Since Drunk Driving Cases are adjudicated in the New Jersey Municipal Courts, appealing a DWI conviction must be done within 20 days. The first appeal is to the Superior Court, Law Division. If you lose the appeal in the Law Division, you then have 45 days to appeal to the Superior Court's Appellate Division. If you lose in the Appellate Division you then must appeal to the New Jersey Supreme Court. If you lose in the New Jersey Supreme Court, generally, you have no other courts to which to appeal. However, under certain rare circumstances, especially where a constitutional question that cannot be decided by the state court system is involved, you may have the right to appeal through the federal court system and ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court. If you lose in the U.S. Supreme Court, you have exhausted all appeals and you have no choice but to accept your conviction.

You must be aware that appealing any case is a very expensive undertaking. Most defendants do not have the financial resources to appeal their case after losing in the municipal court. Also, appeals can be very technical. If you wish to appeal a DWI conviction you should contact a New Jersey criminal defense lawyer like Rafael Gomez, who has argued appeals from the municipal court to the superior court, both as a prosecutor and as a defense lawyer.