Our Supreme Judicial Court has recognized that the legislature could not have intended to make it a crime to drive after unknowingly being “slipped” drugs or alcohol. Where intoxication is an element of a crime, as it is in operating under the influence (OUI / DUI) cases, the government has…
August 8, 2011, when the stocks plunged dramatically, marked the most severe decline since the fall of 2008. Economists discussed the possibility of yet another recession, which would hurt even worse because of the nation’s weak starting point, CNNMoney reported on August 10, 2011. Readers may be asking what relevance…
Just over a month after the high profile acquittal of Casey Anthony, Caylee Anthony’s grandparents and crowds of others memorialized what would have been the toddler’s birthday, CBS reported on August 10, 2011. The tribute to the child’s short life seems to have spurred renewed interest in “Caylee’s Law,” a…
In recent years, punishments for drunk-driving offenses have become ever more severe in Massachusetts and throughout the country. Laws that provide for tough drunk driving penalties, such as Melanie’s Law in Massachusetts, are very popular politically, perhaps because many unthinkingly take the view that severe sentences will reduce the number…
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…
As a Massachusetts drunk-driving defense attorney, I’d like to remind my readers of their rights (or lack thereof) when it comes to sobriety checkpoints and roadblocks. A large range of purported “lesser intrusions,” like inspections and regulatory searches have been upheld by both the United States Supreme Court and lower…
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,…
A young woman is charged with DUI in a crash that police say froze the car’s speedometer at 85 mph, in a 30-mph zone. According to an Oct. 21 article in the Winchester Star, police say 18-year-old Diamond Mason and her passenger, an unnamed 22-year-old woman, are lucky to be…
Cleveland Brown wide receiver Donte Stallworth just hit the mother load of of plea deals by getting a thirty day jail sentence after being charged with DUI Manslaughter. It was alleged that on March 14, 2009 Mario Reyes was running across the street to catch a bus when he was…
Last week police in West Tisbury, Massachusetts responded to a motor vehicle crash scene after receiving information that there was an accident with serious injuries. They arrived to find Jena Pothier pinned to the front passenger seat wearing a seatbelt. The suspected driver, Kelly McCarron was found lying in the…