Plea Bargaining Limitations

New York’s DWI laws contain various plea bargaining limitations applicable to DWI cases. For example, a charge of DWI, DWAI Drugs or DWAI Combined Influence generally cannot be reduced below DWAI Alcohol; and a charge of Aggravated DWI generally cannot be reduced below regular DWI.

Critically, however, the law does permit a plea bargain outside of this policy where the District Attorney determines that there is good cause for doing so (for example, if the stop was bad, if the arrest was bad, if key evidence is lost or suppressed, if a key witness is unavailable, if there are serious problems with the officer’s paperwork, if there is a speedy trial problem, if there is some other serious problem with the case, etc.). If there were no ability whatsoever to reduce a charge outside of a legislatively imposed plea bargaining restriction, such restriction would be illegal.

Simply stated, not everyone charged with DWI is guilty, not every arrest for DWI is lawful, and not every officer making DWI arrests is competent. An experienced DWI lawyer is more likely to expose weaknesses in the case against you.

One of the most common myths in DWI law is that a desired plea bargain cannot be achieved because the law prohibits it. This is simply not the case.