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Driving While High – Defending Marijuana OUI in Massachusetts

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With marijuana consumption officially legal in Massachusetts, “driving while high” is the biggest concern for police under the recent legalization laws.

Has there been a big increase in incidents of operating under the influence of marijuana in Massachusetts? There is no evidence to suggest legalization causes a spike in impaired driving. A to the degree that marijuana OUI is a problem, it is probably something that has already been with us for some time, prior to marijuana legalization. In fact, people smoked weed and drove before it was legal. Shocking, I know.

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Police and Social Media

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Update: 7/14: more on this from AP via CBS Boston.

Update 5/18: Great story in the Globe this morning on this.  The Taunton police lieutenant who wrote the post is unapologetic, but Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal of  correctly notes that cops are effectively mocking people with mental health or substance abuse issues here.

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Should the police be cracking jokes and humiliating people they arrest via social media? That’s what happened this week in Taunton, MA.

There was a story that originated from the Taunton Police Department Facebook page about a woman charged for DUI after an accident.

taunton police facebook social medial

Ok, the lizard in the bra makes it an unusual OUI arrest story, I’ll admit

It did have the unusual angle that this woman also happened to have a lizard in her bra. This admittedly odd fact made it clickworthy, so it was picked up by local, regional and then national media. [Read more…]

Massachusetts OUI Penalties: Third, Fourth and Fifth Offenses

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Multiple offense OUI charges (3rd or greater) are felony level criminal charges and are very serious. If you are convicted of a felony drunk driving offense, there is a mandatory minimum jail sentence of 5 months. And you can expect to lose your license for many years, which is a tremendous financial hardship for many people who need to drive for their livelihood. [Read more…]

Filed Under: OUI

Worried About Your OUI? Dealing with bad circumstances in OUI cases

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Driving the wrong way down a major road like route 9 is likely to get the attention of the police. And it is not surprising to learn that this occurrence is frequently associated with the driver being drunk.

I understand you are really worried about your OUI case, especially if what happened sounds really bad. But even a horrible set of facts can result in a fairly reasonable outcome in an OUI case if no one is injured, and you have a prepared experienced defense lawyer ready to fight for you.

We have successfully gotten some great results in cases where the facts of the incident were frankly pretty bad and incriminating.
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Filed Under: OUI

Did Boston Police Commissioner’s Son Get Special Treatment from Cops?

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When it comes to police discretion, there are several factors that can go into a cop choosing whether to arrest you or send you on your way. It could be as simple as what kind of mood they are in, or whether you are respectful. But, if you are the Police Commissioner’s son, it could be as simple as giving them your name. [Read more…]