Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

This summer has seen a high number of cases involving young children dying after being left in hot cars. In a recent highly publicized case out Georgia, a father was charged with the involuntary manslaughter of his twin one-and-a-half-year-old daughters after it was discovered that he left the children in…

Up to 1000 DUI cases in Philadelphia may be impacted by a faulty breath test machine that was not properly calibrated.  What happened in Philadelphia is that an expired solution was used to calibrate the breath test machine.  This error was discovered by a DUI Lawyer likely in preparing one…

The Massachusetts SJC rule on July 1, 2016 that a juvenile can be required to stand trial as an adult for involuntary manslaughter in a case that has drawn national attention, as the juvenile defendant is charged with encouraging another juvenile to commit suicide through text messages.  Text messages were…

A New York woman was not read her Miranda rights prior to a 45 minute, unrecorded interview with police after her husband’s kayak capsized in the Hudson river, resulting in his death.  A police investigator claims that Angelika Graswald told him that she took her fiance’s paddle after he capsized…

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that states cannot make it a crime for a drunken driving suspect to refuse to take a blood test but can criminalize the refusal to take breath tests to determine alcohol levels.  The ruling will affect laws in 11 states.  The justices ruled…

The Statewide challenge to the accuracy of the breath test machine used in Massachusetts took a positive turn for the defense with a ruling from Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice Botsford. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that defendants in a set of cases should be provided access to breathalyzer instruments…

The Connecticut State Supreme Court has upheld the abolishment of the death penalty, including for death-row inmates in the re-examination of the case of State v. Santiago.  Last August, the Court held that the death penalty was unconstitutional following the legislature’s abolition of capital punishment three years ago. The legislature…

What happens if the Commonwealth loses evidence in a case, like your booking video in an OUI arrest?  A recent case provides new answers to this question.  Although this is not a drunk driving case, attorneys can use the reasoning in this case to advocate in upcoming cases. In Commonwealth…

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court heard oral arguments in the case of Neary-French v. Massachusetts last week to decide the question of whether a defendant should be advised of his or her right to counsel prior to making the decision of whether or not to submit to a breathalyzer test. The 2003…

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice Botsford heard oral argument today relating to the Statewide challenge to the Alcotest breath test machine used to prosecute drunk driving cases in Massachusetts.  She heard appeals in the two challenge to the breath test source code, one arising from the Concord District Court and…