Travis J. Tormey and the Tormey Law Firm successfully represented a client facing drunk driving charges in Wayne, NJ. Mr. Tormey stood up for the client in Wayne Municipal Court and convinced the judge in the case to suppress the client’s blood test results.
The client was subject to charges for driving while intoxicated (DWI) after allegedly getting into a DWI accident. Drunk driving in New Jersey is a violation of N.J.S.A. 39:4-50 and carries severe penalties, even for a first-time offender like the defendant in this case. The potential DWI penalties for our client included driver’s license suspension for as long as 1 year, heavy fines, alcohol education courses at the Intoxicated Driver Resource Center (IDRC), and required installation of an ignition interlock device on all of the client’s cars once his license was restored.
The client was charged with a DWI as a result of a single-vehicle accident. The client crashed into a guardrail and sustained serious injuries, including a deep cut above his left eye that required medical treatment and plastic surgery. In fact, the client’s injuries were so severe that he was unable to perform field sobriety tests at the accident scene. In the majority of DWI cases, police must first obtain a warrant before seizing the driver’s blood for drug and alcohol testing. However, in this case, police drew the client’s blood without getting consent. Instead, police allegedly obtained “verbal” consent from the driver, who was far too disoriented from his head injuries to offer actual consent to anything. Beyond that, police officers failed to let the client know that he had a legal right to refuse blood testing at the hospital.
Mr. Tormey appeared in Wayne Municipal Court and filed a motion to suppress the client’s blood test results. Mr. Tormey told the judge that Wayne New Jersey police illegally obtained the driver’s blood results without a warrant. Mr. Tormey also argued that prosecutors should not be able to use the consent exception to the warrant requirement because the client’s head injuries meant he was incapable of providing consent on the day of the accident. The municipal court judge agreed and granted Mr. Tormey’s motion to suppress the blood test results. The end result of the case was the prosecution dismissing the DWI charges. This outcome was a major victory for the Tormey Law Firm.