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?