Carl Spector, New Jersey DUI and New York DWI Attorney Interview

 

Richard Jacobs of myduiattorney.org interviews Carl Spector, who’s both a prosecutor and a criminal defense attorney operating in New Jersey and New York .

 

RJ: What made you choose to handle DUI cases and what motivates you to be a criminal defense attorney in general?

 

CS: As a criminal defense attorney, I find that I can be of great service to a lot of different type of people. The service essentially boils down to educate people so that they can take control of their case. When people get arrested they get a summons, they get in trouble, and they feel like they have no control. So what I try to do is to educate my clients so they can feel a sense of control. Then they can make really informed decisions based on the information and the education I provide to them.

I find that a lot of people simply don’t understand their rights, and with a little bit of information from me and some education from me they can take back the control that they lose by being arrested and not being able to make a really informed decision when it comes time to making an important decision in your case. Quite frankly, I can aid in their defense and you find that people becoming empowered by that, and I enjoy the opportunity to educate people and work with them on their cases. The prosecutor has the police, they have investigators, they have a lot of resources behind them. When you’re accused of a crime or a DWI or in a traffic infraction, you have lots of rights but not necessarily lots of resources. I consider myself one of those resources.

 

With regard to the DWI’s or DUI’s, one of the reasons I like doing those cases is they are very complicated and very complex. There’s a lot of science involved, there’s a lot of law involved, there’s a lot of rights to protect and I like to dig my teeth into those and really get down to where I can really protect my clients’ rights and help them take a disposition that is most favorable to them, by exploring all of the avenues in the case.

 

RJ: When you’re acting as a prosecutor, any twinges of wanting to defend a person or vice versa when you’re defending them?

 

CS: That’s a very good question, let me first give you little bit of the back ground. Right now I‘m a criminal defense attorney in both New York and New Jersey, my back ground is six years as a prosecutor as an Assistant District Attorney in Bronx County, New York. For the last two years and some odd months (almost two and a half years), I’ve been a municipal prosecutor in a large Bergen county New Jersey town. I find that the act of being a current prosecutor gives me much more understanding of the current state of the law and to benefit my clients on an every day basis because I realize some of the things that are going behind the scenes as a prosecutor in one of the towns in Bergen County.

 

RJ: Is there a typical DWI defendant circumstance? Do you have more first time offenders, are there more men than women, there are more older people, are there any commonalities you see?

 

SC: That’s a good question also, I see a lot more first offenders in my practice and I think generally justice is more strict for first offenders in hope that people could learn their lesson and not become second and third and so on. We see a lot more first offenders, we see probably more men than women but other than that it’s a very broad cross section of people that do get involved in this unfortunate circumstance and over the period of years I think it’s probably growing in the areas where other parts of the society are growing so probably more women now than there were ten years ago and probably the age groups in the past it’s probably mostly younger people it’s much more of a broad section now.

 

RJ: How many cases have you handled and in what time period?

 

SC: It’s a little hard to say, I was a prosecutor for six years, 1986 to 1992 as prosecutor I must’ve handled several hundred DWI’s as a prosecutor then, 1992 to now I’m a criminal defense attorney I’ve probably handled several more hundred and as a municipal prosecutor I do prosecute probably between 60 and 70 a year so that adds up to quite a bit and I have to handle every single one of those.

 

Let me tell you something , every single DWI is individual they all have different setups of facts and circumstances, everybody has a different back ground and every single case is different. Not every case is the same for each one must be analyzed. They need to speak to somebody who understands the subtleties in being pulled over because of a traffic infraction or being involved in a check point, all hosts of different reasons why some of the people are pulled over, and the lawyer needs to appreciate that.

 

You need to have an attorney who has dealt with these cases on regular basis and someone who understands the way the law changes, there’s been some significant changes in the law just over the last 12 months.

 

RJ: Can you talk about the recent changes in the law?

 

SC: One of the biggest changes in the law over the last 12 months involves the installation of an interlock device or what they call an ignition interlock device for anybody who is convicted in the state of New York for DWI. That’s why it becomes very important to analyze the case that you’re charged with to try to avoid conviction of driving while intoxicated in New York or you’re going to have to have that interlock.

 

In state of New Jersey the law changed in January of 2009 to require an interlock device for anyone who has an outward test reading just a breath reading of over .15 or higher. Those are very significant changes, a lot of people don’t understand that, we like to educate our clients and explain everything to them so they know going in what the challenges are.

 

RJ: Of the clients that you’ve talked to, the potentials, do a lot more come close to that .08 limit, or a lot more people have higher blood alcohol levels and is there any commonality there?

 

CS: Run of the mill case? There is no such thing as a run of the mill case. But for the average case, the readings probably range from under a .08, which is the legal limit to somewhere around .15. If your breathalyzer reading is above .15 - those are much more rare cases that come to the system and for a whole host of reasons and some of which that we can go into a little bit later. So most of the readings are probably just below .08 which is the legal limit to somewhere just above .14.

 

RJ: DWI is also called drunk driving, so people have a perception that the people who drive drunk are ‘drunk’. Are the people who are over the legal limit really drunk?

 

CS: It’s a good inquiry, as a lot of people even present that to me “I wasn’t drunk. How did I get a DWI or s DUI?” That’s because it’s a scientific test not based on whether or not you feel drunk and that’s where the subtlety comes in. But however, the police are responsible for performing field sobriety tests, which do give them indicators or marks for regular people whether or not they can walk a straight line or do the alphabet correctly and do things that full drunk person would have difficulty with or for someone who is impaired by alcohol.

 

RJ: In the cases you see are you starting to see more drug DUI’s or it’s still mostly alcohol?

CS: There are percentages, but not a large percentage of people with DUI or DWIs because of drugs. There is a certain percentage which are for marijuana, there is a certain percentage for cocaine and now we are starting to see more of the DWIs that pertain to and being another prescription drugs which become very complicated mostly for the prosecutor. Remember the burden is on them to prove if they can someone guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We are seeing more and more prescription drug issues that come up at hearings of blood.

 

RJ: Prescription drugs may be the trickiest to defend or may be the easiest and then maybe illegal drugs after that, then alcohol, or is there really no such order it depends on the case?

 

CS: It depends on the case. Remember that being under the influence of prescription drugs is not necessarily illegal. The question is impairment; whether or not the prosecution concludes that you were impaired at the time. So I would say that alcohol is the most common and probably the easiest for the prosecution because they are most familiar with it. What they are not familiar with, it’s not easy for them.

 

RJ: Is there any other uniqueness that you know about of the DWI laws in New York and of DUI in New Jersey and the particular counties and cities you’ve served?

 

CS: Every single county, in New York you know you divide the five boroughs. Every single borough has its own policy. Your county’s policies on plea bargain might be different or is different from the ones in Queens. The policy in the Bronx county is going to be different from what the policy would be in the King’s county in Brooklyn. So all those policies are important to understand by the attorney when they are speaking to the prosecutor to try and get a favorable disposition or a favorable plea for their client, and those things are very unique to the county.

 

As far as New Jersey, every municipality (and there are over 70 municipalities just in Bergen county alone), every single town has their own court, every single court has their own prosecutor, every single court has their own judge, and it’s up to the lawyer to speak to that prosecutor and find out the tolerances in their policies regarding these different types of cases the drug DWIs the alcohol DWIs.

 

The DWI’s involve blood and urine tests are also very unique, and to some extent are difficult for the prosecutors to prosecute cases that involve DWI’s where a blood sample has been taken and that you need to speak to the prosecutor of each and every town and find out what their unique policies may be.

 

RJ: Would it make a radically difference vs. dealing with the same prosecutor and the same judge over and over again?

 

CS: That also happens, you get cases in the same towns over and over again, and you get to know those prosecutors and their policies, those judges more importantly those judges and what their policies are as far as plea bargaining is concerned. New Jersey doesn’t really permit plea bargaining in DUI cases, but you get to understand their tolerances for the minimum and the maximum sentences. And also what the prosecutor is able to do with regard to with the case itself, disposing of it and then of course when you got to try the case who is experienced and who is not.

 

RJ: If someone has been driving and they’ve had one or more drinks, and they are in the process of literally being pulled over, do you have any tips on what they should or shouldn’t do to help them?

 

CS: Yes, this may be somewhat state specific but let’s talk in general terms. One thing you want to do is you want to make it as easy for the police officer as possible, not to arrest you, but to try to get the police officer in an and out as quickly as possible.

 

Without making any quick movements, you want to be able to provide to the police officer quickly your credentials, your license, your insurance card and of course your registration. And in order to do that if you try to have that available to them as soon as they reach your window, the only proviso over that and the caveat after that is that you don’t want to make any quick movements in the car because the officer may misinterpret that you’re trying to put something away or hide something.

 

Reaching over to the glove box they might think that you are trying to hide something. So what you might want to do is when a police officer arrives at your window is to say “here’s my license I have this in my wallet, my registration and my insurance card is in my glove box. Do you have any problem in my reaching over?” Politeness goes a very long way, with the way a case starts.

 

Not only the police officer will appreciate that, because one of the most misunderstood things about police work is, one of the most dangerous things about police work is when they approach a car, they are very, very vulnerable. You can eliminate that least of their problems by having your hands where they can see them and having your credentials ready for them as soon as they are there. They will process your matter with much more ease and much more relaxed.

 

RJ: What kind of help have you provided to people arrested for DWI? Can you may be reduce jail time, or fines, or classes or ignition interlocks requirements? What kind of things in particular can you do?

 

CS: Sure, I think that’s probably what everybody wants to know, when they’re picking up the phone or emailing a lawyer, what can they expect from a lawyer. What I provide quite frankly is a number of things, first education as we talked about earlier in the day and secondly to try to minimize whatever penalties may occur. The first approach would be to try to get the case dismissed or to try the case and try to get a not guilty verdict. Short of that if we are not going to have a trial, we try to, in New York we try to get it reduced to driving while ability is impaired (DWAI) which is not a crime but a traffic infraction which reduces your suspension time down to 90 days as opposed to 6 months and also reduces the fines and it also eliminates the need for an interlock device. So that is a critical factor that everybody needs to understand, the lawyer can in the law minimize exposure by someone who has been accused of this offense if they go about it the right way.

 

RJ: Is there any way to gauge the level of success that you have had in getting some or all of the elements of a case mitigated or reduced for people?

 

CS: It’s hard to quantify that by numbers or by track record, but I will say that we try to provide quality service by quality people representation which allows people to understand what they are doing before they do it, to ask the questions and get answers, so they make sure that they are making an informed decision. The level of success is really in the client being satisfied that they made the right decision, whether that means to go to trial or to take a reduced plea or whatever disposition might come after.

 

RJ: What kind of mistakes have you seen commonly in people that chose to defend themselves verses have a DWI lawyer?

 

CS: You don’t see a lot of self representation in New York you just see some in New Jersey. The common mistake is simply having yourself as a client. These cases are scientific, these cases are quite complex, and there is a lot of consequences to being found guilty or pleading guilty in a DWI in New York or a DUI in New Jersey. So the biggest mistake is to think that you can handle this, to save a little bit of money on a lawyer is going to cost you a lot of aggravation and money in future, so the first mistake is actually doing it yourself this is not one of those things that you should do it yourself.

 

RJ: Is there a particular story that you keep hearing over and over from people who come to see you, such as ‘I only had two drinks’ or things like that?

 

CS: A lot of people simply say “I only had a few drinks and it was many many hours before I started driving - how could I be responsible of charge of driving while intoxicated a DWI or a DUI?” and that is a theme.

 

One of the layers of that theme is that sometimes if something is not true and I am going to be totally frank with you to start with we need to break that down later on in our relationship as I represent them and the other times it simply is exactly true and what it has to do with this metabolism.

 

People metabolize alcohol differently and there’s nothing that metabolizes liquor more than activity, coffee doesn’t do it, people think that they can drink a cup of coffee before they leave the restaurant and they have had a half a bottle of wine and they will be fine. Truth of the matter is ‘time’ to be put into your metabolism actually is the only way to bring your blood alcohol level down, so simply having two drinks and not eating might cause you to have a higher reading.

 

RJ: What human insights have you gained into people’s behavior their reactions their feelings about for being arrested for DWI, the whole process?

 

CS: That’s a good question, one of the things that people when they first speak to me is that they are certainly nervous about what happened and they think that their life is going to change radically if their case isn’t assisted immediately and the truth of the matter is what I try to do is to empower people, I spoke about this, and to give people a sense of “we could fight this” that you have rights, that the burden of proof is on the prosecutor, that we can get through this without ending life as you know it and that we will get through it, and your nervousness is appropriate, your life is not going to end because you have a charge.

 

RJ: Is there anything else that you do to get a person through the whole process?

 

CS: Yes I do, I bring them into the process instead of them looking at themselves being charged with it. I bring them in I make them help me. I make them part of the process that so they can see that the information that they provide to me is only used to help them resolve their case. All of a sudden they switch from being sacred and nervous to being helpful and hopeful.

 

RJ: Do you feel that the current punishments in both New York and New Jersey are too harsh or are they too relaxed and why do you feel like that?

 

CS: Well DWI’s and DUI’s are serious problems in all of the United States. Recently over the last five years or so they have lowered the legal limit from .10 to .08. So it’s hard for me say whether or not the penalties are too hard or too lax.

 

What I will say that the people who do get arrested or charges with a DUI or a DWI in both New York and New Jersey are facing a serious consequence for their case, and they should seek competent council.

 

It’s the state of the law that provides for those penalties are not going to get any easier. It’s going to become more and more harsh over the years, only because there are such dire consequences to people who are driving under the influence. So what I would suggest is that to really get to best defense results for the penalties, is to simply deal with each case one at a time while trying to beat the rap for every individual that’s charged.

 

RJ: Do you see the numbers of offenders going up or down in light of the penalties continuing to get harsher?

 

CS: What I do see is that because of the lowering of the legal limit of .10 to .08 there is more and more cases. What I do see is more and more cases at the check points that are in different municipalities, so while the statistics speak for themselves I think there is an increase in the DWI cases, however on the other side of it there are people who are becoming more educated about the consequences and are trying to level with it where there is a need to diverge by taking a train or a bus or things like that, but I think in the long run unfortunately the statistics are going up.

 

RJ: What makes you and your firm unique in providing DUI or DWI defense what statement do you want to make to the potential clients that watch this video and decide whether to hire you?

 

CS: I’m glad you asked Richard - one of the things that we provide is really ‘boutique service’ and one on one consultations. You’re going to know what lawyer is to be going to the courts for you every single time, you’re going to know what to expect when you go to court every single time. You’re going to learn that we are going to be there on time, you’re going to know what to expect when you go to the court instead of all this nervousness, apprehension and anxiousness that makes the firm that I’m with ‘Law Offices of Carl Spector’ unique, you’re getting me that’s really what I want to impart to people.

 

Watch Carl Spector's Interview HERE >>