Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Troopers will be looking for individuals driving under the influence of alcohol on Saturday, Dec. 8 into Sunday, Dec. 9.
Massachusetts State Police will be on the lookout for drunk drivers in Suffolk County this weekend. State troopers will operate a sobriety checkpoint from Saturday, Dec. 8 into Sunday, Dec. 9, according to a press release issued Tuesday. "The purpose is to further educate the motoring public and strengthen the public’s awareness to the need of detecting and removing those motorists who operate under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs from our roadways," Colonel Timothy P. Alben, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, said in the press release. "It will be operated during varied hours, the selection of vehicles will not be arbitrary, safety will be assured, and any inconveniences to motorists will be minimized with advance …
Friday, July 20, 2012
New law treats cases continued without a finding as convictions.
The governor has signed a bill toughening the state's repeat drunken-driver statute, better known as "Melanie's Law." And it happened fast—Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill closing a "loophole" in the law less than two months after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the statute did not apply to people who had their cases continued without a finding. Melanie's Law passed in 2005. It stiffened drunken-driving penalties by requiring an offender's license to be suspended for three years on a second offense. The law was named after 13-year-old Melanie Powell, who was killed by a repeat drunken driver as she crossed a street in Marshfield in 2003. The law, however, did not apply to those who admitted to sufficient facts of the crime but had …
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Proposed measures would stiffen penalties for repeat offenders.
If all goes as Senate and House leaders expect, the state will have tougher law against drunken drivers this summer. The two chambers are both pursuing separate means to the same end, which is closing the so-called "loophole" in Melanie's Law, which was passed in 2005 to stiffen penalties for driving under the influence. It's named after 13-year-old Melanie Powell, who was killed by a repeat drunken driver as she crossed a street in Marshfield in 2003. While the current law calls for an offender's license to be suspended for three years on a second offense, it does not count cases that are continued without a finding (CWOF) as an offense. In those cases, a defendant will admit to committing the crime but the charge against him or her will…
Monday, May 21, 2012
O'Flaherty, Clark and Coakley aim to blunt the impact of SJC's ruling.
According to Massachusetts law, a driver convicted with drunk driving five times loses his license for life—and Charlestown State Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty would like it to stay that way. The standard recently shifted as a result of a Supreme Judicial Court ruling that said that a “continuance without finding” doesn’t count as a conviction. That’s how courts record the verdict for most first time offenders who attend an educational program in lieu of the prescribed one-year suspension. According to the Boston Herald, the ruling “could mean more than 30,000 court cases since 2008 would no longer be considered a ‘first offense’ for license suspension purposes by the Registry of Motor Vehicles.” But O’Flaherty, in cooperation with Attorney …
Michael Dwyer
3:06 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012
If it saves one life.it will be worth it. just think how many hit and runs has there been this year alone .If you run. you have something to hide. Drunk maybe? Mike Dwyer. more ›