The legal options for handling evidence in New York are to try to have the DUI charge reduced to a DWAI or to plead to the DUI and seek to receive a sentence that would be more lenient than the one he or she would receive if convicted at trial. The most important features prior to trial are the Breathalyzer test results and the report by the officer memorializing what took place leading up to the taking of the test or the refusal thereof.
There is a potpourri of sentences set forth in the VTL Law pertaining to first, second, and third or more DWAI, first-offense DWI, second-offense DWI, aggravated DWI first offense, aggravated DWI second offense, DWAI (drugs) first offense and second offense, and combined DWAI for drugs or alcohol or a combination thereof, second offense. There is also a section for DWI, aggravated DWI, DWAI drugs, and DWAI combined influence as both class E and class D felonies. Additionally, commercial drivers, special vehicles, and underage offenders all receive separate treatment.
It is imperative that before beginning negotiations with a prosecutor’s office, these sentences be in your head so that you know what you are bargaining for. These sentences depend on the crime of which the defendant is convicted. They are set forth in Articles 60, 65, 70, 80, and 85 of the Penal Law. Various fines and programs are also included in VTL Section 511 and Sections 1192, 1193, and 1194, 1194(a), 1196, 1197, 1198, and 1198(a), and Article 45 Sections 1800 through 1810.
