DWI Team: Kingston DWI Lawyers For Ulster County

Kingston City Court is at 1 Garraghan Drive, Kingston, NY 12401, in the same building as the Kingston Police Department, and the court entrance is at the back. The clerk's office is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., and its number is (845) 481-9350. It hears misdemeanor DWI charges from inside the city and handles the arraignment on a felony DWI before the case moves to Ulster County Court.

They are two separate courts. The City of Kingston's cases go to Kingston City Court on Garraghan Drive, and the Town of Kingston, a separate municipality, has its own justice court. You appear in whichever court is printed on your ticket, and the police agency that wrote it can confirm the court if the ticket is hard to read.

Ulster County Court is in the Ulster County Courthouse at 285 Wall Street, Kingston, NY 12401, phone (845) 481-9375. In New York only a County Court can try a felony, so a felony DWI arraigned in Kingston City Court or a town court moves there if the prosecution continues.

The Ulster County District Attorney's Office, at 15 Joys Lane in Kingston, prosecutes every crime charged in the county, and its number is (845) 340-3280. Part-time assistant DAs cover the town and village courts, and the county's STOP-DWI program, which is paid for by fines from DWI convictions, funds an assistant DA position.

Yes, when the chemical test came back at .08 or above. State law has the judge suspend your license pending prosecution at arraignment, and a refusal brings its own suspension. A hardship privilege for getting to work or medical treatment needs proof beyond your own testimony, and the judge can delay arraignment up to three business days while you gather it. Later, many drivers qualify for the pre-conviction conditional license.

It can. The hardship privilege in VTL 1193 covers travel to and from school for a matriculating student at an accredited college when that travel is needed to finish the degree, along with travel to work and to medical treatment. You still have to prove the hardship with more than your own word, so a class schedule and proof of enrollment help.

Under New York's Zero Tolerance Law, VTL 1192-a, a driver under 21 with a reading from .02 to .07 is sent to the DMV for a hearing. A finding under that section is a DMV matter and carries no criminal conviction. A reading of .08 or more is charged as a DWI in court, whatever your age.

Often, within the limits of New York's plea bargaining rules. Under VTL 1192(10), once you are charged with DWI, any guilty plea has to be to one of the impaired driving offenses in that section, which is why DWAI is the usual reduction. The one way around it is a finding by the district attorney, after reviewing the evidence, that an impaired driving charge is unwarranted, with the judge stating the basis on the record. A DWAI plea on a DWI charge also has to include the DMV's alcohol and drug rehabilitation program, the Impaired Driver Program, formerly the Drinking Driver Program. In Ulster County, the assistant DA on your case makes the offer, and the weaknesses we find in the traffic stop, the breath test or the paperwork are what change it.

The court suspends your license at arraignment and sends the case to a DMV chemical test refusal hearing, which runs apart from the criminal case. If the DMV does not hold that hearing within fifteen days of arraignment, your license comes back until it does. The DMV judge decides whether the officer had reasonable grounds, whether the arrest was lawful, whether the refusal warning was clear and whether you refused. If the DMV rules against you, the license stays revoked for at least a year and you owe a $500 civil penalty.

A first DWI conviction means a fine of $500 to $1,000 on top of the state surcharge, as much as a year in jail, a revocation of at least six months and an ignition interlock in any vehicle you own or operate. The DMV adds a $250 assessment each year for three years. Judges can also order a session of the Victim Impact Panel that the county's STOP-DWI program holds at 733 Broadway in Kingston.

A new DWI within ten years of a prior DWI conviction is a class E felony. Under Leandra's Law, a passenger fifteen or younger also makes it a felony. Arraignment still happens in Kingston City Court or the town court, and a felony that moves ahead is tried in Ulster County Court on Wall Street, where a conviction can bring state prison.

Yes. The DWI Team defends DWI charges in every New York county, and our Kingston DWI lawyers also take cases from the rest of the mid-Hudson Valley, including Dutchess, Orange and Sullivan counties. State Police Troop F, which patrols Ulster, also covers Greene, Sullivan, Orange and Rockland counties, and Rockland County cases have their own page for our New City DWI lawyers.

Your quote comes at the free consultation, once we know the charge, the court and whether there was a refusal. Our Best Price Promise backs it up. If a DWI-focused attorney offers the same services for less before you hire anyone, show us and we will match the price, beat it or send you a $50 gift card.

Yes. DUI is what most states call it and what most people search for, and New York law calls it DWI, for driving while intoxicated. A Kingston DUI attorney and a Kingston DWI lawyer defend one charge, the one defined in VTL 1192.