Massachusetts OUI Roadblocks or Sobriety Checkpoint Arrests

KEY POINT : Massachusetts OUI arrests at Roadblocks are difficult case for the Commonwealth to prove at trial and often result in not guilty verdicts at trial. Do not resolve a roadblock case without speaking to an experienced Massachusetts OUI lawyer. Attorney DelSignore has successfully defended OUI roadblock cases resulting in not guilty verdicts.

Three reasons why you should fight your OUI ROADBLOCK CASE:

1. Since you were stopped at a roadblock, there is generally no evidence of erratic driving to show that your driving was impaired by alcohol.
2. In most cases, even after the police officer directs you for additional screening, the officer allows you to drive into the screening area, indicating that the officer was unsure as to whether you were under the influence of alcohol.
3. Roadblock cases typically rely heavily on the results of field sobriety tests, which are unreliable and do not provide an accurate indication of whether someone is under the influence of alcohol.

Massachusetts State police are aggressively using DUI Roadblocks as a method of enforcing Massachusetts OUI laws. A DUI roadblock is when the police stop every vehicle at a fixed point. An initial screening officer will then approach your car and greet you with a greeting such as this is a State police roadblock, sorry for the inconvenience. The officer while speaking to you is looking to see if your eyes are blood shot and glassy, they can smell an odor of alcohol on your breath or any other signs of drunk driving such as open containers of alcohol.

Many officers will attempt to obtain admission of drinking. Since the initial greeting at a roadblock must be brief and according to the State police plan, a Massachusetts DUI lawyer can attempt to have the evidence from the stop suppressed based on the initial screening officer, deviating from the State police plan by prolonging the initial contact to inquire into whether the motorist has been drinking.

If the initial screening officer finds reasonable suspicion that you are operating under the influence, the officer will direct you to a screening area. At this screening area, the officer will generally request a motorist to perform field sobriety tests and ask a motorist to submit to a preliminary breathalyzer test in most cases. A motorist is under no obligation to submit to field sobriety tests or to take any preliminary breathalyzer test.

A Massachusetts OUI arrest at a State police roadblock requires the Commonwealth to prove that the roadblock complied with a State police plan and DUI law set forth by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court regulating roadblocks. In the case of Commonwealth v. McGeoghegan, 389 Mass. 137 (1983) and Commonwealth v. Trumble, 396 Mass. 81, 92 (1985), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court set forth the following requirement to constitute a legally established roadblock or sobriety checkpoint under Massachusetts OUI laws.

• First, the selection of car to be stopped must not be arbitrary;
• Safety must be assured
• Motorist inconvenience minimized
• And the roadblock must be conducted according to a plan devised by law enforcement supervisory personnel.
• Advanced public notice of the roadblock

In defending a DUI roadblock arrest, the Commonwealth has the burden of proving each of the above requirements. In most cases involving a roadblock stop, a Massachusetts DUI attorney will set the case down for a motion to suppress hearing. At this hearing, the Commonwealth will have the burden of proving that the roadblock complied with the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. Click here to read more about defending Massachusetts DUI roadblock arrests.

If you are stopped at an OUI-DUI roadblock in Massachusetts, call Attorney DelSignore immediately.

Special Report DEFENSE TO Massachusetts OUI ROADBLOCK ARRESTS