New Jersey law categorizes driving under the influence (DUI) of drugs or alcohol as a criminal offense. You may assume that the severity of the imposed penalties depends on whether this is your first, second, or third time being convicted of this. While this is a major factor, the criminal judge may weigh other considerations before giving you your sentence. Continue reading to learn what factors determine DUI penalties and how an experienced Morristown DUI defense lawyer at Graves Andrews, LLC can work to reduce or eliminate your potential consequences.
What factors determine DUI penalties in New Jersey?
To reiterate, New Jersey law sets baseline penalties for first, second, and third offenses for DUIs. But based on the specific circumstances surrounding your case, the criminal judge may heighten your sentence. Below are more specific examples of what may steepen your criminal consequences:
- Whether your blood-alcohol content (BAC) level was tested at 0.10 percent or higher.
- Whether you were caught driving intoxicated while carrying a commercial driver’s license.
- Whether you were caught driving intoxicated while under the legal drinking age of 21.
- Whether you were caught driving intoxicated after causing an auto accident.
- Whether minor children were present in your vehicle at the time of your DUI stop.
- Whether you were pulled over for a DUI stop within a school zone.
What are the potential DUI penalties I am up against?
Allow us to apply what has been mentioned above in a specific example.
For starters, the standard penalties for a first-offense DUI in the state of New Jersey are up to 30 days in jail, a fine of up to $500, an ignition interlock device (IID) in your vehicle for three months, and a driver’s license suspension until an IID is installed. However, if your BAC level was 0.15 percent or higher for this first offense, your possible jail time and fines may be the same, but you may lose your driver’s license for up to six months and then require an IID for up to 15 months thereafter.
In another example, say that you were behind the steering wheel of a commercial vehicle at the time of your traffic stop. Well, your BAC level only has to be at 0.04 percent or higher to be convicted of a DUI offense. For a first-time offender, this may mean up to 30 days in jail, a fine of up to $800, and a commercial driver’s license suspension of up to one year. Then, as a second-time or subsequent offender, you may get your commercial driver’s license permanently revoked, along with other non-commercial driving privileges and additional surcharges.
Lastly, as a juvenile, you may not be subject to detention, but rather mandatory community service hours. However, you may be up against these criminal penalties even with a BAC level as low as 0.01 percent.
At the end of the day, what matters most is that you retain strong legal representation to get you through this critical case. For this, please contact a skilled Morristown criminal defense lawyer from Graves Andrews, LLC today.
