The New Jersey Appellate Division affirmed the defendant’s sentence for DUI, holding that the newly-amended statute did not apply. The defendant committed the offense before the new law’s enactment but was sentenced afterward. He challenged his sentence, contending that the trial court committed error when it did not apply the new refusal statute, which was in effect when the court sentenced him. The Appellate Division affirmed. The Court ruled that when it amended the DWI statute, “the Legislature clearly stated that the new legislation would become effective over four months after it was signed into law and apply only to the defendants who committed offenses on or after December 1, 2019. That decision by the Legislature represented its unequivocal intent to apply the new statute prospectively.” Therefore, the common law exceptions to the presumption of prospective application did not apply. Further, because the Legislature amended the refusal statute to effectuate its determination that interlock devices served as a more significant deterrent to drunk driving than a period of license forfeiture, any ameliorative or curative nature of the statute did not warrant retroactive effect.
