On May 24, 2011, the Court of Appeals decided Commonwealth v. Virgilio, holding that a paved driveway between two houses that neither contained nor led to businesses or public accommodations was, as a matter of law, not a way or place to which the public had access as invitees or…
On May 10, 2011, United States Senator Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat, pressed Google, Inc. and Apple, Inc. to remove smartphone applications that warn users of DUI checkpoints. Using GPS capabilities, these applications also alert users to red light cameras and speed traps. Schumer questioned the companies’ executives…
It’s no secret that police often write OUI police reports generically, using a laundry list of common OUI symptoms relating to physical appearance, driving, and field sobriety testing. Sometimes these reports are essentially templates in which a select few facts are unique to the defendant. The fictional on-size-fits-all OUI suspect…
State Senator Robert Hedlund, a Weymouth Republican, has filed a bill designed to strengthen Melanie’s Law by requiring ignition interlock devices for six months after a first drunk driving offense. In an effort to close “loopholes,” his bill would also prohibit bundling (punishing two or more concurrent drunk driving offenses…
In Massachusetts and many other states, individuals can be punished when, after realizing their inability to drive safely, they voluntarily pull over to sleep it off. Whether this is in the interest of public policy is highly debatable. The reasoning is that drivers who are questioning their own sobriety should…
Back in August, I wrote about the arrest of former Big Dig chief Matthew Amorello for operating under the influence of alcohol. Amorello is a former chief of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, but best known for resigning his post after part of the Ted Williams Tunnel collapsed during the Big…
A recent article in the Boston Globe got my attention as a Massachusetts OUI criminal defense attorney. Massachusetts legislators are reportedly considering several changes to Melanie’s Law, the 2005 law that was intended to toughen penalties for drunk drivers. Legislators have proposed several ways to toughen those penalties even further,…
Prospective employers, dates, coworkers and friends can find information about most of us online. Unfortunately, that can include news reports about our misdeeds and mistakes. A number of candidates who ran for office this year have learned this the hard way, from Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell’s claims to have…
A series of articles and videos in the Quincy Patriot-Ledger about a rise in the number of women being convicted of drunk driving caught my eye recently. The videos describe the struggles of two women to put their lives back together after their drunk driving arrests. As a Massachusetts drunk…
Those of us who followed the progress of the Big Dig remember well the name Matthew Amorello, the former chair of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority who oversaw the massive construction project for four years. Amorello resigned from that post after a woman was killed when part of the roof of…