Massachusetts DUI Lawyer Blog
As a Massachusetts drunk driving defense attorney, I took note of a recent story about a Framingham man, Ronival Pires, charged with negligent endangerment of a child, driving under the influence of liquor and driving without a license. According to Boston’s Fox 25 News, someone at a Tedeschi’s convenience store in Framingham called police about a young child alone in a parked car. Police arrived and found the vehicle pulling out of the parking lot. They stopped the car and found Pires, age 30, driving with his two-year-old daughter in the back seat with no car seat, sitting next to a 30-pack of beer. Police administered several field sobriety tests to Pires, all of which he failed. He said he had not been drinking, but police noted a smell of alcohol on his breath. Pires was arrested and later was arraigned in Framingham District Court. He pled not guilty and was released without bail ahead of his scheduled July 9 pretrial conference. The daughter was released into her mother’s custody.
Read article: Framingham man charged with OUI, child endangerment.
From my experience as a Massachusetts intoxicated driving defense attorney, I know that people often get emotional when they are told that a child was endangered. This can cause problems for people who have been charged with OUI child endangerment, because juries may react to the child endangerment charge when deciding on the suspect’s guilt on other matters, like the OUI itself. This is why defendants like Pires should have an aggressive, experienced attorney to protect their rights in a court of law. An experienced attorney can move to exclude child endangerment charges and similar prejudicial matters from evidence.
In this case, a lawyer might also move to exclude any mention of the field sobriety tests, which are well known to be unreliable. In order to be admissible in court, field sobriety tests must be performed exactly according to the standards set out by Massachusetts case law and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Even when they are, the tests are easy for stone-cold sober people to fail, making them an unfair basis for convicting someone of a crime. If these tests are the only charges against him, Pires may well be able to get the charges against him dismissed or to get a not-guilty verdict. But to get the best possible chance, he and others like him definitely need professional legal expertise to protect his rights.
An experienced lawyer who specializes in drunk driving defense, like Attorney Stephen Neyman, can make sure that anyone charged with an OUI is getting the best outcome possible. If you have been charged with drunk driving in Boston or eastern Massachusetts, please contact the Law Offices of Stephen Neyman right away for a free consultation. You can call (617) 263-6800 or contact us online.