New Jersey Criminal Defense Journal : New Jersey Criminal Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Alexander M. Iler Law Firm : Monmouth County NJ DWI & Drunk Driving Defense

Many times clients come into my office asking about "ISP", which is the Intensive Supervision Program in New Jersey. The ISP program in New Jersey is a program for certain defendants who have been sentenced to jail time and have served a certain amount of jail time. ISP allows them to get back into the community before they are eligible for parole. The first question is whether or not you are eligible for ISP. You are eligible for ISP if you have been convicted and sentenced to state prison unless the crime was a homicide (including vehicular homicide), robbery, or a sex offense. Also, any conviction for a first degree offense in New Jersey makes you ineligible for ISP. Anyone else can apply for the program.

To apply for ISP, you should contact an experienced criminal defense lawyer who can assist you in filling out an application. An attorney will also be able to help you throughout the ISP process. A Screening Board will review your application and will recommend you for the program or deny your application. If you are recommended by the Screening Board, your application will then be considered by a Panel of Judges who have the final say.

After you apply for the program, your pre-sentence report will be reviewed by the Screening Board. You will receive a rejection letter if you are not considered a viable candidate. Otherwise, you will be contacted to be interviewed by an officer. The officer will want to know what your plans for living, employment, and treatment if you are released from incarceration. You must also identify some community support members who will assist you if you are released into the population.

Finally, if you are accepted into ISP and you are approved by the Resentencing Panel of Judges, you will be immediately released from prison. The ISP program is a very intense, strict program and you must comply with all the requirements while out in the community.

For additional information on ISP, please contact my office for immediate assistance at (732)842-7787.

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An ignition interlock device has been a part of New Jersey drunk driving law for a long time. However, whether or not to require the use of these devices in a vehicle owned by a drunk driving offender has been discretionary and at the request of a municipal court judge. Now, a new law which was recently passed in New Jersey makes it mandatory to install an ignition interlock device in certain scenarios. For a first time driving while intoxicated (DWI) offender, if your breath test readings (blood alcohol content (BAC)) is .15% or greater, then the new law requires mandatory installation of an ignition interlock device during the time of the license suspension as well as for six (6) months to one (1) year following the license suspension.

For an individual convicted of a second drunk driving offense in New Jersey, the new law requires a mandatory installation of an ignition interlock device during the license suspension and for one (1) to three (3) years following the suspension of your driver's license. Finally, for a third DWI offense in New Jersey, there is a mandatory installation of an ignition interlock device during the license suspension and for one (1) to three (3) years following the restoration of your driving privileges in New Jersey.

This new law creates a significant tier in terms of breath test results, namely because of the .15% BAC requirement for ignition interlock devices. It is important if you are over the legal limit, .08%. It is important if you are over .10% BAC because, if you are a first time offender, you are facing a seven (7) month to (1) year license suspension instead of a three (3) month license suspension if your readings are above .08% but below .10%. Now, .15% is also significant because if your readings are above .15% you are facing the mandatory installation of an ignition interlock device in your vehicle during and after your license suspension.

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As I expected, the trial of a Freehold Township man charged with vehicular homicide, aggravated manslaughter, eluding police, and other charges in connection with a drunk driving crash which took the life of a motorcyclist ended in a guilty verdict by the jury. As I discussed in my previous articles about this case, this was a very difficult trial for the Defendant to win. His defense strategy was based on the fact that the other driver, the victim in this case, was also drunk at the time of the accident and that, but for the fact that the motorcyclist was drunk, the accident could have been avoided. However, it was very difficult for the defense to get around the fact that the Defendant was drunk and running from the police at a very high rate of speed when the accident occurred. I think with a different set of circumstances such as both parties were drunk and the Defendant was not running from the police, we may have seen a different result here. The Defendant is facing life in prison based on the jury verdict. The prior plea offer was 15 years with 85% which means the Defendant would have served about 13 years in jail. Now, the Defendant is facing a lot more time in state prison.

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I appeared in Sea Bright Municipal Court yesterday as a public defender at the request of the Court as there were co-defendants in this drunk driving matter so the regular public defender can only represent one of the two co-defendants. Thus, I was asked by the Court to serve as the public defender for the other co-defendant. Sea Bright Municipal Court usually meets at 1167 Ocean Avenue in Sea Bright, New Jersey. However, when I arrived for the 8:30 a.m. calender call, I was informed that the Sea Bright Municipal Court is now being held at the Oceanport Municipal Court which is located at 222 Monmouth Boulevard in Oceanport, New Jersey.

I'm not sure if this is a permanent change or a temporary one but I would suggest if you have a matter scheduled in the Sea Bright Municipal Court, you should call the court prior to your appearance to confirm at which location the court session is being held.

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A few months ago I posted an article about a defendant who attacked his own attorney during his trial at the Ocean County Superior Court in Toms River, New Jersey. Now that the defendant was found guilty by a jury of his peers, the defendant has also been charged with aggravated assault in connection with this attack on his own lawyer. According to the Asbury Park Press article entitled, "Neptune man's sentencing delayed by charges of attacking his lawyer", the defendant was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (the microphone stand in the courtroom) which is a 2nd degree offense and includes five (5) to ten (10) years in prison if convicted. The defendant is already facing life in prison based on the jury verdict and his prior criminal record.

According to the article, the defense attorney declined to press charges against the defendant for the assault. However, the sheriff's officers in the courtroom signed criminal complaints against the defendant. Wow, this defense attorney is quite a trooper. He gets attacked by his own client in court and then continues with the trial and argues to the jury that the defendant should be found innocent. Then, after the trial is over when he had the opportunity to pursue assault charges against his client, he declines to do so.

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The vehicular homicide trial based on a drunk driving crash continues at the Monmouth County Superior Court in Freehold, New Jersey before the Honorable Ira E. Kreizman, J.S.C. As I previously discussed last week, this case is based on a drunk driver who led the police on a high speed chase and crashed into a man on a motorcycle, killing the other driver. However, the other driver was also intoxicated and defense witnesses testified this week that the motorcyclist was following the car in front of him too closely and the accident could have been avoided if he was following three (3) seconds behind the car in front of him rather than the 1.5 seconds which led to the crash. Further, the defense argued that the other driver's intoxication levels (which were over the legal limit in New Jersey) led to the accident which could have been avoided if the other driver wasn't drunk. For additional information, see the Asbury Park Press article entitled, "Freehold Township crash defense witness says biker who was killed was intoxicated".

This is an interesting defense strategy and it just may work. The defense is trying to get the jury to conclude that the accident could have been avoided because the other driver (not the Defendant) was drunk. However, it is still difficult to get around the facts which show that the Defendant was running from the police at a high rate of speed, the Defendant was also drunk, and the Defendant crashed into the other driver on a motorcycle which led to his death. We'll see which way the jury goes on this one.

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Here is a guest article provided by MyDUIattorney.org:

BAC (Blood Alcohol Level or Blood Alcohol Concentration) is a measurement of the level of alcohol in your blood stream and this is the primary tool for measuring the level of alcohol in any individual’s body. The legal limit in a State or jurisdiction may vary but the DUI arrest and DUI charges will not solely depend on the BAC, although, they will depend majorly on it. The reason why BAC is related directly to drunk driving is because when BAC increases in your body, so does your chances of getting into a car accident and causing damage to yourself or to some other innocent party.

The legal BAC limit in most states if 0.08% which means that 0.08% of your bloodstream is compromised with alcohol. But alcohol percentages will affect different people in different ways, for instance, BAC of 0.02% or less may cause slight disorientation and is considered normal or moderate level of drunkenness. At BAC of around 0.06%, the person’s driving will start to get impaired because he or she will find it difficult to see and their judgment will be impaired. At a BAC of 0.08% or more, there will be visible impairment of muscle coordination and the person’s level of drunkenness will become apparent. At BAC levels go higher than this, not only does driving become dangerous but it also becomes illegal.

The basic reason of drinking for most people is to get a good feeling or to feel light-headed and having just one drink every hour or so will give you that. But alcohol is addictive and when you start increasing the dosage, BAC will also increase bringing about the negative effects of alcohol that are felt and plainly exhibited at BAC of 0.04% and 0.06%. Many people question whether they can control this level of BAC after they have had alcohol and the answer is that once this damage has been done, there is little you can do to repair it. But you can still take care of not allowing your judgment to impair completely.

Make sure that you eat a large and starchy meal right before you drink because the food in your stomach will absorb some of the alcohol. The liver which basically processes the alcohol can only do so much at one time so eating a starchy meal divides the role of processing the alcohol between the food and the liver. Since the liver is a slow processor, you should also drink slowly, giving it time to process the alcohol and keeping your BAC in control. People who drink faster also get drunk faster and end up with a higher BAC.

You can also keep on eating little snacks like fruits, crackers etc. throughout the night because it keeps the digestive system going, slows down alcohol absorption and keeps blood sugar levels high to keep you from getting dizzy and nauseous. Make sure you drink plenty of water after drinking alcohol because your kidneys also process part of the alcohol and water prevents dehydration and helps the kidneys to detoxify your blood easily. As with any issue regarding DUI, you must get guidance from a professional DUI attorney because not only will they know about DUI in your county and State, they will also give you the best possible advice regarding your concerns.

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