An OUI/DUI charge in Massachusetts generally beings with a police officer stopping your car for an alleged traffic violation. Your first line of defense in an OUI/DUI case is to challenge the basis of the stop.

The arresting officer will generally observe a traffic infraction and state that as the basis for your car being stopped. Common traffic violations that officers use to justify OUI stops are:

• Weaving
• crossing the center line
• crossing the fog line
• turning too wide
• almost striking an object
• driving below the speed limit.

Speeding and DUI: Speeding is not a clue of a driver under the influence according to the DUI Detection Manual published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Accordingly, if speeding was one or the only basis of the stop, it is not a sign of being under the influence of alcohol.

DUI Defenses to the stop: Sometimes OUI/DUI cases can be defended as the officer did not have a legitimate basis to stop your car. The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution as well as Article 14 of the Massachusetts State Constitution requires an officer to have reasonable suspicion that a criminal offense or traffic violation is occurring before an officer is permitted to pull your car over to the side of the road.

Common officer observations in DUI arrests: When a police officer approaches a driver he suspects is under the influence, the officer attempt to detect if an odor of alcohol is present, if the motorist is slurring their speech and if the motorist’s eyes appear to be bloodshot and glassy. The officer will ask for the license and registration. While this seems like a routine task, the officer is evaluating how the motorist obtains the license and registration in determining whether a suspect is under the influence of alcohol. The officer generally looks to determine whether the driver remembers to produce both documents or fumbles or has difficulty gathering the documents without dropping them.

Significance of Field Sobriety Tests: Field sobriety tests are subjective, unreliable and often unfairly administered. The officer’s conclusion that you failed field sobriety tests is not the final word and many not guilty verdicts in OUI trials are a result of a skillful cross examination demonstrating that the field sobriety tests were given under unfair conditions, designed for failure and unfairly scored.

Common field sobriety tests:

• Nine Step walk and turn
• One leg Stand
• Horizontal Gaze test or officer eye examination.

Typically field sobriety tests consist of stating the alphabet, a nine step walk and turn test, a one leg stand balancing test, a horizontal gaze test and sometimes a test requiring the driver to touch their finger to their nose. While the officer will conclude that you failed these field sobriety tests if you were arrested, your case can be successfully defended.

Flaws with Field Sobriety tests: There are a number of flaws with field sobriety tests, including the fact that some cannot do these tests under any condition, medical problems can impact the results, nervousness, poor conditions on the side of the road and the failure of the officer to administer the field sobriety tests correctly. Given the numerous problems with the accuracy, fairness and reliability of field sobriety tests, OUI cases often can be won through a skillful cross examination of the arresting officer on the reliability of these tests at trial.