Most of it happens before anyone stands up in a courtroom, and almost none of it looks like what people picture. The Law Offices of Anthony Carbone gets asked this by clients who imagine a persuasive speech to a judge, when the real work is closer to auditing: pulling records, checking dates against requirements, and finding the place where the state’s file does not hold together. Here is what the job actually consists of in a New Jersey DWI case, stage by stage, including the parts no attorney can do.
What does a DWI lawyer do first?
Request discovery and preserve evidence, in that order and quickly. Discovery in municipal court must be requested in writing under Rule 7:7-7, and the request has to be specific enough to capture what matters.
For a breath test case, that means the Alcohol Influence Report generated by the Alcotest instrument, the calibration records for that device, the certificate of analysis for the simulator solution used to verify it, the operator’s credentials, and the officer’s reports. Separately, dash and body camera footage often sits on a retention schedule that overwrites it if nobody asks in time. An attorney retained in the first two weeks can preserve video that an attorney retained a month later cannot.
How does a lawyer actually attack a breath test result?
By checking the state’s paperwork against what the Supreme Court requires, not by arguing the number is wrong. In State v. Chun, 194 N.J. 54 (2008), the Court set out the foundational proofs the state must produce before an Alcotest reading is admissible, including proper calibration and a continuous 20 minute observation period before the sample is given.
The audit is concrete. Was the observation period actually 20 minutes, or does the timestamp on the report say otherwise. Do the calibration records cover the date of your test. Were two breath samples taken and did they agree within tolerance. Who performed the calibration, and does that person’s work survive scrutiny. In State v. Cassidy, 235 N.J. 482 (2018), the Court invalidated Alcotest results in more than twenty thousand cases because a State Police sergeant skipped a required calibration step. That defense was found in records, not in testimony.
What motions can be filed in a New Jersey DWI case?
The main one is a motion to suppress, which asks the court to exclude evidence obtained unlawfully. If the stop lacked a reasonable, articulable suspicion of a motor vehicle violation, everything that followed it is vulnerable.
Motions in municipal court are governed by filing deadlines tied to your initial plea, which is one practical reason entering a not guilty plea at the first appearance matters. A lawyer can also subpoena witnesses, including the State Police coordinator responsible for calibrating the instrument, and retain a defense expert to review the breath testing records independently. Expert costs are usually billed separately from the attorney fee.
What does a lawyer do if the case goes to a hearing?
Cross examine, primarily. There is no jury in a New Jersey DWI case, so a municipal court judge decides, and the contest is usually between an officer’s narrative and the video and records sitting alongside it.
Standardized field sobriety testing follows a curriculum developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which specifies how each test is administered and scored. Footage frequently shows instructions given incompletely, tests performed on uneven ground, or a driver graded on balance despite a disclosed injury. Where the alleged impairment is from a substance other than alcohol, Drug Recognition Expert testimony is available to the state and open to challenge following State v. Olenowski, 253 N.J. 133 (2023).
What can a lawyer do at sentencing?
Work on the pieces that are not fixed by statute, and there are fewer than clients expect. Which sentencing tier applies under N.J.S.A. 39:4-50 is the largest, since a first offense at 0.08 to just under 0.10 generally means interlock for about three months and no forfeiture, while 0.15 or above means four to six months of forfeiture plus interlock for nine to fifteen months after restoration.
The other real lever is the companion summonses. New Jersey’s Attorney General guidelines bar plea agreements on the DWI charge itself, but the other motor vehicle tickets issued alongside it are treated separately and carry Motor Vehicle Commission points that the DWI does not.
What can a lawyer do after a conviction?
Appeal, on a deadline that arrives fast. A municipal court conviction can generally be appealed to the Superior Court Law Division, and under Rule 3:23-2 the notice is due within 20 days. The Law Division reviews the record rather than holding a new trial.
Beyond that window, post-conviction relief in municipal court exists for limited grounds and is itself time restricted. Neither route is a second bite at the facts.
What can’t a DUI lawyer do?
Several things worth knowing before you hire anyone. No attorney can plea bargain a New Jersey DWI down to reckless driving, because the Attorney General’s guidelines prohibit it. None can reduce the fine, the surcharge, or the mandatory minimums, which are set by statute. None can obtain a hardship or work license during a forfeiture, because New Jersey does not offer one. And none can expunge the conviction, since DWI is a motor vehicle offense falling outside N.J.S.A. 2C:52-28.
Anyone promising those things is describing a different state’s law.
Find out what your file supports
The work is specific and it is bounded, and whether it helps you depends on what the records show. The Law Offices of Anthony Carbone handles DWI and refusal matters in municipal courts across New Jersey and will tell you what your discovery actually contains, including when the honest answer is that the state’s file is clean. Ask before your court date, while the video still exists.