator.

This upcoming sobriety roadblock is one of many set up during the year to root out drunk drivers. These checkpoints are used by police across New Jersey to help decrease the number of alcohol-related auto accidents and deaths. Information on these roadblocks is not always readily available, but the law stipulates that impending sobriety checkpoints must be publically announced beforehand. The law also requires New Jersey’s state, county and municipal law enforcement departments only to establish checkpoints based on certain criteria, such as statistical data that indicates an area has a high incidence of DWI arrests.

May 31, 2009

New Jersey DWI News: Idling While Drunk not Necessarily a Chargeable Offense

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Anyone who has read about drunk driving police stops will certainly be familiar with typical stories of New Jersey residents arrested for being intoxicated while sitting in their parked vehicles. Well, DWI stories like these may become history if a recent New Jersey appeals court decision is any indication.

The ruling, which came down on Tuesday, May 26, essentially said that being drunk in the driver’s seat of your parked car, even if the engine is running and the parking brake is disengaged, cannot be grounds in and of itself for a DWI conviction — there must be proof of intention to drive.

In this case, being asleep was the key to the defense’s argument. According to the New Jersey Law Journal, in State v. Putz, the Appellate Division said the trial court ignored credible evidence that the defendant, Joshua Putz, a Phillipsburg resident who was found asleep in his idling pick-up truck after midnight by a Lopatcong Township police officer, had no intent to move the vehicle prior to falling asleep.

May 27, 2009

Tougher New Jersey Drunk Driving Laws Pushed for by State Senate

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Repeat drunk driving offenders may face greater fines and jail time if New Jersey State Senate President Richard Codey gets his way. Intoxicated drivers accounted for nearly 30 percent of New Jersey’s fatal car crashes in 2007, according to State Police records, and this statistic is one of the driving forces behind the latest initiative.

Being a New Jersey DWI and DUI defense lawyer, I am familiar with the lack of teeth in some parts of DWI law. This bold legislation calls for increasing fines and extending or adding jail time for certain drunk driving offenses, all of which could go a long way toward reducing DWI-related traffic deaths and injuries. Hopefully, this will be a benefit to everyone traveling on New Jersey roadways and not result in added harassment of law abiding citizens.

Motivated by a recent DWI injury accident, Senate President Codey is mainly targeting motorists who repeatedly drive drunk, and has proposed mandatory jail time for some offenders. A package of several bills, scheduled to be introduced in June, would increase penalties for a variety of drunk driving offenses.