Trying to guess what type of penalty a judge will implement in a criminal DWI case is impossible because a judge’s ruling will ultimately depend on the unique merits of the individual situation. Nonetheless, attorney Scott Grauman, a Queens lawyer who specializes in DWI defense cases at the Law Office of Scott A Grauman, says that people who have already had a previous DWI conviction can expect that a judge is going to come down harder on them than he would on a first time offender.
Although first-time DWI offenders are sometimes able to negotiate plea bargains with the prosecution that will allow them to attend driving courses or victim’s impact programs rather than face jail time, it is unlikely that someone who has already been convicted of drunk driving in the past will be given such consideration. Ultimately, the punishment that a person receives for driving under the influence of alcohol will depend on what his blood alcohol content (BAC) was when he took the breathalyzer test at the scene. The higher that number, the worse the person can expect his sentence to be.
In New York State in particular, the legal threshold for drunk driving is a .08 BAC. As Grauman explains, if a driver is pulled over and his BAC is found to be below .08, then it’s possible that he was driving in a confused or impaired state of mind. There is an important distinction in that, however, because driving while impaired is a violation and not a crime; DWI, however, is. Furthermore, the penalties that drivers face in Queens go up exponentially with higher BAC levels.
According to Grauman, those attempting to predict the penalties for DWI need to look at three main factors—how drunk they were, whether someone was injured, and what their driving records were like before their arrests. People with previous DWI convictions on their records are likely to face much more serious penalties than those who are getting in trouble with the law for the very first time.
Whether you have been pulled over on suspicion of DWI one time or five times, Grauman recommends getting in contact with an experienced DWI lawyer for the best chance of coming out on top.
This article is for informational purposes only. You should not rely on this article as a legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances, and you should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. Publication of this article and your receipt of this article does not create an attorney-client relationship.