20-Day Stay

White Plains Lawyer for DWI Cases

Once a plea is taken in a DWI, aggravated DWI, or misdemeanor DWI case, your license will be suspended. it may be important for you to obtain a conditional driver’s license. The conditional license would permit you to drive under restricted circumstances, such as when you are driving to and from your job, or from picking up your kids from school, attending the MADD Victim Impact Panel or the Drinking Driver Program (DDP). If you are concerned about a 20-day stay, you should give the seasoned White Plains DWI lawyer Mark A. Siesel a call. With more than 35 years of experience advocating for clients in court and in administrative hearings, Mr. Siesel is well-positioned to help you.

License Suspension

In addition to facing other potential penalties, if you are convicted of a drunk driving offense in New York, you are at risk of receiving different license suspension periods depending on the particular DWI offense of which you’re convicted. For example, if you were convicted of a per se DWI, under VTL 1192(2), you can face a minimum license revocation of 6 months. If you’re found to have violated VTL 1192(1), or driving while ability impaired, your license will be suspended for a minimum of 90 days. Your license may be revoked outright for certain convictions. For example, if you’re convicted of aggravated driving while intoxicated under VTL 1192(2)(a)(a), you face a minimum license revocation of 12 months.

Twenty-Day Stay

Many people in Upstate New York drive to work or school and are worried about the possibility of not being able to drive lawfully because of license suspension or revocation. Fortunately, experienced attorneys can advocate for certain measures to alleviate penalties such as driver’s license suspension. Among these measures is a 20-day stay of the license suspension even before the conditional license goes into effect.

In order to obtain a conditional driver’s license, you will need to enroll in DDP. This program is sponsored through the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. When the plea is taken in the local criminal Court to a DWI or DWAI charge, the paperwork from the local Court must be delivered to the DMV in Albany. This process can take up to 20 days.

Since there is a delay in obtaining relief, our lawyers can ask the sentencing judge for a 20-day stay. This means that the sentence will not be enforced for twenty days to allow you time to enter the program. Assuming the judge grants our request for the stay, you can start driving on the day of sentencing as if you’ve already received the conditional license.

It is important to seek experienced legal counsel because there are certain circumstances under which the Judge will not grant the requested stay. For example, in some jurisdictions if you refused to take a chemical test at the time of the arrest, such as a breathalyzer, blood, or urine test, you’d be ineligible for the 20-day stay. Instead, you would need to wait until you started the DDP to get the conditional license. Moreover, if you already attended a DDP within the last 5 years, you wouldn’t be eligible to enter the class again; this means you wouldn’t be able to receive a conditional license, even if you needed one.

Consult a Seasoned White Plains DWI Attorney

If you or a loved one is charged with any offense involving drunk driving, including felony DWI or DWAI, or any other criminal charge such as aggravated unlicensed operation (AUO), the stakes are high. You must seek legal representation. Experienced White Plains criminal defense attorney Mark A. Siesel may be able to represent you. He has more than 35 years of experience representing clients in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens, along with Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Sullivan, Rockland, Orange, and Ulster Counties. Please contact us at (914) 428-7386 or complete our online form for dedicated legal representation.