True field sobriety tests are commonly referred to as divided attention tests. Their purpose is to see whether or not you can pay attention to some very basic rules while performing a simple physical task. If you have no physical limitations the tests assume that you can follow the directions…
I get this question several times each week. Someone gets arrested for drunk driving in Massachusetts. This is their first OUI and usually their first time having to go to court. After the initial shock and embarrassment wears off they start thinking about defending the case and ultimately how much…
OUI drugs in Massachusetts is a crime not often prosecuted. Police officers will make a stop of a vehicle based on their observations of operation or a report or erratic driving. Just after making the stop the officer will contact the operator. They usually ask for a license and registration…
Just prior to the New Years weekend I saw a rash of articles talking about how DUI checkpoints in southern California were being set up not only with breathalyzer test machines but also cheek swab tests. Much of this is law enforcement’s response to the decriminalization and legalization of marijuana…
Just about every OUI case that we handle in some way implicates the field sobriety tests. Most people know a little bit about these tests. Or, at least they think they do. Sometimes you see these being administered on the side of the road. Other times your friends who have…
Here in Massachusetts, persons charged with first offense operating under the influence (OUI /DUI) and certain second time OUI offenders may have the option of what is called the alternative “24D” disposition, which includes participation in an alcohol education program as a condition of probation. Many different approved alcohol education…
Just a few days ago the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decided the case of Commonwealth v. Smeaton, SJC-11208 a matter occurring in the vicinity of the Smith College Campus in Northampton, Massachusetts. The Court found that in October of 2010 the defendant was driving on a public way. A Smith…
According to reports in several media outlets New England Patriots starting defensive back Alfonzo Dennard was arrested earlier today. He is being charged with Drunk Driving or OUI as it is known in Massachusetts. The Motor Vehicle stop occurred just prior to 2:00 a.m. The police making the stop observed…
Lon Fuller, a legal philosopher and law professor, was known for, among other things, his careful analyses of legal fictions, which are basically assumptions in the law that something false is true. Fuller once identified the following three legal fictions surrounding the crime of drunk driving: (1) the assumption about…
The New York Police Department is going to start using the word “collision” instead of the word “accident” to describe drunk-driving crashes, a move which the New York Times described as a “symbolic semantic change” that has long been requested by OUI victims. A police commissioner explained that the term…