Massachusetts Cahill and Second Section 24D FAQs

The additional disposition is available once during a person’s lifetime. The additional disposition applies only to a current alcohol OUI when the person has exactly one like-offense conviction or qualifying court-ordered program assignment from any jurisdiction 10 years or more earlier. The disposition is also unavailable if the incident caused serious personal injury or death. After conviction at trial, an eligible defendant is presumed an appropriate candidate for Section 24D’s driver alcohol education and court-ordered alcohol or controlled-substance abuse treatment or rehabilitation programs. A judge who deems the defendant unsuitable must make written findings. The defendant receives no presumption of RMV hardship-license eligibility.

The 10-year period is measured from the date of the earlier conviction or qualifying court program assignment to the date the current alleged offense was committed. The dates may be exactly 10 years apart. Section 24D does not require a longer interval. The 10-year period is not measured to the date of the current arrest, arraignment, plea, or sentencing. Counsel should rely on certified records of the earlier case, because an informal description of that case may not show the correct date or disposition.

In Commonwealth v. Cahill, 442 Mass. 127 (2004), the Supreme Judicial Court decided the length of the license loss for a person who receives a valid additional Section 24D disposition. A person who was at least 21 when the current offense was committed receives the 45-to-90-day Section 24D suspension, not the ordinary two-year second-offense revocation. The Supreme Judicial Court did not hold that the disposition is automatic. The Court also did not decide any question about the separate refusal suspension, the ignition-interlock requirement, or the effect of the original prior and the additional Section 24D disposition on a later OUI prosecution.

For an ordinary second offense under G.L. c. 90, § 24, the court must impose a $600-to-$10,000 fine and a committed sentence of 60 days to two and one-half years, with at least 30 days served. Under a separate statutory alternative, the court may impose exactly two years of probation, at least 14 days in residential treatment, and outpatient counseling if the defendant consents and the court makes the required treatment, benefit, and public-safety findings. Neither the committed sentence nor the separate statutory alternative is mandatory under Section 24D. Section 24D permits probation for no more than two years and requires assignment to the applicable program.

The Section 24D suspension is 210 days if the person was under 21 at the offense. Section 24D states that a person “aged 17 to 21, inclusive,” whose blood alcohol percentage was at least .20 is assigned to the 14-day second-offender in-home program. A person may also receive a separate Section 24P suspension after an alcohol percentage of .02 or greater, or after a chemical-test refusal. The length of the Section 24P suspension, and any waiver or reduction based on a program, depend on the person’s age and history and on entry into a program authorized by Section 24P or required by Section 24D. After entry into the Section 24D program, the Registry may immediately consider hardship relief during a Section 24P suspension from the same incident.

After entering the required Section 24D program, a participant may immediately apply to the Registry of Motor Vehicles for consideration of a limited license. The Registry has discretion whether to issue the limited license. A limited license that the Registry grants is valid for the same 12-hour period each day, seven days a week. The Registry may consider the application during a refusal or Section 24P suspension from the same incident. Section 24D does not shorten the refusal or Section 24P suspension, make consecutive suspensions run concurrently, cover another incident, or guarantee that the Registry will approve the application. Supporting-document requirements appear in the Section 24D hardship-license guide.

The repeat-offender interlock statute does not apply to a person based on a qualifying prior alone. After the current Section 24D suspension and program assignment, a person with a qualifying prior must comply with G.L. c. 90, § 24½ before the Registry issues or restores the person’s license. The device must be installed in every vehicle the person owns, leases, or operates. For a multiple offender, the Registry requires the device throughout the hardship period and for two years after full reinstatement. Section 24D also permits the Registry to require an ignition interlock device as a hardship-license condition when the current blood alcohol percentage was at least .15.

The Registry imposes a three-year refusal suspension when the person has one ordinary qualifying prior. The Registry imposes the three-year refusal suspension consecutively to an additional suspension from the same incident and to any other refusal suspension. The person must request the Registry hearing within 15 days. After entry into the Section 24D program, the Registry may consider hardship relief during the refusal suspension from the same incident. Evidence of a refusal is ordinarily inadmissible at trial, but a judge may admit the refusal evidence after the defense makes a misleading claim that the defendant cooperated. Counsel may challenge the foundation of the breath-test evidence when the person consents but supplies an inadequate sample. Other refusal periods and procedures appear in the OUI license-suspension guide.

No. Section 24D may be used after an admission to sufficient facts and a continuance without a finding (CWOF), a guilty plea, or a conviction after trial. G.L. c. 90, § 24E requires a review 60 to 90 days later when the court uses the statutory CWOF procedure. Section 24E permits dismissal upon satisfactory compliance, but dismissal is not automatic. The admission and the court-ordered program assignment can remain legally significant. Related court, probation, and Registry records may also remain after dismissal. The question whether the disposition or the assignment counts against the person in a later proceeding depends on the law that governs that proceeding.

No. The additional disposition is available once during a person’s lifetime. All qualifying prior convictions and program assignments must be counted under Section 24D if the person is later convicted of another alcohol OUI. The later offense ordinarily is a third offense, not another second offense, when the original prior and the additional Section 24D disposition are properly alleged and proved. Both the earlier prior and the additional disposition remain part of the person’s OUI history under the statute.

An out-of-state prior can count for Section 24D eligibility. A conviction or court-ordered program assignment from another jurisdiction counts if it arose from a like offense under a law comparable to the Massachusetts provision. A purely administrative refusal or alcohol-related suspension is not itself a conviction or court assignment. Counsel should compare the certified disposition and foreign statute with Massachusetts law rather than relying on the foreign jurisdiction’s label.