When you get a ticket or are charged with a driving offense and a court finds you guilty (or you plead guilty), that offense goes on your driving record. Unlike a criminal record, a driving record cannot be expunged, meaning that speeding tickets and DWI offenses from 5, 10, or even 20 years ago are still on that record. However, 10 years is a long time to change your driving habits, and NJ law currently allows some leniency on “repeat” DWI charges coming 10 years after the last one.
Normally, if you are charged with a second or third DWI, you would face increased penalties (and penalties are the same for subsequent DWIs after a third). However, NJ’s 10 year “step down” rule allows DWIs older than 10 years to be ignored when it comes to upgrading penalties for a second or third DWI. This allows you to “step down” the penalties for a second DWI if the first DWI was more than 10 years again, and to “step down” the penalties for a third DWI if the second DWI was more than 10 years ago. This does not completely reset you back to a first DWI if you had more than two from more than 10 years ago, but there are some narrow exceptions for fourth DWIs.
Contact Lombardo Law Group’s NJ DWI defense lawyers at (609) 418-4537 today for a free review of your DWI case.
What Does the 10 Year DWI Step Down Rule Do for DWI Charges in NJ?
When you are charged with a second DWI or a third or subsequent DWI, your penalties go up. First-time DWI offenders are given a bit of leniency, but the penalties are still quite harsh; if you commit another DWI, judges take penalties much more seriously. The 10-year step down rule gives you a bit of a reprieve if your previous DWI conviction happened more than 10 years ago, allowing our NJ DWI defense lawyers to request stepped-down DWI penalties for drivers who have gone a long time without a DWI.
Under the penalties section of N.J.S.A. § 39:4-50, there is an explicit rule that a second offense DWI that takes place more than 10 years after your first is treated as a first offense, and a third DWI that occurs more than 10 years after your second is treated as a second offense. This means that when it comes to sentencing, your second or third DWI gets “stepped down” by one if it has been over 10 years since the last DWI.
This does not, however, stop old DWIs from mattering altogether. This rule only applies to your sentence; the judge and prosecutors will still know that you have a first DWI, and that you are only getting this reprieve in sentencing because of the rule. It also will not “reset” the count to 0 DWIs; your second DWI (even if it is sentenced like a first DWI) is still on your record as a second DWI. This “counting as” rule only applies to sentencing, and you may still face increased insurance premiums and other issues from having multiple DWIs.
Does an Old DWI Still Affect Sentencing for a New DWI in New Jersey?
As mentioned, this 10 year step down rule applies only to sentencing for the DWI at hand; it does not totally reset your record of DWIs. This means that if you get picked up on a third DWI down the road, it will still actually be a third DWI, and it will be sentenced as a third DWI unless it happens more than 10 years after your second DWI.
This rule was solidified in State v. Burroughs (2002), a New Jersey appellate case interpreting the language of the DWI statute. In that case, the court was confronted with the kind of scenario discussed above: a drunk driver who was convicted for their first DWI in 1982, a second DWI 16 years later in 1998, and again for a third DWI in 2000 (2 years after the second). The court found that the second 1998 DWI was still a second DWI, even if the sentence at the time was reduced. As such, a third DWI only 2 years after the second was sentenced as a third DWI. If the third DWI had come 10 years after the second, it would be sentenced as a second again.
Sentencing, at the end of the day, is always left to the judge, and it is possible a judge might be willing to ignore the Burroughs rule and reduce the penalties anyway if your third DWI was quite a while – but less than 10 years – after your second DWI or if your first DWI was ages ago.
Narrow Exceptions for Fourth DWIs
As with most legal rules, there are exceptions. With this 10 year rule, we have one narrow exception that can actually turn a fourth DWI into a second DWI, but only if you did not have a lawyer on your first DWI.
In State v. Conroy (2008), another appellate case in NJ, there was a strange situation. The defendant was charged with his first DWI in 1982, a second in 1990, and a third in 1995. They were too close together, so the 10 year rule never applied. Then, in 2006 (11 years later), he was convicted again for a fourth DWI, but his lawyer realized an interesting fact: for his first DWI way back in 1982, the defendant never had a lawyer.
The attorney in the fourth DWI case argued it would be unfair to treat it as a fourth DWI, given that he didn’t have a lawyer back in ’82. He argued the first 1982 DWI should be ignored, treating this as a third DWI. The court agreed. Since this “third” 2006 DWI was more than 10 years after the “second” 1995 DWI, it was stepped down for sentencing purposes to the penalties for a second DWI.
The holding of this case could potentially apply to other cases, potentially with fewer DWIs, as well. Even so, it is extremely narrow and only applies when a past DWI case had no lawyer.
Call Our NJ DWI Defense Attorneys Today
For a free case evaluation, call our Brigantine, NJ DWI defense lawyers at Lombardo Law Group at (609) 418-4537.
