OUI
Protecting Your Liberty and Preserving Your Right to Operate a Vehicle
I have 40 years of hands-on courtroom experience fighting for individuals charged with operating while impaired. Call it OUI, DWI or operating under the influence but Massachusetts has not yet outlawed drinking and driving. It is illegal, and irresponsible, to operate a motor vehicle on a public road when your ability to drive safely has been impaired by too much alcohol. The real question is whether you were actually impaired at the time you were stopped. Police officers have an obligation to arrest anyone they think may, even remotely, be driving their car while impaired. It is up to a jury to make a final decision based upon evidence adduced in court to determine whether an offense has occurred. Even if you elect to not go to trial we can help minimize the future consequences of a conviction.
Having a drunk driving defense lawyer knowledgeable in this area is essential. Your income and liberty are at stake. Call us today for a free initial case evaluation.
Having a drunk driving defense lawyer knowledgeable in this area is essential. Your income and liberty are at stake. Whether you should enter into a “plea bargain” or go to trial before a jury is a complicated decision that can only be made, in an intelligent fashion, after all of the facts leading up to arrest have be discovered and analyzed.
Drunk Driving Defense
If you have been arrested an charge with an OUI offense you are not guilty until a prosecutor convinces six jurors you were impaired and could not drive safely BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT. Not “maybe.” Not “possibly”.
BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT!
You have Constitutional rights when you go to trial. You do not have to testify. A judge will tell the jurors not to hold your silence against you.
In Massachusetts a person is presumed guilty of “driving under” if they have a blood alcohol level of .08 on a breath test reading or an officer testifies to extreme physical impairment. On conviction, even for a first offense, a person can be fined, sentenced to up to 2 ½ years in jail and can lose their drivers license for up to one year. First offenders may be able to recover limited (12 hour per day) driving privileges within a few weeks but subsequent offenders will not be able to obtain driving privileges so quickly. Refusing the Breathalyzer test will lead to long license suspension periods. “Alcohol education” programs may be available. Second offenses, and beyond, involve mandatory jail sentences and, after the passage of “Melanie’s Law” in October of 2005, the installation of ignition interlock devices upon the persons car upon the reinstatement of their license. Convictions can also lead to mandatory insurance surcharges for years to come.
Don’t be afraid to fight. Arresting you and charging you is easy. Having the prosecutor prove the case Beyond A Reasonable Doubt is harder.
My office has 40 years experience fighting for the rights of those wrongfully accused.