New Jersey Municipal & Traffic Court Matters

Most people in the State of New Jersey will appear at one time or another in a Municipal Court for a variety of matters.  Most of the time, Municipal Court cases involve routine traffic charges such as speeding, careless driving, disregard of a traffic signal, usage of a handheld cell phone or failure to use a seat belt.  More serious violations include failure to have insurance coverage and driving while under the influence or driving while revoked which all require a mandatory drivers license revocation.

Traffic Violations Which Result in Points

The most common Municipal Court appearance is for traffic violations which result in assessments of points by the Division of Motor Vehicle, in addition to fines, insurance surcharges and sometimes other penalties such as loss of a driver’s license.

Many times, this office has appeared in court to defend drivers for speeding violations. Defenses may apply relating to usage by the police of speed detecting devices including maintenance and calibration of same.

Charges may also be filed by spouses against other spouses for assault arising out of domestic disputes.  This office has attempted on multiple occasions to have these matters resolved by counseling with a delay in prosecution.

In Traffic Court cases, we try to minimize the damage and reduce any long term consequences.  The more serious charges such as driving while revoked, driving without insurance and driving while intoxicated are all unique and require investigation and legal research.  There are fewer and fewer defenses to DUI in the State of New Jersey if you are at or above the .08 limit of blood alcohol content.  Revocation of driver’s licenses is mandatory, and the length of time depends on whether it is a first or subsequent offense.  New Jersey will also impose a loss of license for failure to take a breathalyzer which is a minimum of seven months.

Municipal/Traffic Court Case Summary – Representation by Philip Ciprietti

We recently represented an individual, a young college student, who was caught with the possession of a small amount of marijuana (under 50 grams) while operating a motor vehicle.  He was charged with a violation of the Drug Laws and having drugs in his car, namely the marijuana.

Having drugs in your car is a two year loss of driver’s license in addition to the prosecution of possession.  The State failed to have the lab report provided at the time of the hearing.  We were able to dismiss the marijuana in the motor vehicle charge eliminating the two year loss of driver’s license, and we downgraded the possession charge to an ordinance violation thereby resulting in no loss of license for our client.

There are also programs such as conditional discharge which are meant for first time offenders for possession of less than 50 grams of marijuana.  Our goal is to try to not only reduce the present penalties but also ameliorate future problems such as having a record for a drug conviction.

New Jersey Municipal & Traffic Court Representation

To discuss representation by Phil Ciprietti in a municipal or traffic court matter, please call 800.281.8695.