New York DWI Lawyer Blog

The wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been charged with Driving while impaired by drugs within one month of pleading guilty to a Driving while ability impaired (DWAI) in the Bedford Town Court. This past Saturday, Ms. Kennedy was arrested by police in Dutchess County after allegedly being observed driving 82 m.p.h on the Taconic Parkway. When she failed standardized field sobriety tests, and was examined by a drug-recognition expert at the police barracks in Millbrook, New York, she was charged with DWAID, or driving while ability impaired by drugs.

Back on July 22, 2010, in the Bedford Town Court, Ms. Kennedy pled guilty to a reduced charge of driving while ability impaired arising out of an incident on May 15, 2010, in which police in Bedford observed Ms. Kennedy's vehicle strike a curb outside a school. At that time, she was found to have a BAC of .11, more than the legal limit of 0.08%, which resulted in a DWI charge. Kennedy's sentence in the Bedford case included a $500.00 fine, the requirement to attend the mandatory drinking driver program, (which is a seven week class that all motorists convicted of any DWI charge must take), and an order that she submit her quarterly evaluations from her psychiatrist to the Court.

Most critically for Ms. Kennedy, she was permitted to obtain a "Conditional discharge" and conditional license in the Bedford case, which allowed her to drive in limited circumstances including to and from work, DDP classes, to an accredited educational institution, and medical appointments for her herself and family members. The terms of the conditional discharge mandated that Ms. Kennedy not have any other DWI or other criminal charges within one year of the July 22 guilty plea.

Thus, if the new charges are substantiated, in addition to the penalties she will face in the August 21 incident, Ms. Kennedy will be found to have "violated her conditional discharge", losing her conditional license and facing the possibility that Bedford Town Judge Kevin Quaranta will sentence her to up to 15 days in jail as the maximum penalty for the original DWAI conviction.

Continue reading " Second DWI Charge For Mary Richardson Kennedy " »

Beginning on August 15, 2010, as part of Leandra's Law passed by the New York State Legislature last November, motorists convicted of New York DWI will be required to install and maintain ignition interlocks in their vehicles. The law will apply to drivers convicted of felony DWI or misdemeanor DWI. Anyone convicted of or pleading guilty to driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 BAC or above will be required to obtain the ignition interlock.

The ignition interlock measures the level of alcohol of a motorist's breath. If the device detects a trace of alcohol on the driver's breath, it will not permit the car to start. Further, the driver will periodically have to blow into the device on a regular schedule, and if he or she fails to do so, or does have alcohol on his or her breath, the car's horn will begin to sound, or the lights will start flashing, to alert authorities that the driver has failed to comply with the ignition interlock system in the vehicle. Some devices will cut off the ignition if the driver has failed the test while driving.

The Westchester County Department of Probation will administer the ignition interlock program here in Westchester County. It will be interesting to see how the program functions in the early stages, since at present, the installation of ignition interlocks in vehicles has only applied to multiple DWI offenders or in felony DWI cases. Thus, adding on misdemeanor and first time DWI offenders will substantially increase the burden on the Probation Department and likely create enforcement problems in the early stages of the ignition interlock program.

Continue reading " Ignition Interlock Devices Now Mandatory In DWI Convictions " »