The Out of State Driver Charged with OUI in Massachusetts

Drivers licensed in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and beyond are charged with OUI on Massachusetts roads every week: on Interstate 93 and Interstate 95 near the border towns, on the Massachusetts Turnpike, and in rental cars leaving Logan Airport. The case that follows is a Massachusetts criminal case in a Massachusetts courtroom, and the license consequences work differently than most out of state drivers expect.

The Right to Operate in Massachusetts

Massachusetts cannot suspend another state’s license. What the Registry of Motor Vehicles suspends is the right to operate a motor vehicle in the Commonwealth, and the OUI statute applies its suspension periods to that right in the same terms it applies to a Massachusetts license: 180 days for a breath test refusal with no prior history, three years for a refusal under age 21 or with a prior offense, an immediate suspension of up to 30 days on a test of .08 or greater, and the suspensions that follow a conviction or a Section 24D disposition. M.G.L. c. 90, § 24.

The home state is a separate question. Licensing agencies share information, and most states apply their own rules to their own licensees after an out of state OUI event; the rules differ from state to state, and the home state analysis belongs in the case plan from the first day.

The Court Dates From a Distance

The case is heard where the offense occurred: a Turnpike arrest in the Framingham District Court, a border stop in Woburn or Newburyport, an airport case in the East Boston Division of the Boston Municipal Court. Arraignment ordinarily requires the defendant’s presence. After arraignment, courts frequently permit counsel to cover routine pretrial dates without the client, and the schedule is managed so that travel is reserved for the dates that matter: the motions and the trial.

The Section 24D Program From Another State

A first offense resolved under M.G.L. c. 90, § 24D includes a driver alcohol education program. For an out of state driver, the practical questions are where the program is completed and whether an equivalent program near home will satisfy the court and the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Courts regularly address this at the disposition, and the answer is arranged in advance rather than assumed.

The Defense Itself

Nothing about the defense changes with the license. The stop, the exit order, the walk and turn, the one leg stand, and the Alcotest 9510 records are challenged the same way for every driver, and the trial is to a judge or a jury of six. The full treatment appears on the OUI defense page, the breathalyzer defense page, and the license suspension page. Serpa Law Office represents out of state drivers across Greater Boston and structures each case around the client’s distance. Call 617.936.0201; the phone is answered 24 hours.