Articles Posted in OUI and Motor Vehicle

A Massachusetts OUI suspension rarely has to mean the loss of a job. The statutes allow a hardship license, limited to an identical 12 hour period each day, for most drivers who resolve their cases, and the timing depends entirely on how the suspension arose. This page sets out the rules the statutes fix and…

Most first offense OUI cases in Massachusetts end in the same place: a disposition under M.G.L. c. 90, § 24D, known as the first offender program or the 24D disposition. Under the disposition, the driver accepts probation and an education program in exchange for a short license suspension and, in most cases, no conviction. This…

Not every Massachusetts OUI case begins with an arrest. When a driver is identified after a collision, interviewed at a hospital, or found beside a parked vehicle and sent home, the charge often arrives days later as a citation in the mail. That difference changes the first stage of the case entirely. A driver charged…

Massachusetts defines operating a motor vehicle broadly. Commonwealth v. Wurtzberger (2025) holds that turning the key to power the radio, with the engine off, can prove operation for an OUI. Here is how the operation element works and how the defense meets it.

By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | 30 Years Massachusetts Criminal Defense Drivers are often surprised to learn that a state line does not keep a case in one place from suspending a license in another. A Massachusetts case can suspend your license in another state, and an out-of-state case can suspend…

A business owner from New Jersey came to this office with two problems at the same time: an outstanding Massachusetts warrant and a pending charge of operating under the influence. He lived and worked out of state, and any return to Massachusetts carried real risk while the warrant remained open. The office moved to remove…

By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | 30 Years Massachusetts Criminal Defense For nearly eight years, from June 1, 2011 to April 18, 2019, the breath test numbers offered in Massachusetts OUI courtrooms could not be trusted, and the courts eventually said so. Roughly 27,000 defendants were notified that their cases rested…

By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | 30 Years Massachusetts Criminal Defense Massachusetts approved cannabis lounges, and the first ones are preparing to open. On December 11, 2025, the Cannabis Control Commission adopted final social consumption regulations, and they took effect on January 2, 2026. Municipalities are deciding whether to opt in,…

The statutory and regulatory requirements for Massachusetts breath test evidence, the Camblin and Hallinan decisions, and how the defense uses the testing file.

How the field sobriety opinion is examined at trial: the NHTSA manual, the instruction phase, the clue rules, the unvalidated add-on tests, and the limits on what an officer may say.