New York residents may be interested in the story of a New Jersey man who stands accused of driving while under the influence and is charged with vehicular homicide for the death of his passenger when the car he was driving struck a telephone pole on Pennington Avenue on June 17. A second passenger was seriously injured, sustaining a broken collar bone, a broken rib and a punctured lung. The driver, who walked away from the scene after the incident, was later found by the police and taken into custody. Jersey City police allege that he later admitted that he’d driven the car at the time of the accident.
The automobile, a blue Saab, belonged to the driver’s girlfriend from whom, police allege, he had taken it without permission. She is said to have reported it missing weeks before the accident. The driver faces charges for vehicular homicide, hit and run and the auto theft. He is presently on probation, and the prosecutor reports that he’s also had prior contact with the law on 19 separate occasions. It is not known if he is a repeat DWI offender, whether he was breathalyzed, or what his blood alcohol count was. A New Jersey judge has set bail on him in the amount of half a million dollars.
In New York, penalties for vehicular homicide can be severe, but there are several ways an experienced criminal attorney can assist his client. He can negotiate a non-incarceratory sentence, such as long-term treatment for a client with an alcohol abuse problem or perhaps even probation.
If the case is to be tried, a lawyer can challenge the breathalyzer results the same way he would with any other DWI. He could also try to get any statements made by his client suppressed.
Source: NJ.com, “Trenton man accused of vehicular homicide in alleged drunken driving crash had 19 prior run-ins with police“, Brendan McGrath, June 27, 2013
