Lancaster Police Department arrested client and charged her in Lancaster District Division with an Aggravated DWI, based on a BAC of 0.19. The client faced mandatory jail time and a mandatory two year license loss upon conviction. Attorney Meenan secured a plea to a first offense non-aggravated DWI, saving the client from jail and cutting her loss of license to just 6 months, a small fraction of the mandatory penalty for the charged offense. As part of the negotiated plea secured by Attorney Meenan, the prosecuting officer agreed to withdraw his Administrative Loss of License request with the Department of Motor Vehicles. As such, the client avoided any administrative loss of license. Importantly, the installation of an ignition interlock device or an enhanced technology ignition device was not a condition or term of the negotiated plea as secured by Attorney Meenan, nor was it ordered by the District Court.
Despite the prosecutor’s ALS withdrawal, the DMV’s Bureau of Hearings subsequently sent Client a Notice of Hearing requiring her appearance in Concord, NH at a hearing pursuant to N.H. RSA 265-A:36-a. The purpose of this hearing was to determine whether, based on Client’s recent conviction for a DWI and her driving record, she would be required to install and maintain an ignition interlock device upon restoration of her driver’s license.
Attorney Meenan appeared with Client at the Hearing in Concord and presented evidence that the safety of the public and/or the client’s own safety would not have been enhanced by the installation of an ignition interlock device as a condition of restoration.
The Hearings Examiner issued an Order hold, “The Client is not required to install an Ignition Interlock Device in any vehicle registered to her or used by her on a regular basis as a condition of restoration of her license.” Because Attorney Meenan won the hearing, the client saved the significant expenses of the installation fees, monthly monitoring fees as well as the fees for removing the device.