Massachusetts DUI Attorney Blog

A Massachusetts second or subsequent offense DUI/OUI charge requires the Commonwealth to proceed in a two step fashion. First, the Commonwealth must prevail at the trial of the underlying OUI offense. Once the Commonwealth obtains a convictions, the next issue is for the judge or jury to determine whether the Commonwealth can prove the number of prior offenses. At the trial on the underlying offense, if a jury trial, the jury does not know that a defendant has a second or subsequent offense OUI conviction.

Generally, the trial of the number of prior offenses is resolved through a bench trial. At the trial, the Commonwealth must offer a certified conviction of the prior offenses, the docket sheet and any entry of appearance by an attorney. The Commonwealth may also try to prove a prior offense by relying on probation records of conviction.

The documents used to prove a prior Massachusetts OUI conviction must match the defendant by indicating the same biographical information and identifying information. Massachusetts OUI law Section 24 provides that the prosecutor can prove a prior conviction by either attested copies of the original court papers, or certified copies of the defendant's biographical data and informational data from the department of probation, any jail or house of correction or the registry.

In a case regarding subsequent offense DUI convictions from the State of Montana, State v. Blue, the Montana Supreme Court rejected a defendant's argument that because the state reduced his prior third offense DUI to a second offense DUI, the state was precluded from now convicting him of a Fourth offense without first obtaining a conviction on a third offense. The court held that the defendant got the benefit of a reduction in offense level on his third offense, but that did not preclude the State from later prosecuting based on his number of prior offenses in his criminal record.

In Massachusetts, prosecutors will sometimes reduce a charge to a lower offense level. If faced with a similar case, a Massachusetts court would likely not preclude the Government from prosecuting based on the actual offense level even though a defendant received the benefit of a prior reduction. With any agreement to reduce an offense level, for purposes of license suspension, the Registry suspends based on its own records of prior offenses and will not be bound by a court reduction in offense level for the purposes of a Massachusetts license suspension for DUI.