When a person in New Hampshire faces a DWI (drinking while intoxicated) charge for the first time there are two types of suspensions that can happen.
According to New Hampshire DWI defense attorney Mark Stevens, a first-time offense results in either an administrative suspension or a court suspension.
“An administrative suspension results in refusing a breath test or for taking a breath test that results in a breath alcohol level that’s above the legal limit,” Stevens said.
In New Hampshire the legal limit for people under 21 is a 0.02 blood alcohol level. The legal limit for people 21 years and older is 0.08. If when arrested a person decides to take a breath test and blows over the legal limit and asks for a hearing at the Department of Safety, that person is potentially at risk for a court suspension.
A court suspension results in a license suspension minimum of 12 months for people under 21 and nine months for people over 21. However, Stevens said that nine months can be reduced to a 90 day sentence if you participate in a program.
Stevens said that when convicted of a DWI, most people don’t realize how time sensitive hearings and getting into these programs are.
“You definitely want to do things quickly if you get convicted because it’s hard to get around in New Hampshire without a license,” Stevens said.
In New Hampshire, when a person is facing these
consequences they can not get work or educational hardships.
“If they live far away from where they are going to school or working they run the risk of job and with that comes with not being able to pay the bills, pay the rent and losing their house and a lot of catastrophic consequences, so it’s [a] really, really stressful situation for someone who is charged with this,” Stevens said.
He continued to say that it depends on the outcome of the case that determines what will affect the person’s future employment.
“Doctors and nurses on their application, they are asked if they’ve ever been charged with a drug or alcohol offense and the boards don’t smile at those convictions. If just getting charged with, it will have that person’s name show up on Google so employees always look at that now, and even if the person beats it they’re going to have to explain it,” Stevens said.
Kendall Pope can be contacted at kpope@kscequinox.com
