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NYC Aggravated Vehicular Assault Lawyers
When someone gets behind the wheel after drinking and driving, there is a possibility that the person will cause an accident. If you decide to drink and drive, the vehicle that you’re in will be more than a simple method of transportation from one location to another. It can become a weapon, and you can be charged with aggravated vehicular assault if you are in an accident and injure or kill someone else. There are three types of vehicular assault as described by New York Penal Laws. Aggravated assault is the most serious and carries the longest prison sentence of the three that you could receive. Unless your attorney can successfully challenge the charge and get it dropped or reduced, then you will lose the privilege to drive and could spend up to 15 years in prison. There are also significant fines associated with this charge that you need to consider.
There are a few elements that need to be met before an aggravated vehicular assault charge is handed down. If you operate a vehicle in a reckless manner and cause serious injury to someone else, then you will be charged with aggravated vehicular assault. Other elements that are involved include being intoxicated while you’re operating the vehicle or impaired by drugs while operating the vehicle. Another situation would be if you operated a vehicle while intoxicated and it had explosives or radioactive materials on board. Operating a snowmobile or some type of all-terrain vehicle while intoxicated is also grounds for being charged with aggravated vehicular assault.
Aggravated vehicular assault is considered a felony and can be compared to first-degree assault with a vehicle. One difference is that you must drive in a reckless manner. This means that you operate any vehicle in a way that poses harm or that interferes with the actions of other drivers on the road or those who are walking on the side of the road, such as on a city sidewalk. Another requirement to consider to be charged with aggravated vehicular assault is that the victim must sustain serious injuries or death.
An attorney can sometimes challenge the charge that you receive by using one of a few defenses that are available. One of the common ways is to challenge how accurate the test was that determined you were intoxicated at the time you were operating the vehicle. Sometimes, certain foods, beverages, or medications can alter the results of the chemical test given, which is something that your attorney can bring up in court. If the victim was not seriously injured, then your attorney can challenge the charge. Some of the things that the court will look at include the degree of pain that the victim was in at the scene as well as whether the victim lost consciousness or not.
Once the prosecutor reviews all of the evidence, your charges could be raised or lowered, which can have a significant impact on how long you stay in prison and how much you will be ordered to pay in fines. Your case will be presented in court in front of a Grand Jury simply because it’s a felony offense. Depending on the severity of the incident and your background, your attorney might be able to work with the prosecutor to come up with some kind of plea bargain so that you spend a minimal amount of time in prison if any time at all.