New NJ DWI Bill before NJ Assembly…
Feb 12th, 2009 | By Michael L. Saile, Jr., Esq. | Category: Blogs, DUI-DWI-DAI (Drunk Driving)New Jersey Assemblymen Matthew Milam and Nelson Albano are sponsoring a Bill which would stiffen DWI- DUI penalties for individuals with repeat drunk driving (NJ DWI) convictions. The proposed Bill would make it nearly impossible to downgrade NJ DWI (driving while intoxicated) offenses that occur more than ten years after a person’s prior conviction.
The New Jersey drunk driving statute currently allows second-offense drunk drivers to be sentenced as first offenders and third-offense drunk drivers to be sentenced as second offenders, if the subsequent offense occurred at least ten years after a previous offense. This Bill would do away with these allowances.
Assemblymen Milam and Albano argue that just because a drunk driving offense occurs more than ten years after a person’s previous offense, it does not make the offense any less serious. They further state that the penalties for repeat NJ DWI offenders should be more stringent, not more lenient, making the argument that the passage of time does not make this crime any less serious. Assemblyman Albano’s son was killed in 2001 by a repeat drunk driver.
The Bill received a favorable 6-0 vote in the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee on February 9, 2009. Do you think NJ should keep making the NJ DWI law stricter?
will this be retroactive, so that anyone who was convicted in the past of a 2nd or 3rd offense after 10 years could be suspended? i THOUGHT THE sTATE AND THE cOURTS ALREADY CHANGED IT, ….. I DONT SEE A NEED FOR THE LEGISLATURE TO CHIME IN, DO YOU?
i’m being sarcastic, …. i think the legislature should step in and stop the State and Courts in many things, including making unjust laws.
As much as I do not agree with Corzine, …. there is no way i can vote for this nj attorney general who wants to run for govenor.
This guy is a main part of the problem in nj with regards to rights violations, especially when it comes to crime and dui, and the entire court system.
YOU GOT to try to understand something here… ok? The voice of the people comes from the legislature branch of government…….
Of course the NJ Legislature should make any laws and statutes they see fit to make, or unmake, or anythinmg, ….. they need to be more active, and have more control, be more powerful, and have more responsibility…
Too many instances we see the executive and judicial branches act when trhe legislature does nothing, …
This is something that xcan surely be corected…
They will get tougher and tougher, and then they will find out the hard way how much it costs in a recession to lock these guys up.
I would feel a lot better about DUI prosecutions if the Alcotest had software that included the raw data signal counts, in digital form, produced for a standards and breath samples for each breath test. As it stands now, there is absolutley no way to prove a breath test is calculated correctly each and every time. I am an expert analytical chemist with 20 years experience using software driven analytical instruments on a daily basis for 2 decades. It is absolutley imperitive that the raw data analog to digital converted signal be available, so a hand calculation can be donew for each and every test, where a result of importance is produced. DUI BAC qualifies as a result of importance, because it can be the difference between innocence and jail time.
ps— It has been over 41 months since my arrest for a first offense dui, no accident, routine traffic stop, …… and ill be making my 21st appearance soon for this one case, withoyut one hearing on the evidence ever being allowed by the municipal court judge, ….. it has been before 4 different judges at various times, .. no one will let me or my attorney hear the evidence against me on record!