DUI
New Jersey Drunk Driving Articles
DUI Library: New Jersey
Man Accused of New Jersey DWI When Not in Vehicle
Suspect was sleeping in grass near his parked car.
A police officer on patrol in Madison, NJ around 4:15 am early Wednesday morning was checking a parked vehicle near a walking path when a 911 call reported a man lying in the grass nearby. Officer Papamarkos searched the area and found Devin McQuade lying with his face to the ground. When McQuade was determined to be very intoxicated, the officer arrested him for driving while intoxicated in New Jersey and for careless driving.
McQuade, 23, has been released pending a court arraignment.
Are you looking for a NJ DWI lawyer?
Filed in DUI Related | New Jersey DUI | Permalink | Comments (0)
Breathalyzer Code Found to Be Poorly Written
Source code determines blood alcohol content in DWI cases.
For a number of years DWI defense lawyers have questioned the reliability and accuracy of breathalyzers. At issue was the source code used to determine BAC during an investigation into driving while intoxicated. Given the constitutional right of a defendant to challenge accusations of guilt and the fact that breath test results are often the sole basis for determining guilt, access to the code is considered judicially prudent. Several state courts, including Florida, Minnesota and New Jersey, have agreed, and mandated reviews of the source code. Manufacturers, despite fines and court orders, have resisted making the software available.
A landmark case involving New Jersey DWI criminal lawyer Evan Levow has lead to a court ordered audit of the source code for the Alcotest 7110 MKIII-C manufactured by Draeger. In two separate studies, one commissioned by Draeger and another by the defendant, both found that the code does not meet industry standards for software design and that it contains ‘bugs’. The test requested by the manufacturer found no malware but noted excessively complex and poor maintained code. It also located at least one reproducible bug. The test requested by the defendant found 24 major defects, including one that disables safeguard features intended to detect and prevent invalid or corrupt instructions. Concern was raised by the researchers over the discovery that the decimal precision is not consistent throughout the code. The code was found to return arbitrary default values when the test failed and to ignore errors. That increases the potential for inaccurate results and a false arrest for drunk driving.
It is the potential legal, social and financial impact of a conviction for DWI based on the results of a breathalyzer that demand independent verification of the machine’s accuracy and its ability to successfully complete its intended critical task.
The risks are huge for Draeger too as an agreement between the company and the state of New Jersey stipulates the return of nearly $7 million if the state Supreme Court deems the breathalyzers unreliable.
Have you been charged with DWI in NJ?
Filed in Court Rulings | New Jersey DUI | Permalink | Comments (2)
Ferrari Owner Hits Multiple Cars Trying to Avoid NJ DWI Traffic Stop
Driver is a bail bondsman with his own criminal history.
David Sainato, 42, is a bail bondsman who makes a living out of helping people get out jail. On Monday evening he had to post his own bail after crashing his Ferrari during a wild chase that resulted in several people being sent to the hospital.
Weehawken police were alerted to a gray Ferrari 430 that had hit several cars around 6:30 pm. Police managed to pull over the vehicle but as they approached, Sainato sped away, striking a Subaru station wagon in his attempted escape. The Ferrari then struck two more vehicles a few hundred yards away. One of those vehicles, a Chevrolet Impala carrying six people, flipped over and came to a rest on its roof. Finally the Ferrari, which had a value of $262,000 when new, hit a Nissan Maxima, damaging yet another vehicle with flying debris.
Sainato was treated for head trauma at a local medical center. Four of the six people in the Impala were treated for non-life threatening injuries.
The results of tests for blood alcohol content are still pending. Sainato faces several charges, including driving while intoxicated in New Jersey.
Sainato was arrested for making terroristic threats last September 30. On November 23 he was charged again with making terroristic threats and for aggravated assault. He is currently out on $250,000 bail for those charges. Last February, Sainato sideswiped another vehicle and hit a tree, for which he was charged with drunk driving in New Jersey and resisting arrest. In the early 90’s, he spent four year in prison for various crimes, including conspiracy to commit arson. Sainato received four years probation in July 2003 for assault by auto.
Are you trying to find a NJ DWI attorney?
Filed in New Jersey DUI | Permalink | Comments (10)
NY Giants Football Player Charged with DWI in New Jersey
Kareem McKenzie arrested for drunk driving after cutting through gas station.
Kareem McKenzie, starting right tackle for the New York Giants, was arrested for driving while intoxicated in New Jersey on Thursday evening. McKenzie reportedly cut through a gas station and was stopped by Little Falls Township police. He submitted to a breath test and registered a blood-alcohol content in excess of the .08% legal limit for intoxication.
McKenzie is a native of Trenton, New Jersey. He played for Penn State and an eight year veteran with the NFL. McKenzie has played all but three games for the Giants since joining the team for the 2005 season. The Giants organization has indicated McKenzie will play during this week’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, clarifying that only the league, not the individual team, has the right to impose penalties for alcohol or drug offenses. The NFL says that first time offenders for something like DWI must typically enter a substance abuse program and could be subject to suspension or a fine. Head coach Tom Coughlin has been supportive of his offensive lineman, indicating that McKenzie has shown remorse for his mistake.
Have you been charged with DWI in NJ?
Filed in DUI Related | New Jersey DUI | Permalink | Comments (0)
Court to Set Basis for NJ DWI Stop
State Supreme Court decision could impact drunk driving cases in New Jersey.
The Supreme Court of New Jersey is scheduled to hear arguments in a case that could establish a new course for DWI prosecutions in the state. The justices will be deciding the set of circumstances that need to be considered before a law enforcement officer stops a motorist based on a tip. Currently such calls are given less weight than anonymous calls from concerned citizens.
At the heart of the situation is a New Jersey DWI case against Paul Amelio. During an argument with his daughter, Amelio left his house, got in his car and drove off. His daughter called the police and told them her father was drunk. The officer followed Amelio until he returned to his driveway, and then charged him with driving while intoxicated in NJ. Amelio pleaded guilty but then appealed.
Amelio’s defense attorney, Douglas Kinz, said that the police did not have enough information to warrant a traffic stop and initiate an arrest. Historically the courts have ruled that such tips must involve specifics, and in the case of a suspected drunk driver, an estimate of the amount of alcohol someone has consumed. Amelio’s daughter simply said her father was ‘drunk’ and provided no further information. Nor did she witness any erratic driving. Kinz stated that the police who responded to the scene, “lacked a reasonable and articulable suspicion that (Amelio) had violated the law.” It was entirely possible Amelio’s 17-year old daughter may not have known the difference between acting belligerent and being intoxicated, and Kinz raised the question as to whether she was in the same room as her father at the time of the argument.
In the absence of specific information, tips can be viewed as vendettas, using the police as instruments of revenge. Evan Levow, a leading lawyer in New Jersey DWI defense, said the questions being asked by the Supreme Court about procedure in a traffic stop based on a tip “are important…(as they address) when it is permissible to intrude upon the freedoms of all drivers.” Kinz warned that, if the court upholds the traffic stop of Amelio, anyone driving a car will be subject to being stopped on a hunch and a guess.
Both a Superior Court and a panel of judges on the state Appellate Division ruled that Amelio’s New Jersey DWI conviction should not stand. Prosecutors however appealed to the high court.
Are you searching for an experienced NJ DWI attorney?
Filed in DUI Laws | New Jersey DUI | Permalink | Comments (0)
Defense lawyers take Alcotest challenge to US Supreme Court
Defense attorneys who unsuccessfully challenged the use of a new device to test drunk drivers in New Jersey have taken their fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Read more about the three year legal battle in philly.com by Troy Graham.
See why New Jersey DWI Attorney Evan Levow along with other defense attorneys filed a 529-page petition with the high court.
Filed in DUI News | New Jersey DUI | State v. Chun | Permalink | Comments (0)
Chun Petition filed to the United States Supreme Court
Chun Petition for Writ of Certiorari.
Click the link to view the 529 page petition filed with United States Supreme Court in June 2008: Chun Petition for Writ of Certiorari
Filed in DUI News | New Jersey DUI | State v. Chun | Permalink | Comments (0)
New Jersey Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Breathtest Equipment
Court says law enforcement can use device during NJ DWI stops.
In a landmark case, affecting tens of thousands of NJ DWI cases, the Supreme Court of New Jersey ruled that new breath test equipment is “sufficiently scientifically” reliable enough to determine whether a motorist is driving while intoxicated.
The ruling focuses on use of the Alcotest 7110, which is used in 17 of the state’s 21 counties to determine blood alcohol content in NJ drunk driving cases. The 7110 replaces the Breathalyzer, which was first developed in 1954.
Challenges to the new equipment were lead by New Jersey DWI defense attorney Evan Levow. At issue was the accuracy of the computerized tester. Levow says the Alcotest 7110 has problems that can violate a driver’s constitutional rights. High breath temperatures could result in false high blood alcohol content readings and the filing of inaccurate charges of driving while intoxicated in New Jersey.
The high court ruling comes after public hearings and two reports that found the Alcotest “much more reliable” than the previous testing equipment. The state said it needs the new device because maintenance parts are not available for the outdated Breathalyzer. The Alcotest was first used in New Jersey seven years ago and the state attorney general began seeking certification of the equipment in 2003. The legal challenge resolved by the recent ruling was started in January 2006.
During the two year review and debate over the accuracy of the Alcotest, 10,708 New Jersey DWI convictions have been on hold. The Supreme Court found breath test evidence gathered from use of the equipment is admissible in court. It says though that police and prosecutors must follow several safeguards. DWI lawyer Levow pointed out that the issue is especially critical because drunk driving cases in New Jersey are heard by judges, not juries, and there is a heavy reliance on breath test results.
New Jersey DWI attorney Evan Levow plans to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Filed in DUI News | New Jersey DUI | State v. Chun | Permalink | Comments (1)
NJ Court Approves DUI Breath Test
NJ Court Approves DUI Breath Test
New Jersey Court Approves DUI Breath Test by Jeffrey Gold, Associated Press Writer, Houston Chronicle, Chron.com, March 17, 2008.
State v. Jane H. Chun, et al. (A-96-06) (PDF Version)
This syllabus is not part of the opinion of the Court. It has been prepared by the Office of the Clerk for the convenience of the reader. It has been neither reviewed nor approved by the Supreme Court. Please note that, in the interests of brevity, portions of any opinion may not have been summarized.
If you have been arrested for a DWI in New Jersey, you will need to hire a New Jersey DWI Lawyer.
Filed in DUI News | New Jersey DUI | Permalink | Comments (0)
Judge Charged With New Jersey DWI
New Jersey Municipal judge nabbed for second NJ DWI incident while in black Maserati.
George Korpita, a Dover municipal judge, has been charged with his second New Jersey DWI. Korpita had left Zoe's By the Lake in Sparta, New Jersey shortly after 10:30 pm when stopped by a policeman who observed a black Maserati driving erratically.
Korpita, 48, just recently resigned from his post as judge for the municipal courts in Dover, Rockaway Borough and Victory Gardens because of a New Jersey drunk driving arrest in Roxbury last November. In that incident Korpita was found slumped over the steering wheel of his car after drinking at a local go-go-bar. His blood alcohol content registered nearly three times the legal limit for driving while intoxicated in New Jersey. He reportedly told the arresting officer “I'm a judge, bro” and presented his judicial identification card. He pleaded guilty last December to NJ DWI and threatening the arresting police officers.
There is no indication that Korpita tried to use his former position to influence the police officers in the Sparta incident. He has been charged with driving while intoxicated in New Jersey, failure to keep right, careless driving and refusal to take a breath sample.
Are you looking for a NJ DWI Lawyer?
Filed in DUI News | New Jersey DUI | Permalink | Comments (0)
