Case Result
State of New Jersey v. De Lorenzo – Somerset County Criminal Indictment Cut Down to Probation and Interlock Only.
Ms. De Lorenzo came in facing the kind of aggregate exposure that can wreck a person’s life: a second-offense DWI, a criminal assault-by-auto charge arising out of an accident involving two minors, exposure reaching ten years in prison, a two-year license suspension, fines exceeding $15,000, and nine motor vehicle points. The final result was a different universe.
What she was facing
The case did not come in as a simple municipal DWI problem. Because the accident involved two minors, the exposure expanded far beyond the second-offense DWI itself. Ms. De Lorenzo was facing:
- A second-offense driving under the influence charge
- A criminal assault-by-auto charge
- Aggregate exposure described at up to ten years in prison
- A two-year license suspension
- Fines in excess of $15,000
- Nine motor vehicle points
That is the kind of posture where a client can get buried quickly if the defense does not start attacking the exposure intelligently and relentlessly.
The result
The criminal charge was negotiated down to a disorderly persons offense with one year probation and fines only. On the second-offense DWI, the defense secured a resolution under which Ms. De Lorenzo would use an ignition interlock completely in lieu of any license suspension.
That means she walked away without the prison exposure that had been hanging over the case, without the two-year suspension she was facing, and without the catastrophic global outcome that was originally on the table.
Why this was a major win
This was not a cosmetic improvement. It was a massive reduction in real-life exposure. Cases that carry criminal charges, DWI consequences, accident facts, minors, prison risk, and license fallout can spiral very fast. Here, the defense result stripped the case down to a far more controlled outcome: probation, fines, and interlock instead of prison and suspension.
That is exactly the kind of result serious defense work is supposed to drive toward: take a case with brutal downside, pressure the weak points, and force a resolution that protects the client’s future far more than the original charging posture ever suggested.
The bottom line
Somerset County case. Serious exposure. Serious reduction. Ms. De Lorenzo was facing a life-altering stack of criminal, license, and financial consequences. The final result cut that down to a disorderly persons resolution on the criminal side, one year probation, fines only, and interlock in lieu of suspension on the DWI side.
Results always depend on facts, evidence, posture, and timing. But this one stands as exactly what a strong defense is supposed to do: outwork the exposure, out-position the charging posture, and leave the client in a dramatically stronger place than where the case started.