Available 24/7 and Obligation Free
Available 24/7 and Obligation Free
Available 24/7
Available 24/7
Your first Broome County court date can decide whether you drive home from it. A Binghamton DWI lawyer from our Court Street office gets the paperwork for that date together and starts looking for holes in the arrest the day you call.
A private call. Straight answers. No lecture.
Talk To The DWI Team, 24/7(607) 201-1024Serving Binghamton, Vestal, Johnson City, Endicott, Endwell, Kirkwood, Conklin, Port Dickinson and all of Broome County.
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Our office at 95 Court Street is downtown, a short walk from City Hall and the county buildings on Hawley Street. Every Binghamton case starts with the officer's report, the breath test printout and any dash or body camera video.
*Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
With a .08 or higher, expect the judge to suspend your license at arraignment. We bring a letter about your job or classes so the court can weigh a hardship privilege that same day.
Plea offers in Broome County come from the District Attorney's Office, in City Court and the town courts alike. When the proof is thin, we press the assistant DA for DWAI, a traffic infraction that leaves no criminal record.
Binghamton City Court gives you 45 days from arraignment to file written motions. We use that window to challenge the stop, the breath test and any statement taken from you.
Vestal holds arraignments on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, Kirkwood on the first and third Wednesday mornings, and Johnson City on Fridays. We plan for the court named on your ticket and its calendar.
A DWI is a crime in New York, and in Broome County the stop location decides whether it goes to Binghamton City Court or a town or village court. The Johnson City Village Court alone handles 5,500 to 6,500 cases a year and calls itself the second busiest criminal court in the county.
Our Binghamton DWI attorneys take DWI cases and nothing else, with more than 30 years of combined DWI defense experience. The DWI Team is the DWI practice of Nave Law Firm, founded in Syracuse in 2018 by attorney Dennis J. Nave and Sean Kelsey, the firm's Chief Executive Officer. Of Counsel attorney Kevin Kelly began his career trying felony cases to juries in the Southern Tier.
What the officer wrote down is where our review starts.
We have defended thousands of New Yorkers charged with DWI. A Binghamton case gets the same checklist as every other: why the car was stopped, how the field tests were given, the breath instrument's records and each form in the file.
"We will be there for you during, and after, your arrest."
Most Broome County courts arraign within days of the arrest, and the judge rules on your license at that first appearance. Calling before then gives us time to prepare the hardship request.
Before You Talk To Anyone
The officer has likely written down what you said at the roadside. Keep the rest for your lawyer, and stay off social media about that night.
At .08 or above, a suspension at arraignment is the norm, whether that happens at City Hall or in a town hall courtroom. We ask for a hardship privilege that same day so you can keep getting to work or class.
Binghamton University students, nurses, teachers and drivers with a CDL each have something beyond the court case to protect, from a professional license to a place in school. We ask about it on the first call, because it shapes the defense.
The Broome County District Attorney's Office works out of the George R. Harvey Justice Building at 45 Hawley Street. Its assistant DAs handle DWI cases in City Court, in County Court and on set days in the town courts.
Before your date at City Hall or in a town court, do these four things.
People search for a Binghamton DUI lawyer, and the ticket in their hand says DWI. Every version of the charge comes from Vehicle and Traffic Law section 1192, and your test result and record decide which subsection you face.
A .08 or higher is a misdemeanor DWI on a first offense. Under VTL 1193 it carries a $500 to $1,000 fine, up to a year in jail and a revocation of at least six months, plus an interlock. Standard DWI offenses →
A .18 or higher. Fines start at $1,000 and reach $2,500, and the license is revoked for a year or longer. With a child 15 or younger in the car it becomes a felony under Leandra's Law. Aggravated DWI →
A traffic infraction, punished by a $300 to $500 fine and as many as fifteen days in jail. It is the usual target when we negotiate a Broome County DWI. DWAI →
A refusal goes to a DMV hearing under VTL 1194, heard remotely by video for now. If you lose, the license is gone for at least a year and the civil penalty is $500. Chemical test refusal →
A prior DWI conviction within ten years, a passenger aged 15 or under, or a crash that seriously hurts someone can raise the charge to a felony, and only Broome County Court can try it. Felony DWI →
An interlock order carries offenses of its own, including circumventing the device or driving a car that has none. Interlock offenses →
The suspension usually starts at arraignment, and a conviction turns it into a revocation. A refusal finding at the DMV brings a separate revocation of at least a year.
Beyond the fine and the state surcharge, the DMV bills a driver responsibility assessment: $250 every year for three years. Then come interlock fees and a higher insurance bill.
New York keeps a DWI conviction on your criminal record permanently. Near the end of an interlock sentence, you or your lawyer must notify the Broome County STOP-DWI office at (607) 778-2056, according to the Endicott Village Court.
The place you were stopped picks the court. Arrests inside the city go to Binghamton City Court, the towns and villages around it have justice courts of their own, and felonies go to Broome County Court.
Binghamton City Court is on the fifth floor of City Hall, 38 Hawley Street, and its clerk keeps weekday hours of 8:30 to 4:30. A DWI ticket is a misdemeanor ticket, so you must appear to be arraigned before a City Court judge, and a misdemeanor jury there has six people.
Vestal Town Court at 605 Vestal Parkway West holds arraignments at 1:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Town of Union court has moved to 3121 East Main Street in Endwell, and the Johnson City Village Court on Avenue C sits on Fridays with an assistant DA. Felony cases move up to Broome County Court at 65 Hawley Street. For an arrest in Onondaga County, see our Syracuse DWI lawyers.
Arrests in Broome County come from Binghamton Police, the Sheriff's Office and State Police Troop C, whose Binghamton station is at 84 Crescent Drive in Kirkwood. Vestal, Johnson City and Endicott have their own departments, and University Police hold full arrest powers on the Binghamton University campus and the roads beside it. Whichever agency made the arrest, we ask it for the reports, the video and the breath records.
Text or email a photo of the ticket and the test result. We aim to walk into your arraignment with the hardship paperwork ready and a first list of problems with the arrest.
New York's discovery law gives the DA 20 days from arraignment to turn over its evidence if you are held, and 35 days if you are not. We go through the breath instrument records, the video and the paperwork, and we file suppression motions inside the 45 days City Court allows.
The assistant DA hears every weakness we found, and we push for a dismissal or a lower charge. If the offer falls short, we prepare to try the case in whichever court holds it.
DWI is all we do: repeat charges and first offenses, CDL holders, drivers younger than 21, drug impaired driving and test refusals. Doing the same kind of case every day teaches us where a DWI file tends to be weak.
What judges and assistant DAs did in our earlier Broome County cases shapes the advice we give you.
An attorney runs your case, and our paralegals and advocates keep track of the court dates, the DMV hearing and the records requests.
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*Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
View Our Google Profile Four DWI cases our attorneys resolved for New York clients.
Jury acquits on every DWI count
Police found a client walking about a mile from his car, which he said had run out of gas, and he said he drank only after that. He blew a .17 at the station, and because of his DWI history the DA would not offer a reduction on the felony. A jury found him not guilty of every charge of driving while intoxicated, and he kept his job.
Aggravated DWI to a non-criminal plea
A client with several felony convictions faced aggravated DWI at a claimed .18, along with marihuana possession and drinking in a vehicle. We raised the problems in the case with the DA and negotiated DWAI, a traffic infraction, and disorderly conduct, a noncriminal offense, with minimum fines.
CDL kept, one no-point ticket
A commercial driver was parked by the road in his truck with a beer at lunch, while another CDL driver waited to take the wheel, and he was charged with DWI in a commercial vehicle. After we prepared pretrial hearings and met with the judge and prosecutor, the case ended with a single no-point ticket for parking on the pavement. He kept his job and his CDL.
Crash, refusal and DWI dismissed
A client was charged with DWI and refusal after a single car accident. We exposed weaknesses in the arresting officer's testimony, and the case was dismissed.
*Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Attorney advertising.
The questions we hear most from people arrested in Binghamton and the rest of Broome County.
Binghamton City Court is in City Hall, 38 Hawley Street, 5th Floor, Binghamton, NY 13901. Its clerk takes calls at (607) 240-4272 and keeps hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, state holidays excepted. A DWI ticket is marked as a misdemeanor, which means you have to appear in person to be arraigned on the date written on it.
When it is charged as a felony. Only County Courts can try felony cases, and Broome County Court sits at 65 Hawley Street, Binghamton, phone (607) 240-5800. City and town courts can still arraign a felony and hold the preliminary hearing before the case moves up. Every visitor goes through a metal detector at the entrance.
Vestal Town Court holds arraignments at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, except on the fifth Tuesday or Thursday of a month. It is at 605 Vestal Parkway West, Vestal, NY 13850, and the clerk's window is open weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at (607) 748-1514.
A busy courtroom. Johnson City Village Court, 31 Avenue C, Suite 2, handles 5,500 to 6,500 cases a year and calls itself the second busiest criminal court in Broome County. The judge sits on Fridays starting around 10:30 a.m., often into the late afternoon, and an assistant district attorney and an assistant public defender appear every week. The court's number is (607) 798-0002.
The Endicott Village Court is at 225 Jefferson Avenue, Endicott, NY 13760, phone (607) 757-2483, with window hours Tuesday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. After a not guilty plea, the court sets a pretrial conference where the case is discussed with an assistant district attorney.
Kirkwood Town Court, 70 Crescent Drive, arraigns misdemeanors, including vehicle and traffic misdemeanors like DWI, on the first and third Wednesdays of the month from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Traffic infractions can be answered by mail there, and a misdemeanor cannot.
Dickinson Town Court is at 531 Old Front Street, Binghamton, NY 13905. It holds arraignments every Thursday at 9:30 a.m. and pretrials and non-jury trials on the second and third Tuesday of the month. The Town of Union court moved to 3121 East Main Street, Endwell, NY 13760, and its clerk answers at (607) 786-2965.
Each town has its own justice court and calendar. Chenango Town Court is at 1529 NY Route 12. Fenton holds criminal court with the DA present on the second and fourth Thursdays at 9:00 a.m. Conklin arraigns on Wednesdays at 9:00 a.m. and holds pretrials with an assistant DA on the second Thursday. The Town of Binghamton court, 279 Park Avenue, arraigns every Thursday at 1:00 p.m.
The Broome County District Attorney's Office, in the George R. Harvey Justice Building at 45 Hawley Street, 4th Floor, Binghamton, phone (607) 778-2423. Its assistant DAs handle the case in City Court, in the town and village courts and in County Court, and plea negotiations go through that office.
In most cases, yes. When the test reads .08 or higher, New York law has the judge suspend your license at your arraignment for as long as the case is open, and a refusal brings a suspension too. A hardship privilege can keep you driving to a job, classes or medical appointments if you bring proof such as an employer letter. Later, many drivers become eligible for a conditional license while the case is still open.
Two separate things. The judge suspends your license at arraignment, and the DMV opens its own refusal case. The DMV lists a Binghamton hearing office in the State Office Building, 44 Hawley Street, and holds every safety hearing remotely for now. If no hearing has taken place fifteen days after arraignment, the license comes back until one does. A finding against you means at least a year without a license and a $500 civil penalty.
In many cases. Under VTL 1192(10), a DWI plea has to stay within the alcohol and drug driving charges unless the DA concludes the charge is unwarranted and the judge states why on the record. That is why DWAI is the common outcome of DWI plea bargaining. A driver who goes from DWI to DWAI still has to finish the Impaired Driver Program.
Yes. The Broome County Adult Treatment Court meets in Family Court, 65 Hawley Street, 2nd floor, with participant sessions on Tuesdays at 1:30 p.m., and it took its first case on June 14, 2002. Every adult treatment court in the Sixth Judicial District has a DWI and DWAI track, and Broome County also has a Veterans Treatment Court. Completing the program can lead to a reduced or dismissed charge.
Yes. New York State University Police have full arrest powers on SUNY and Binghamton University property and on the roadways next to it. A driver under 21 with a reading from .02 to .07 faces a DMV zero tolerance hearing, and .08 or more is a criminal DWI like anyone else's.
For most people it is. A first DWI is a misdemeanor that brings a fine, a revocation, an interlock and a permanent record. A lawyer can contest the stop and the breath test, ask for a hardship privilege on the first day in court and negotiate with the assistant DA before any plea is entered.
They are the same thing. DUI is the term most states use, and New York's Vehicle and Traffic Law section 1192 names the offense DWI. Whether you call us a Binghamton DUI lawyer or a Binghamton DWI attorney, the charge and the defense are identical, and drivers licensed in other states who are arrested here face it under New York law.
You get a fee quote in the free consultation, and it turns on the charge, the court and any refusal. With our Best Price Promise, bring us a lower quote from a DWI-focused attorney for the same services before you retain anyone, and we match it, beat it or hand you a $50 gift card.
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(607) 201-1024Looking for a DWI lawyer in Binghamton? Ask each one how they would handle your stop, your test result and the DMV hearing. Then ask us.
