Felony DWI in New York

If you’ve been arrested for a DWI in the state of New York, several factors will determine if you will be charged with a misdemeanor or felony. If you are a multiple offender, an injury, accident or another illegal activity in conjunction with the DWI occurred, you will most likely be charged with a felony DWI. Also a law passed in 2009 known as Leandra’s Law makes it a felony to drive while intoxicated even if it’s your first offense if there was a person under the age of 16 in the vehicle when the DWI occurred.

A felony DWI is a very serious charge. Depending on the class of felony, fines can go up to $10,000. That doesn’t even take into account fees associated with classes, treatment, license reinstatement, monitoring, ignition interlock, lawyer fees and more. In addition to the heavy fines and fees, you can be sentenced up to seven years in the state penitentiary. In certain circumstances you can lose rights such as having a passport, right to vote and the right to own a firearm. On top of all of that, you will have a felony on your record. This could prevent you in succeeding in many opportunities such as employment, education and others.

With everything mentioned above, it quickly becomes apparent that you don’t want a felony DWI on your record. That is why we do everything to get the charges dismissed or weakened. Please contact us at (718) 746-5017 or by email as quickly as possible so that we can go over all of your options and begin planning your defense.