Rutherford DWI Dismissed

Do you need a DWI lawyer in Rutherford NJ? We can help.

Travis J. Tormey of the Tormey Law Firm recently represented a client who was charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI) in violation of N.J.S.A. 39:4-50. Unfortunately, the client had one prior DWI offense which occurred almost exactly 10 years before. However, because the offense was not committed exactly 10 years prior or more (it missed by 8 days), this offense would be treated as a second offense DWI under New Jersey law and, as a result, our client was facing a 2 year license suspension, 30 days community service, and up to 90 days in jail.

Mr. Tormey obtained the discovery in the case and isolated many issues related to the Alcotest machine and the field sobriety testing. First, the client’s blood alcohol content (BAC) was .09% which is only slightly over the legal limit of .08% BAC. Moreover, the client suffers from asthma and uses an alcohol inhaler frequently which could have inflated his breath test results. The officer also failed to note that he changed the mouthpiece in between breath samples which could allow mouth alcohol to linger in the mouthpiece and inflate the reading.

Now, once the reading was challenged and suppressed by the prosecutor, the next hurdle to overcome was the observations known as the field sobriety tests. These are typically the one leg stand test and the walk and turn test. Mr. Tormey was able to challenge these results as well based on multiple issues. Our client recently had major back surgery known as a spinal fusion and, therefore, was not medically capable of performing these tests under any circumstances…..ever. He is also over 50 pounds overweight which makes the tests almost impossible to perform as well.

Based on all these issues and the defense tactics of the Tormey Law Firm, the prosecutor agreed to dismiss the DWI because he could not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. The client plead guilty to another minor traffic summons for failure to keep right and received a 45 day license suspension for that violation. Needless to say, the client and his wife were elated with the result and promised to use the Tormey Law Firm for all their future legal needs.