New Jersey DWI Lawyer Blog

July 5, 2010

New Jersey Drunk Driving News: Driver Charged with DWI following Hoboken Pedestrian Accident

An apparently drunken out-of-state driver was taken into custody by Hoboken police after an early morning car-pedestrian traffic accident that resulted in the serious injury of a local man, according to news reports. Police said that the accident occurred around 1am on a Thursday morning right in front of Hoboken City Hall.

As a New Jersey DWI defense lawyer, I’m well aware of the complications that an injury accident can add to a drunken driving case. Fortunately for the driver, 38-year-old Pamela Currie, the injured man was not killed as a result; a fatal accident involving driving under the influence of alcohol can be quite serious and may lead to extensive jail time depending on the circumstances.

According to the news, Currie was driving a red Nissan Xterra southbound on Washington Street prior to the collision. Police reports also indicate that a male passenger was traveling in the vehicle as well. Based on reports, if it is determined that the passenger was sober at the time of the crash then that individual could be hit with a fine for allowing an intoxicated person to operate a motor vehicle.

June 26, 2010

Union County, New Jersey, DWI Police Blotter: Cranford Drunk Driving and Drug DUI Arrests

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Marijuana and Drug Possession in a Vehicle

While not an instance of drug DUI, an Elizabeth, NJ, man was arrested on a Sunday evening after being stopped for driving with an obstructed view Law enforcement officers will usually use a common traffic infraction, such as incorrect lane change or inoperative brake light, to initiate a traffic stop that might result in a further drunken driving or prescription drug DUI arrest. In this particular case, the officer charged the driver with possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia including a hypodermic needle, and possession of suspected Oxycodone. The man was also served with summons for operating a motor vehicle with an obstructed view, driving under a suspended driver’s license, not to mention possession of a controlled and dangerous substance (CDS) in a motor vehicle.

Drunken Driving Arrest following Accident

June 23, 2010

New Jersey DWI Update: Drunk Driving Enforcement Extends to Boaters on Jersey Coastline, Inland Waterways

by Jonathan F. Marshall

When it comes to driving under the influence of alcohol on New Jersey’s public roads, “tolerance” is by no means a word found in the vocabulary of the state’s law enforcement community. Similarly the state has no patience for drinking and piloting a boat along the Garden State’s coastline, its lakes or rivers and estuaries. DWI on the high seas, so to speak is just as serious an offense as here on land.

What’s surprising is that boat owners don’t always consider that the same standards which govern drinking and driving on public roads also apply to the operation of watercraft. Boaters must observe the same drunken driving laws as car, motorcycle and truck owners. Because of this, individuals who violate the DWI laws while boating are also subject to arrest for driving while intoxicated. And also included with this are those related offenses, such as prescription drug DUI and breath test refusal when the operator of a boat has a blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) in excess of 0.08 percent.

New Jersey’s statutes governing operation of a boat while under the influence of alcohol or drugs are nearly identical to those that pertain to DWI with a motor vehicle. The penalties are also closely related. The implied consent laws that oblige a licensed driver to submit to a breath or blood test following a drunk driving stop also applies to the operator of a watercraft in New Jersey.

June 20, 2010

Police Arrest Driver for Marijuana Possession Following High-speed Chase in Bergen County

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Some drug arrests have been known to start with a DWI or drug DUI traffic stop. There’s usually some reason for the initial stop, but a driver speeding down the highway is not a hard mark for a drunk driving or traffic enforcement patrol. A recent news report from Bergen County, NJ, shows the lengths that local police officers will go to apprehend a suspected drunken driver. As a New Jersey DWI defense lawyer, my legal experience includes years of defending motorists charged with driving while intoxicated either by alcohol, illicit drugs or prescription medications.

According to reports earlier this month, law enforcement officers from a number of towns in the vicinity of Mahwah, NJ, joined in a high-speed chase that began when a 1992 Toyota Celica was observed speeding along Route 17 in Mahwah around 2:30am. At that time, Mahwah Police Officer Stacy Conley apparently attempted to block the vehicle by pulling his patrol car across the highway with lights on. However, the Celica avoided the officer by veering onto the shoulder and kept traveling southbound at a high rate of speed.

The Celica’s driver, 26-year-old Shahan Momin, was eventually being pursued by police vehicles from Bergen County, Paramus, Rutherford and Lyndhurst. Toward the end of the chase, Momim reportedly tried to pull of of 17 onto Route 3 but lost control of his vehicle, which rolled several times ending up in an opposing lane of the roadway.

June 18, 2010

New Jersey Drunk Driving Defense Update: Cigarette Smoking May Cause Higher BAC Breathalyzer Reading

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Many people confronted with a first-time arrest for driving while intoxicated begin to wonder what factors, beyond any actual beer, wine or liquor consumption, affect the blood-alcohol content (BAC) results from an Alcotest or other breathalyzer device. Naturally, as New Jersey DWI defense lawyers, we understand this area of the law quite well. But sadly, the science behind drunken driving arrests and convictions may not always be completely reliable.

Whether a motorist received a breathalyzer test at a mobile DWI unit or at a police department, the machines are very similar. These devices do not measure alcohol content in the blood itself, they are actually designed to detect chemical compounds containing the methyl group of molecules. Based on this methyl measurement, these devices produce a reading (as a percentage of blood-alcohol content) that is used to charge the motorist with driving while under the influence.

One of the weaknesses in this method of BAC measurement is that breathalyzers like the Alcotest machine make an assumption that any methyl molecule detected in a person’s breath is from alcohol. However, methyl molecules are not just found in alcoholic beverages, they exist in other substances.

The fact that the methyl group occurs elsewhere can be important knowledge for one segment of New Jersey’s driving public: Smokers. According to recent studies, breathalyzer machines may have a hard time distinguishing between the methyl molecules in alcohol and those found in acetaldehyde.

For readers who didn’t go to medical school or graduate with a degree in chemistry, acetaldehyde is a compound produced by the liver in small amounts as a by-product in the metabolism of alcohol. What came as a surprise to some researchers is the finding that acetaldehyde concentrations in the lungs of smokers was often many time greater than that found in the lungs of non-smokers.
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June 16, 2010

NJ Drunk Driving News: Motorist Who Caused late-March Cape May Power Blackout Pleads Guilty to DWI

by Jonathan F. Marshall

A woman single-handedly pulled the plug on 18,000 residents in Cape May, NJ, on a cold March morning earlier this year, but the reason behind the crash that left so many in the dark was much more simple. According to court records, 26-year-old Denise M. Pomykacz of Burlington Township was driving under the influence of alcohol the morning of March 27 when she plowed into a utility pole just before 5am.

As a former municipal prosecutor and now as a New Jersey drunk driving defense lawyer, I know how combining a DWI arrest with other traffic offenses or moving violations can complicate an individual’s case. Whether one is facing charges of driving while intoxicated, breath test refusal or prescription drug DUI, there is no sense in making things worse by adding property damage or injury to the list of offenses.

In the recent case of Ms. Pomykacz, the former West Wildwood resident reportedly pled guilty in a Middle Township courtroom to DWI charges lodged against her following the drunken driving episode that winter morning.

June 13, 2010

NJ Drunk Driving Defense News: Despite Potential Jail Time, DWI Not a Crime Meriting Jury Trial

by Jonathan F. Marshall

If you feel that because jail time can be attached to certain drunken driving convictions that it makes sense for drunk driving offenses to be categorized as crimes requiring a trial by jury, well, you’re probably not alone. However, as stiff as drug DUI or DWI sentence can be in cases of driving under the influence of alcohol or prescription drugs, the Superior Court of New Jersey apparently believes the right to a jury trial is not usually called for, or so it would seem based on a recent decision by the high court.

The recent decision in New Jersey v. McLaughlin by the state’s Supreme Court Appellate Division made this abundantly clear when Steven G. McLaughlin filed an appeal a DWI conviction he received after he was denied a jury trial five years back in Ocean County, NJ.

According to court records, Mr. McLaughlin was pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving in 2005 year when he was stopped for speeding in Brick Township, NJ. As a result of that drunken driving police stop, McLaughlin was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. His case went to court on September 21, 2005, which resulted in a conviction for DWI, speeding and reckless driving.

On appeal McLaughlin was again found guilty on all three counts and sentenced to 90 days in jail, plus another 90 days of in-patient treatment as a result of the DWI offense. There was also a 30-day concurrent sentence for his reckless driving conviction. The man’s driver’s license was suspended for 10 years and the court levied related fines and court costs against him. Prior his next appeal, McLaughlin’s sentence and all penalties, except his revoked license, were suspended pending that court’s decision.

On review of the case, the defendant’s convictions were upheld in an unreported decision on June 13, 2007. It was at this point that McLaughlin applied to the Law Division for a jury trial on his DWI offense. Following oral arguments on October 10, 2008, the presiding judge denied the defendant’s motion and ordering the immediate execution of the DWI and other sentences previously imposed.

The judge in the 2008 decision concluded that although the defendant indicated he faced serious quasi-criminal and civil consequences as a direct result of his original court hearing the law states that a defendant charged with DWI is not entitled to a criminal trial by jury. In short, drunk driving is not a criminal offense within the meaning of the New Jersey Constitution.
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June 5, 2010

NJ Appellate Court: Liquor Stores Not Protected Against Lawsuits by Drunk Drivers following DWI Injury Accidents

by Jonathan F. Marshall

A recent New Jersey appellate court ruling has opened the door to lawsuits from obviously intoxicated customers who purchase liquor prior to being involved in a DWI-related injury accident. The ruling essentially states that liquor establishments, such as beer and wine shops, are not protected under the same New Jersey statutes that prevent third parties from being sued by drivers found to be at fault in a car accident as a result of driving under the influence of alcohol.

The court explained its decision stating that drivers who endanger public safety by driving while intoxicated should be penalized by being stripped of their right to suing third parties, however those owners of stores licensed for the sale of alcohol have a legal obligation to avoid serving drunken customers and then allowing them to go forth and travel New Jersey roadways (Voss v. Tranquilino, No. A-5431-08T1).

It was suggested that the state legislature was likely wrong to have imagined that the instances of drunk driving on Garden State roads would have been reduced by essentially “immunizing” beer-, wine- and liquor-sales establishments from lawsuits filed by drivers arrested for DWI-related traffic offenses.

June 2, 2010

Comatose Woman Dies following 2007 Fatal Drunk Driving Accident Caused by Ex-New Jersey Cop

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Having worked for many years as a municipal prosecutor I gained a healthy respect for the people serving in law enforcement. Now as a New Jersey DWI defense lawyer, I defend motorists accused of driving while intoxicated, arrested by some of those very same officers. While I admire the dedication of our police and their commitment to public safety, it gives me pause when I read about patrolmen and other individuals associated with law enforcement who flaunt the very laws they are sworn to uphold.

Being accused of drunken driving is nothing to be taken lightly, especially when fines and jail time are fairly heavy and the social stigma of being convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol can very often ruin reputations and business careers. The police, like other persons of authority, have a duty to be exemplary role models to the rest of society.

A recent news article reminds all of us that police officers do not always practice what they preach, and sometimes cause great harm when ignoring the law themselves. Based on reports, forty-year-old Ruth Zelaya died on March 24 as a result of “complications from a 2007 car crash that killed her 2-year-old son and left her in a comatose state until her recent passing.

May 30, 2010

Sussex County, NJ, DWI Law Update: Sparta Township Drunk Driving Arrest Procedures Under Fire

by Jonathan F. Marshall

A lawsuit filed in Newark Federal Court has pointed out some potentially serious problems with the policies at the Sparta Township Police Department, according to news reports. The suit, filed by two Newton, NJ, attorneys was prompted by their own 2008 arrest for driving while intoxicated in the Sussex County municipality.

As a New Jersey DWI defense lawyer, I know how strict certain police agencies’ policies can be regarding drunk driving violations. Similarly, there are some municipalities that have questionable tactics, which can cause problems for the prosecuting attorneys in those cities and towns. Being a former prosecutor myself, I know the ins and outs of the court system when it comes to drunk driving cases, all of which helps me to provide an aggressive defense to my clients.

In the case of the Sparta suit, court records indicate that the attorneys allege Sparta police “routinely rely upon false pretexts to improperly stop, falsely charge, and overcharge motorists of alleged infractions of the Motor Vehicle And Traffic Laws.” That’s a pretty specific accusation and something that definitely matches what is being called a major civil rights case against the township of Sparta. Essentially, the suit is challenging the constitutionality of the practices and policies of the Sparta police department.

The suit stems from a traffic stop on April 11, 2008. Reportedly Kevin Kelly and Megan Ward had attended an event at the Lake Mohawk Country Club, after which they were seen arguing in the parking lot by an off-duty Blairstown police officer. That officer phoned Sparta police to report a possible domestic dispute and then informed dispatch the two seemed fine because they drove off together on West Shore Trail.

Based on reports, Sparta police were dispatched to the scene and then followed the attorney’s vehicle, with Ward at the wheel and Kelly as the passenger. Despite there being no overt traffic violations — as recorded by the police car video — the officers still stopped and questioned the two occupants.

Ward was asked to step out of the vehicle and perform five sobriety tests. The officers made the determination she was impaired and arrested her. Kelly was also arrested as the presumed owner of the car driven by an impaired driver.
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