DUI-drugs Arrest in NY State
Question Details: Good afternoon- My brother was arrested by NY State Police for DUI-drugs after rear-ending another car causing a minor injury to its driver. My question is: If he registered 0 on brethalyzer, and they only took urine sample (which will only show precribed antianxiety med in system), how can they convict him? Can it be on testimony of trooper only? Also, they gave him two sobriety tests (1 before and 1 after arrest). Is that normal? Lastly, what are the chances he would go to jail for this. He had one other DUI convition in 1999.
He should hire a new york counsel to defend. He should be able to get the oui charged dismissed before trial or, at trial, obtain an acquittal. He does risk the government amending the charge to oui drugs. I assume that is a crime in ny.
New York DWI cases (also known as DUI – Driving Under the Influence) can be brought under one of two theories: either violation of the DWI "per se" law (which is based only on alcohol level, not driving impairment), or under a traditional "common law" theory (where the prosecution must prove that the driver is intoxicated). Intoxication, for the purpose of Vehicle and Traffic Laws, is a condition where the motorist lacks the necessary physical and mental skills to operate a motor vehicle as a reasonable and prudent driver. New York DWI arrests based on the common law theory do not require any measurement of BAC; they may be based entirely on the opinion of the arresting officer.
DWI cases can be "aggravated" (with harsher punishment and penalties) where there is a traffic accident.
However, this may or may not be considered to be his second DUI. New York has what is known as a "look back period". This is the period of time that the court will look back to see if a defendant has any other prior offenses. The DUI conviction is still on the record, it's just that the court will not use it when imposing a sentence. Whether or not this is in fact you brothers first or second DUI depends on just when in 1999 he was convicted.
At any rate, since there was an accident involved, and since this may be his second conviction, he is more than likely facing jail time.
What he needs to do now is to hire an attorney that specializes in these cases and one that practices in the area where all of this occurred. They will know the courts and just best how to proceed from here. Since this is a highly technical area of the law they may be able to get the charge dismissed; if not they can use their local contacts to your brother's fullest advantage.
