A first offense Massachusetts OUI charge and child endangerment charge was brought after a mother from Somerset was allegedly found drunk in her car with her child, The Herald News reports.

Being charged with OUI in Rehoboth is a serious, and potentially life-changing, event. Having additional charges levied by police and prosecutors can make a bad situation worse.

But it doesn’t mean you are powerless. Hiring an experienced Massachusetts OUI lawyer can have a positive impact on the outcome of your case.

In some cases, evidence seized by police can be tossed out of an OUI case if procedures weren’t followed. And individual pieces of evidence, such as breath test results and field sobriety testing, may be inadmissible in some cases. A lawyer is the best way to address those facts and whether or not they belong in an OUI case.

Rehoboth police allegedly found the woman inside an unlocked vehicle in a parking lot. Police said her 3-year-old son was inside the vehicle as well.

According to a police report, the woman was passed out with blood on her face and hands, the newspaper is reporting. The car had minor front-end damage, police said, opining that the vehicle may have hit a tree or stump. The vehicle was found in a parking lot at the edge of Middlebrook Country Club’s parking lot on Pleasant Street.

When police awoke the woman, she allegedly displayed signs of intoxication. Officers spotted a bottle of vodka in the car’s front seat. Officers said it was half-empty. The woman was taken to the hospital and treated and the boy’s father was called to pick him up.

After being arraigned, Roberts was released on $2,500 cash bail and is scheduled to appear back in court in mid-December.

A child endangerment conviction can lead to a driver’s license loss for one year. In some cases, that charge and other related charges can be dropped if the defendant agrees to enter a plea to the OUI charge. But that may not be the best plan of action and taking the prosecutor’s first plea offer may not serve the defendant well, either.

In Massachusetts, in order to be found guilty of OUI, the prosecution must prove the three elements of the crime — that the defendant operated the vehicle, that the defendant did so in a public place and that while operating the person was under the influence or their blood-alcohol level was above 0.08.

Proving that a person was “operating” a vehicle can be difficult sometimes, if the person isn’t pulled over by police while driving. But the state has made it easier for the state to prove because even people whose cars are parked can be considered to be operating the vehicle.
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