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Articles Posted in DUI news

A series of serious and fatal crashes on Route 24 and I-195 have prompted state troopers to boost their patrol efforts on both highways, hoping to nab speeders, drunk drivers and careless motorists. emptybeercan.jpg

Massachusetts DUI lawyers know that more patrols are likely to equal more arrests. It’s important to understand the background of why law enforcement is targeting this area, as well as what you should do if you’re stopped.

A recent two-part series by The Enterprise newspaper detailed what has been a treacherous year, particularly on Route 24. Drivers spoke of how they drive defensively because they felt it often a matter of life or death on that stretch of highway.

In fact, the newspaper staff, after combing through four years worth of crash data, determined that it’s one of the most dangerous roads in the state. In the last year, there have been 630 crashes on Route 24, resulting in 11 deaths and many more injuries. That averages out to about two crashes a day.

Law enforcement say the reasons behind these crashes vary, but mostly put blame on certain dangerous driving habits, including speeding, impaired driving and wrong-way driving.

Certainly, reckless drivers are out there. However, Massachusetts DUI attorneys know that a lot of it also has to do with poor road design. Even the newspaper reported that when the road first opened back in 1952 as the Fall River Expressway, there were approximately 30 exits over a span of just 43 miles. Most of those ramps are abrupt, allowing motorists just a few car lengths to either speed up and merge or slow down and avoid a collision. Sure, some people go too fast, but poor road design can be a factor in a crash – and in some cases, a possible defense. Drivers could be doing everything right, but accidents will still happen.

Some motorists interviewed by the paper indicated that scofflaws were to blame, as was the lack of police enforcement. So now, law enforcement is answering that claim by tripling their patrols on both Rt. 24 and I-195, particularly on weekend nights through September. When increased enforcement is announced, it also means there is an increased probability of being stopped. When law enforcement is predisposed the make traffic stops and take enforcement action, motorists are also at increased risk of questionable or unfair arrest.

Of course, the best way to avoid a DUI is not to drink before you get behind the wheel. The legal limit in Massachusetts for blood alcohol content is 0.08 percent, but the problem is, many people have a hard time telling once they’ve reached that limit.

Because the chances of your getting pulled over and arrested on Rt. 24 and I-195 are increased, here are some things to keep in mind if you get stopped:

1. Reduce your chances of being pulled over by keeping your vehicle in good working condition. This means making sure your rear and headlights are working, you don’t have illegal window tint and your vehicle is generally well-maintained. Also, make sure that your license plate is properly renewed and your license, registration and insurance is current.

2. Remain calm and be polite. Almost everyone is nervous when getting pulled over, but try to maintain your composure. Remember too that being rude will probably get you nowhere.

3. Don’t be combative, but know that you have the right to decline to take a field sobriety test, take a breath test and to tell the officer whether you’ve been drinking. Understand that under the Massachusetts implied consent law, if you refuse a breath test, you will likely be arrested and lose your license for at least 180 days. This statute is found under Massachusetts General Laws 90-24(f). On the flip side, there will be less evidence to prosecute you for a DUI or OUI.

4. If you are arrested, do not make any statement to police or investigators without an experienced DUI attorney present. Contact an attorney as soon as possible.
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Massachusetts DUI cases repeatedly prove no one is immune. Retired porn star Jenna Jameson recently became the latest high-profile person arrested for DUI.

Massachusetts DUI attorneys understand that the charge that was filed in Jameson’s case was a misdemeanor. While that may not mean much to someone with Jameson’s wealth, it can have a lasting impact for the average joe – which means investing in an experienced lawyer is so important in these cases.

In fact, it can have a lasting impact for anyone. It’s worth noting most of actress Lindsey Lohan’s legal problems stem from probation violations in the wake of a pair of DUI arrests that occurred years ago.

Massachusetts DUI attorneys are paying close attention to the developments surrounding the efforts of state legislators to close a legal loophole that allows certain individuals convicted of Boston DUIs to avoid certain penalties. balance.jpg

It involves Melanie’s Law and those individuals who may have admitted to driving drunk, but are not actually found guilty according to the law. This is called being continued without finding. Those individuals may still have to preform community service or pay fines, but they aren’t technically found guilty of drunk driving.

Last week, in our Massachusetts DUI Lawyers’ Blog, we wrote about the decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled that should they be arrested again for driving drunk, those offenders who aren’t actually found guilty the first time should not be subjected to the harsher sanctions imposed by Melanie’s Law for repeat offenders.

This came after a 2010 case in which a man was arrested for his second DUI. Prosecutors attempted to have him punished under the tough penalties of Melanie’s Law. But the issue was that following his 1997 arrest for DUI, he admitted to a “sufficient facts for a finding of guilty.” The key here is that he never actually pleaded guilty, nor was he found guilty by the court.

In some cases, judges have allowed defendants to admit there is enough evidence to convict, but then the judge will continue the case without finding. Generally, this happens when judges believe the person isn’t going to re-offend. It’s a break, in other words, and one an experienced Massachusetts DUI defense lawyer can sometimes negotiate.

Those individuals are likely to agree to undergo substance abuse counseling or some other form of treatment.

So when he appealed those increased penalties, the court sided with him, saying legislators did not specifically say in the language of the law whether those in his situation should be deemed a repeat offender. It calls into question the whole meaning of the word, “convicted.”

That brings us to today. The implications of this ruling are that some penalties for certain repeat offenders could be lifted.

However, state legislators are trying to prevent this from happening. They want to introduce language into the law that would include this subset of DUI offenders, and effectively close the loophole.

They may in fact be successful in this, so what that means is that if you fall into this subset, you need to contact an experienced Attleboro DUI attorney who may be able to help you appeal your case, based on this new ruling.

According to The Boston Globe, this ruling could impact thousands of cases annually. In fact, between just 2008 and 2011, officials with the state’s Registry of Motor Vehicles say there are about 33,000 cases that were continued without a finding.

That means that the RMV doesn’t count them when considering civil penalties for repeat drunk driving offenses. This would include sanctions like the length of time your license is suspended, which increases with every subsequent offense.

In order for the law to be changed, both the House and the Senate would have to vote to approve an amendment, which would then have to be signed off on by the governor.
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As a Massachusetts DUI lawyer, a frequent question surrounds the significance of statements contained in the police report. The arrest of Senator Ruggerio in Rhode Island resulted in his police report being published in the Providence Journal and provides a good opportunity to explain how I review DUI police reports.

According to the report, the officer is alerted to the car by a 911 call. If the police have the information for this witness and the witness testifies at trial, it makes for a more difficult case for the defense as the witness would probably be credited by a jury as being a neutral witness.

The officer attempted to stop Ruggerio immediately; in many Massachusetts OUI arrests, the driver will pull over immediately and there will be nothing in the report about how the car was stopped. When a police report does not mention how a driver pulled over, it is a strong point for the defense because it shows normal response in an emergency situation. One thing I look for in addition to what the officer alleges is the driving infraction that caused the stop, but how the driver responded to the emergency lights.

Police in New York are reporting that drug DUI cases are on the rise, which likely means that Massachusetts drug OUI cases are on the rise as well due to prescription drug abuse and an increased emphasis on enforcement.

The problem with this charge is that police are far behind in getting proper training to determine when someone is under the influence of drugs. Every law enforcement officer gets months of training to figure out when someone has been drinking and driving, but drugs are a different story. Drugs also stay in a person’s system longer than alcohol, making such training suspect at best.
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Consulting with an experienced Massachusetts OUI attorney is critical in cases like this because law enforcement officers sometimes get cases like these wrong. In cases where a person has used prescription drugs and driven, officers often lack the ability to properly make the determination of whether they have broken state law.

Very few officers are trained in as drug recognition experts. In fact, the group in Florida that trains officers reports that there are just over 5,000 officers certified as drug recognition experts in the world. That means that less than 1/10 of 1 percent of all officers worldwide hold this distinction.

The odds of small towns throughout Massachusetts having these experts are low. And an experienced Massachusetts Drug OUI lawyer places as much faith in these “experts” as they do in common OUI testing like field sobriety tests and breathalyzers. Much of what is used to determine OUI in Massachusetts is flawed and that can be pointed out in defense of the client.

According to the story out of New York, there were 352 arrests in 2008 in a three-county area north of New York City. The number dropped to 326 in 2010. Numbers overall are on the rise compared to 2001, when there were 145 drivers charged with the crime.

The interesting thing about the statistics is that this is such a low number of cases. The population in the three-county area is nearly 1.4 million and yet only 300 people a year face these charges. This is either because few people in this area use prescription drugs, which is unlikely, or police just don’t know how to recognize and deal with the issue.

Officers quoted in the story say they are getting more and more training to recognize drug OUI cases, but they still aren’t at the point where they can properly spot it. One officer admits that while there are breath testing devices that can provide estimates of blood alcohol levels in drivers, there is no such device for drug OUI cases.

This means that a driver who is charged with drug OUI in Massachusetts is arrested solely based on an officer’s observations. If the person has balance problems and fails a field sobriety test, the officer could blame it on drugs, but that could be a defense. What happens if there are no drugs found in the vehicle and the driver doesn’t admit to taking any drugs? How can an officer legitimately file a charge without any evidence that a drug was consumed?

These are issues that must be addressed by an experienced Massachusetts OUI lawyer. A driver cannot leave this up to chance because there are many options and defenses that a suspect can put together.
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President Barack Obama’s uncle, charged last month in Framingham, appeared amused in Framingham District Court by the number of journalists there to cover his OUI hearing, the Boston Herald reports.

Onyango Obama, 67, was arrested last month and charged with OUI after he allegedly nearly hit a police cruiser with his SUV after making a rolling stop through a stop sign. As the Massachusetts DUI Attorney Blog reported, some media outlets have asserted that Obama’s uncle is in the country illegally. When it comes to immigrants, the smart move would be to check whether a DUI conviction — either through a plea or a conviction at trial — will affect a person’s right to live in the country.
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Either way, you should aggressively fight an OUI charge in Framingham or throughout the Boston area because a conviction has many consequences beyond the court penalties.

Onyango Obama made a brief appearance recently in Framingham District Court, where his judge set a Nov. 17 pre-trial conference in the case. Neither Obama nor his attorneys would comment to the media before or after the hearing.

The Herald reports that he and a friend giggled while sitting in the front row of the court as media members assembled for the hearing. The courtroom was packed, but mainly with other defendants awaiting arraignment.

The Herald reports that Onyango Obama had a valid driver’s license and Social Security card at the time of arrest, but was in the country illegally having faced a 1992 deportation order. Immigration officials have told him to “check in” with them.

He is charged with suspicion of drunken driving; it was reported that his first call was to the White House. But one of the President’s spokesman said the call was never made. Rather, it went to his boss at Conti’s Liquors in Framingham.

While courtroom behavior and attire shouldn’t make or break a defendant’s case, it can influence how a judge treats a defendant. In this case, it appears Obama was chuckling at the thought that all those television and newspaper cameras were there to document a simple, unexciting 5-minute hearing for a DUI charge.

When the media are involved in covering a court hearing, it can put undue pressure on defendants judges and attorneys alike. It is important that defendants act and dress respectfully at all times in front of the cameras and the judge.

While the judge is called on to make decisions based on the facts and the law, they are human, too. If a defendant is acting inappropriately or in a way that tends to mock the criminal justice system or the judge, it can be bad for the defendant. While a judge can’t sentence someone to more than the law allows, they do have enough discretion to make a defendant’s life miserable.

This may not always happen, but courtroom behavior and attitude are important. A defendant should not speak in court unless their attorney advises them to speak and they should not react negatively to what prosecutors, the judge or witnesses say.

Being in court can be an emotional time. But it is best to remain calm and allow your Massachusetts DUI lawyer guide you through the process.
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