I worked the case with the East End Bureau first and made the argument for why a reduction was warranted on these facts. Then I had to make the same argument to the bench. Both Riverhead justices take an active role in plea negotiations and will reject a disposition they consider too light for what happened, and a .17 reading invites exactly that reaction. In the end I persuaded both the District Attorney’s office and the court to accept a reduction all the way down to driving while ability impaired under VTL 1192(1), a traffic infraction rather than a crime. My client walked out without a criminal conviction. The plea required good conduct and 50 hours of volunteer community service. An excellent trade-off to keep my client’s criminal record clean.
