The Supreme Judicial Court recently issued a decision – Commonwealth v. Gerhardt – on the admissibility of field sobriety tests for marijuana use. The decision was issued in response to four reported questions by a trial judge in Worcester Country. In its opinion, the SJC set forth guidelines regarding “the admissibility…
In a recent decision, Commonwealth v. Dayton, the Supreme Judicial Court responded to a reported question: whether, under G.L. c.276, §58A, a defendant who is charged with OUI third offense, must have three prior OUI convictions before he can be subjected to pretrial detention without bail under the statute. The background…
Detail of a ambulance light. The Supreme Judicial Court recently dealt a blow to motions to suppress in roadblock cases in Commonwealth v. Baker. In this OUI prosecution, the Appeals Court ruled that the motion judge erred in suppressing evidence of the defendant’s intoxication at a sobriety checkpoint. The basic facts were as…
In a decision recently issued by the Appeals Court – Commonwealth v. Palacios – the Court held that ambulance records are admissible under G. L. c. 233, § 79G, which governs the admissibility of hospital records. Therefore, the Court held that the trial judge’s decision to admit such records was not…
The Supreme Judicial Court recently issued a decision in a case addressed in this blog earlier this year: Commonwealth v. Neary-French. In its decision, the SJC held that a defendant does not have a right to counsel under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, or art. 12…
White wine bottle in an ice bucket, macro close up with copy space According to an article in the MetroWest Daily News, a Framingham woman who was recently arrested for operating under the influence sang to the officers that arrested her. The article states that the police reportedly found the…
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA According to an article in the MetroWest Daily News, a man involved in a car crash on Route 9 in Southborough fled the scene after he was pulled out of his smoking car. The article states that the driver rolled his car during the course of the…
According to an article in the MetroWest Daily News, a man was recently arrested following a car accident on Winthrop Street in Framingham. The article states that several people flagged a Framingham police officer down and told him there was a serious crash. The officer proceeded to the location of…
According to an article in the MetroWest Daily News, a Worcester man was recently arrested for various driving offenses because he admitted to officers that he had been smoking marijuana while operating his car. This past Wednesday, several officers were working on a detail on Union Avenue in Framingham when…
According to an article in the Berkshire Eagle, the Supreme Judicial Court is scheduled to hear argument in a Berkshire OUI case – Commonwealth v. Neary French – that may impact the way drunk driving cases are prosecuted across the entire state. The facts of the case are as follows:…