DUI & DWI attorneys in New York

New York grades alcohol-related driving offenses rather than using a single threshold. Driving while intoxicated attaches at 0.08 percent or above, while driving while ability impaired covers the band above 0.05 and below 0.08, and is a traffic infraction rather than a misdemeanor. Aggravated driving while intoxicated attaches at 0.18 percent and carries materially harsher consequences. That gradation, rather than a single per se number, is what shapes charge negotiation in New York.

Refusal is handled through a civil proceeding at the Department of Motor Vehicles that is separate from the criminal case. A refusal following a lawful arrest results in license revocation of at least one year plus a civil penalty, and the revocation stands independently of the outcome of the criminal charge. At arraignment, the court will also typically suspend the license pending prosecution where the reading is at or above the per se threshold.

Ignition interlock is not discretionary for intoxicated-driving convictions in New York. Interlock installation and maintenance are required as a condition of sentence, and the requirement is tied to any vehicle the person owns or operates.

Child endangerment provisions elevate the charge substantially where a child is in the vehicle, converting what would otherwise be a first misdemeanor into a felony and triggering mandatory reporting obligations alongside the criminal case.

Drug-impaired driving is treated differently than in states with numeric cannabis thresholds. New York has no per se blood-concentration limit for cannabis, so those prosecutions rest on observational proof of impairment and on drug-recognition evaluation, which makes the qualifications and methodology of the evaluating officer a central defense issue rather than a peripheral one.

Because the DMV revocation, the arraignment suspension, and the criminal disposition proceed on separate tracks with separate standards, a favorable result in one does not resolve the others, and sequencing decisions early materially affect driving privileges months later.