A second DUI charge in New Jersey is serious, but not a criminal offense most of the time. Some DUI’s are associated with indictable offenses, which are referred to the Superior Court. The State, in both Municipal and Superior Court, still has to prove its case, and the evidence behind it can be tested. You are innocent until proven guilty, and the State has an enormous burden to prove you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Law Office of Steven Ellman has spent over three decades defending DUI, DWI, and traffic cases, and Steven Ellman starts by reviewing every piece of the State’s evidence, from the traffic stop to the Alcotest records, before your first court date.
Mr. Ellman knows about the stress, anxiety, and uncertainty associated with receiving a DUI traffic ticket, as he has worked with thousands of people over the many years in this same situation. If you have been charged with a second offense DUI, and you want to know what the potential consequences you are facing and what attorney can help.
Remember, you are INNOCENT until proven guilty! The State has an enormous burden to prove you’re guilty. The penalties are set by statute, but they apply only if you are convicted, and a conviction depends on what the State can prove. Under N.J.S.A. 39:4-50, a second offense DUI conviction within ten years is sentenced as a second offense, and if it has been over 10 years, you may be sentenced as a first offense under the 10-year step-down rule. Knowing the range is the first step toward planning around it. Also, prior convictions may be attacked if you have been denied your constitutional rights. (Appeals and Post-conviction relief)
Those are the stakes, and they are the reason your defense should start early. Your job, your family’s schedule, and your daily routine all depend on your driver’s license, so the work begins evaluating the State’s evidence rather than with the penalty. Many defenses may be available to the charges. A person who receives a DUI ticket does not have to prove their innocence.
New Jersey treats a DUI as a traffic offense rather than a criminal offense, so there is no right to a jury trial. A municipal court judge decides your case based on the evidence the State presents. Steven Ellman has spent over three decades in Superior and Municipal courts, where the stop, the roadside tests, and the breath test records are examined line by line.
A refusal charge comes from a different statute and has its own consequences. The breathalyzer refusal defense page explains what that means for your case.
As your second DUI attorney, Steven Ellman will tell you where your case stands, what the State has, and what your options are, including the parts you may not want to hear. Everything below explains how that review works and what he looks for in establishing defenses. Many defenses are available depending on the circumstances; any vary case to case. No 2 DUI/DWI matters are alike.
The State’s case usually rests on three things: why the officer stopped you, what the officer saw at the roadside, and your breath test result. Each one has rules the State has to follow, and if the evidence doesn’t meet them, the charge can be thrown out. Steven Ellman goes through all three before your first court date or asks for additional discovery the State has not provided.
Every DUI arrest starts with a stop. If the officer didn’t have a legal reason to pull you over, what came after, including a breath or blood test, may not be usable against you. Steven Ellman reviews the dashcam footage, the body camera footage, and the officer’s report to see whether the stop holds up. Further the officer must have a reasonable suspicion that you were operating under the influence. The officer’s observations of your eyes, speech and body language are sometimes enough to ask you to step out of the vehicle. That’s where the bodywarn cameras must be produced and reviewed.
The walk-and-turn, the one-leg stand, and the eye test the officer does with a pen or flashlight all have to be given a specific way. Lack of proper and required instructions, uneven pavement, poor lighting, unclear instructions, or a medical condition can change how you perform. Steven Ellman looks at whether the officer was properly trained and certified, whether the tests were given correctly, and whether what the officer saw supports the arrest.
New Jersey uses a breath-testing machine called the Alcotest 7110. Under a New Jersey Supreme Court decision, State v. Chun, the State has to show that the machine was working properly and that a certified operator ran your test correctly. Steven Ellman requests the machine’s calibration and maintenance records and the operator’s certification. If those records have gaps or they are expired, your result may not be admissible and may be seriously unreliable.
Even without a breath result, the State can still try to prove impairment through the officer’s observations. That’s why the body-worn camera footage from the traffic stop and the roadside tests get the same careful review and are always reviewed with every client.
Since February 2024, New Jersey law has allowed a plea agreement in a DUI case when the prosecutor recommends one, and the New Jersey Supreme Court withdrew its longstanding ban on them. The prosecutor decides whether to make that recommendation. Steven Ellman will give you an honest read on whether a plea makes sense in your case, starting from what the State can and cannot prove.
Not every second offense DUI is sentenced as a second offense. Under N.J.S.A. 39:4-50, if your second offense happened more than ten years after your first, the court sentences it as a first offense. That means the 48-hour minimum jail term no longer applies, jail becomes up to the judge, and your license and financial penalties are those of a first offense.
Whether you qualify depends on the dates of the two offenses. Steven Ellman pulls the certified records of your first case and works out the exact time between them, and he does this early, right after you call. If your case falls outside the ten-year window, our first offense DUI page explains how that sentencing works.
Steven Ellman has been licensed in New Jersey since 1990 and has focused on DUI, DWI, and traffic defense for nearly four decades. A DUI second offense is the kind of case where experience counts. He knows what a properly kept Alcotest maintenance log should look like, how a roadside test is supposed to be given, and what a municipal court judge expects to see in court arguing motions or at trial.
His offices are in Medford and Moorestown, and he represents clients throughout all 21 counties in New Jersey, from Sussex, Passaic, Essex, Morris, Hunterdon, Bergen, Hudson, Union, Somerset, Mercer, Monmouth, Ocean, Middlesex, Burlington, Atlantic, Camden, Gloucester, Salem, Cumberland, and Cape May Counties. Every court runs a little differently, and three decades of appearances in Superior and Municipal courts means he can build your defense around the specific timeline and the judge’s guidelines.
Steven Ellman is a member of the DUI Defense Lawyers Association, the New Jersey Criminal Defense Bar Association, the New Jersey Association for Justice, and the New Jersey Bar Association. These are groups of attorneys who mostly handle DUI/DWI matters exclusively,, and no general practitioners. DUI/DWI attorneys require a special skill set.
There is no hand-off between an intake team and the attorney in court for you. Steven Ellman reviews the case himself, listens to your concerns, and lays out your options, including the parts you may not want to hear. He negotiates reasonable plea offers when the evidence supports them, and he is not afraid to take a case to trial. Ultimately, the client authorizes the ultimate decision to accept a plea offer or go to trial, and you must rely on a specific attorney with the experience, knowledge, and excellent results. Also, you must have confidence and trust in that attorney. Mr. Ellman has the experience, knowledge, and number of trials and wants to earn your trust and confidence through transparent communication, expedited status updates, and legal analysis of the evidence. Mr. Ellman is always available to do that with each and every client and has done just that for nearly 40 years.
Cases handled by the Law Office of Steven Ellman have included DWI charges dismissed or reduced to careless or reckless driving. Results depend on the facts of each case, and no outcome can be promised, but your case starts with the same close review of the stop, the roadside tests, and the breath test records.
Steven Ellman has volunteered with the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, and local food kitchens. He also spent time volunteering at an elementary school in Thailand, teaching and helping set up a library for students there. Mr. Ellman has donated resources to many communities lacking such resources and tries to make changes in people’s lives for the better. It is the same approach he brings to clients: treating people with respect and following through on what he takes on.
If your charges reach beyond a single DUI, the Municipal Court defense page covers that. Please contact Mr. Ellman’s office directly to discuss all court matters, both in Superior or Municipal court.
A DUI second offense conviction under N.J.S.A. 39:4-50 carries a mandatory jail term of 48 hours to 90 days. But a charge is not a conviction, and a few things can change the outcome: a successful challenge to the State’s evidence, a plea agreement the prosecutor recommends, or the ten-year rule, which treats a second offense as a first for sentencing. Steven Ellman looks at which of these applies to your case from the first call. If you are facing a third DUI conviction, the court may impose an 8-year suspension of your driver’s license or a sixteen-year interlock at the court’s discretion, 180 days in County Jail (or half of that at an in-patient program) and very high fines and surcharges, 48 hours or more in the Intoxicated Drivers Resource Center, as well as MVC surcharges and higher car insurance premiums.
Yes, in some cases. The State has to show that the Alcotest machine was working properly and that a certified operator ran your test correctly, as the New Jersey Supreme Court required in State v. Chun. Steven Ellman requests the machine’s calibration records, the operator’s certification, and the logs from the date of your arrest. If a certification had expired or the calibration records have gaps, that can be grounds to challenge the result.
Since February 2024, a plea agreement is allowed in New Jersey DUI cases when the prosecutor recommends one. The prosecutor decides whether to make that recommendation, which is why the strength of the State’s evidence still matters. Steven Ellman builds that record in every case and gives you an honest read on whether a plea makes sense.
It depends on the dates of your first and second offenses and your certified conviction records. It isn’t something to estimate. Steven Ellman pulls those records early in your case, because the answer affects every decision that follows.
Yes, it’s possible to have prior convictions not considered in a current case. This is called Post Conviction Relief. A post-conviction petition can be based on ineffective assistance of prior counsel or newly discovered evidence, which, if successful, will mean that your current DUI charge becomes a first-time DUI charge.
Because a conviction for a second DUI carries a mandatory jail term of at least 48 hours, prosecutors rarely exercise their discretion to dismiss a charge for a second DUI. A prosecutor usually must certify that some defect in the case prevents prosecution before they can move to dismiss a charge of a second DUI.
However, you can still obtain a dismissal of your case under certain circumstances, such as having your prior DUI conviction vacated so that your current charge becomes a first-time DUI charge or by successfully moving to exclude the prosecution’s evidence. This evidence might include breath, blood, or urine test results or statements you made to the police so that the prosecution can no longer prove the case against you.
The sooner you call, the more time there is to review the State’s evidence, request the breath test records, and look closely at the traffic stop. Steven Ellman represents clients facing second DUI charges in Camden County and throughout South Jersey.
Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Reading this page or contacting the Law Office of Steven Ellman does not establish an attorney-client relationship. This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
