Reader’s Question:

My cousin was arrested for DWI here in Irvington, New Jersey and he has a DWI conviction from another state. If he gets convicted again, would the conviction from another state count as a prior conviction for sentencing purposes and does he have to disclose it or would they just find out about it?

Isabel
Irvington, NJ

This has happened several times that a driver has prior DWI conviction or even convictions in another state. A DWI conviction in a sister state would also count as a prior conviction in the state of New Jersey for sentencing purposes. But an experienced DWI lawyer could always argue that the constitutional guaranties of the prior sister state DWI conviction is illegal. Therefore, a crafty DWI lawyer could always make arguments that the out of state DWI conviction should not count as a prior conviction.

Before your cousin will be sentenced for his DWI charge in Irvington, New Jersey, the Municipal Court judge should run his abstract and review it for prior DWI convictions. In some DWI cases, a prior out of state DWI conviction of a driver would not appear on the abstract. A DWI driver is obliged to be truthful and should inform the Municipal Court of his prior out of state DWI convictions. A lot of people convicted for DWI lie to the Municipal Court and refuse to disclose their prior out of state DWI convictions. They sometimes get away with it, but they sometimes are being busted. If he gets busted, then he may be indicted for perjury charges.

Tags: DWI, DWI arrest, DWI lawyer