An Irish council passed a motion in January to permit rural drinkers to drive home on certain isolated backroads and at a restricted speed. The County Kerry Council voted 5-3, with seven members abstaining and 12 absent, to issue permits allowing those who have “two or three” drinks at pubs…
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…
Today, in the case of Commonwealth v. Gibson, 11-P-1107, the Massachusetts Appeals Court reversed an OUI conviction. The Court in Gibson reported the following facts: In February of 2010, the defendant went to a couple of Super Bowl parties to watch the New Orleans play the Colts. In total Gibson…
“Controversial New Group: Drunk Drivers Against Mothers,” an article by Tom McCaffrey published in the Huffington Post comedy section, is about a fictional group of 6th-year college fraternity brothers establishing DDAM while playing beer pong and watching Cinemax pornography. The group, enraged by their mothers’ concerns with their drunk-driving habits,…
Orange County, California police made 843 drunk-driving arrests between August 17 and September 3, according to the Orange County Register. Police used checkpoints and heavy patrols over the period and expect that this year’s DUI arrest numbers will be higher than last year’s numbers. The police plan to use similar…
A man was arrested in Alaska for operating under the influence Aug. 3, 2012 as he floated down a river on an inflatable raft. In Alaska, as in Massachusetts, the legal limit is 0.08. A wildlife trooper arrested William Modene, 32, after authorities received reports of a “heavily intoxicated” man…
Certain well-known anti-drunk driving organizations are widely accused of having neo-Prohibitionist agendas and fueling anti-alcohol hysteria. Regardless of whether such criticism is warranted, this blog post explores the concept of moral policing as it relates to operating under the influence (OUI), as well as other demonized social behaviors, such as…
Recently, in Souza v. Registry of Motor Vehicles, the highest court in Massachusetts held that as used in the Massachusetts operating under the influence (OUI/DUI/DWI) statute, the word “convicted” refers only to guilty findings and that a “continuance without a finding” (CWOF) is no longer considered a first offense for…
The Boston City Council proposed an ordinance on March 15, 2012 that would require valets to deny keys to those suspected of being drunk. In response, insurance company representatives have expressed concern that such an ordinance would raise costs and place an unreasonable amount of responsibility on valet attendants, according…
As discussed in previous blog posts, the Boston Globe recently published a series of OUI-related articles in a spotlight series, the objectivity of which is questionable at best. In the wake of the spotlight series, the Supreme Judicial Court, the highest court in Massachusetts, announced that it would study the…