Monmouth County DWI Defense

October 2, 2009

Monmouth Co., New Jersey Drunk Driving News: Sobriety Checkpoint in Holmdel Tonight

As a New Jersey drunk driving lawyer, I constantly tell people who have been arrested for DWI or issued a summons for drunk driving or breath test refusal to retain the services of an experienced drunk driving defense lawyer. One of the most likely places to be pulled over for driving while intoxicated is a sobriety checkpoint, also known as a roadblock.

According to a news report, beginning tonight and running through Saturday morning the Monmouth County drunk driving task force, working together with New Jersey’s Highway Traffic Safety division, will be conducting a DWI checkpoint on the southbound side of Route 35 near Holmdel in Monmouth County. The roadblock will be set up to pull motorists over into the Dearborn Farms parking lot where members of the task force and officers from the Holmdel Police Department will determine drivers’ sobriety.

The checkpoint will be in operation from 11pm tonight until 3am Saturday morning.

September 19, 2009

Drunk Driving Checkpoint Scheduled in Monmouth County, NJ, Tonight

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Summer may be over, but New Jersey’s law enforcement agencies are still hard at work looking for motorists who are driving under the influence of alcohol (DWI) or drugs (DUI). A sobriety checkpoint is scheduled for this evening near Belmar, NJ. According to a news report, the Monmouth County drunk driving task force, with cooperation from the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, will be pulling vehicles over between the hours of 11pm Saturday night and 3am Sunday morning along the southbound lanes of New Jersey’s Route 35 in Belmar.

As a New Jersey DWI defense lawyer, I am very familiar with the police department’s use of sobriety checkpoints. Sometimes referred to as roadblocks, they are commonly used to identify drivers impaired by alcohol, or prescription or illegal drugs. As part of these sobriety roadblocks, police usually request drivers suspected of driving while intoxicated to take one or more field sobriety tests.

Also on hand is usually a breath-testing device, like the Alcotest machine, which is used to determine the specific amount of alcohol in a person’s bloodstream. The legal blood-alcohol content (BAC) in New Jersey is 0.08 percent.

August 19, 2009

DWI News: Drunk Driving Patrols, Sobriety Checkpoints Scheduled across New Jersey for Next Couple Weeks

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Drivers in Monmouth and Essex Counties, along with many other parts of New Jersey, will see numerous Drunk driving patrols over the coming weeks. DWI sobriety checkpoints throughout the Garden State will also be evident during the days leading up to the coming Labor Day holiday weekend. These checkpoints, also known as sobriety roadblocks, are commonly used by law enforcement as one way to decrease the number of alcohol-related auto accidents and deaths on the state’s highways and surface streets.

As a New Jersey DWI defense lawyer, my office alerts motorists to these checkpoints due to the number of driving while intoxicated arrests in these areas. By law, state, county and municipal arms of law enforcement can only set up checkpoints in locations that have a statistically high incidence of people driving under the influence of alcohol.

Standard procedure at these checkpoints includes police giving field sobriety tests to drivers that appear to be intoxicated. If the officer is satisfied that an individual operating a vehicle is possibly drunk, a breath test will usually be administered to determine the blood alcohol content (BAC) of that driver.

July 31, 2009

Breaking DWI News: Monmouth County, NJ, Sobriety Checkpoint

by Jonathan F. Marshall

A new sobriety roadblock will be set up in Monmouth County, New Jersey, beginning tonight (11pm on July 31) and remaining in effect until 3am on Saturday, August 1, 2009, in an attempt to catch drunk drivers in the Allenhurst, NJ, area. According to the Monmouth Co. DWI Task Force, which will be working in concert with the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, the sobriety checkpoint will be screening drivers to detect those individuals operating their vehicles under the influence of alcohol and/or illicit or prescription drugs.

This latest drunk driving roadblock will be located along the northbound lanes of Main Street near Elberon Avenue, where drivers will be routed to determine their level of inebriation, if any. During the DWI stops, the task force members and officers from the Allenhurst Police Department will use standardized field sobriety testing as established by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

In the state of New Jersey, sobriety checkpoints are typically employed by local police and other law enforcement agencies to help decrease the occurrence of alcohol-related auto accidents and fatalities across the state’s rural and urban roads, as well as on the highways and other high-traffic roadways.

July 2, 2009

DWI-DUI Sobriety Checkpoint Scheduled for Ocean Township, NJ, this July 4th Weekend

by Jonathan F. Marshall

New Jersey’s drunk driving laws will be strictly enforced this Fourth of July weekend, especially in Ocean Township, Monmouth County, where a sobriety checkpoint will be in effect from Friday evening until early Saturday morning. Sobriety checkpoints are frequently used by police and other law enforcement agencies to identify drunk drivers and make arrests for DWI and driving under the influence of illegal or prescription drugs.

As part of these sobriety roadblocks, police usually ask drivers suspected of driving while intoxicated to take one or more field sobriety tests. Breath testing apparatus, such as the Alcotest machine, are also employed to determine the specific content of alcohol in an individual’s bloodstream. The legal limit in New Jersey is 0.08 percent blood alcohol content (BAC).

This latest sobriety checkpoint will be set up on Ocean Avenue in the borough of Deal and remain in effect from 11pm Friday through 3am. Task force members and officers from the Deal Police Department will pull vehicles from the northbound lanes into the Deal Casino Beach Club parking lot to determine drivers’ sobriety, according to a press release issued by Brielle Police Chief Michael W. Palmer, task force coordinator.

June 26, 2009

New Jersey State Police to Reel In Drunk Boat Captains this Summer

by Jonathan F. Marshall

Any small craft captain worth his salt knows it’s boating season, but before you power up your twin inboard, take a moment to scan the horizon and double-check your alcoholic beverage intake. This weekend, from Sandy Hook to Cape May, the New Jersey State Police will be patrolling offshore in search of intoxicated boat operators. And just like DWI for landlubbers, being arrested for boating under the influence (or BUI) can be a costly experience.

Drunk boating, like drunk driving, is enforced by local and state police units. This latest campaign, christened “Operation Dry Water,” begins today and runs through Sunday, June 28. It’s a combined effort between the New Jersey State Police and the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and designed to hook skippers piloting their craft under the influence of alcohol in state waters, which includes bays and the ocean up to three miles out.

According to the USCG, enforcement will be heaviest in the Atlantic City and Cape May areas, with sobriety checkpoints set up at various points on the water. In addition to BUI offenses, law enforcement personnel will be looking for anyone navigating recklessly or carelessly. Those observed exhibiting drunken behavior should be prepared to be boarded and examined for intoxication.

In New Jersey, boaters can lose their boating privileges for one year and their automobile driver’s license as well. That’s three months for a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.08 percent or more, and seven months for 0.10 percent or more. You should know that while New Jersey does not confiscate boats of those captains who are arrested for BUI, other states do confiscate watercraft.

Authorities also will usually administer field sobriety tests, although they can be somewhat different from those conducted on dry land. And although they do not want to give away their tactics in detail for this coming weekend, law enforcement agencies say their goal is not to arrest boaters so much as to educate them about the BUI problem.

One message authorities are pushing is that alcohol has an enhanced effect on the water. According to experts, the glaring sun, waves, motion of the boat and other influences aboard a boat only help the body absorb alcohol faster. This can impair an individual’s motor functions, reaction time, judgment and other critical boating skills.
Continue reading

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.

April 24, 2009

Alcotest Digital Data – Fact or Fiction?

by Jonathan F. Marshall

The New Jersey DWI defense bar has been speculating for some time as to what impact digital data would have on cases. I have spoken to numerous attorneys who hold themselves out as DWI experts and have gotten mixed reports as to the anticipated benefit of digital data. I can tell you that I learned first hand this week just how powerful a vehicle this information can be to NJ DWI Defense Attorneys.

We were retained to represent a young man who allegedly provided alcotest readings well above the 0.10 limit for a second-tier DWI. He was a first offender and was looking at seven months to one year of suspension based on the readings. We fought hard to obtain the digital data. The data was provided to our expert and, sure enough, it demonstrated that the alcotest was operating improperly. Specifically, the device was failing to purge for the required two minutes thereby violating the dictates of Chun.

Based on our effort, we were able to get the state to agree to a first-tier DWI and three months suspension. This outcome saved our client at least four months of suspension. He was ecstatic.

April 16, 2009

Another DWI Checkpoint Scheduled for Middletown NJ

by Jonathan F. Marshall

It seems that the Monmouth County DWI Task Force has an affinity for Middletown NJ. The organization has scheduled another DWI checkpoint in the municipality. This is at least the second such roadblock in the municipality. We can only assume that the prior roadblock proved successful insofar as the same location has been selected in Monmouth County.

The checkpoint is scheduled for Friday night through Saturday morning. The DWI detail is intended to detect drivers who are operating under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and shall run from 11:00 p.m. through 3:00 a.m. on Route 35 North. Representatives of the Task Force and the Middletown Police shall test individuals in the parking lot of Hudson City Savings Bank.

A prerequisite to conducting a valid roadblock in NJ is statistical data demonstrating that the location selected has a high incident of driving while intoxicated. The fact that this particular location has been selected a second time manifests that Route 35 North is ripe for DWI violations. This does not come as a shock in view of the significant number of DWI and refusal cases which our NJ DWI Defense Attorneys handle in Middletown.