Massachusetts DUI Attorney Blog

A Massachusetts OUI child endangerment charge was brought against a Framingham man, Ronival D. Pires, after the police allege that he was under the influence while driving with his two year old daughter. Based on the news account, it appears that the police were called because his daughter was left in the back seat while Pires was in a convenient store. The news account does not indicate that the police observed any erratic driving, but that the car was stopped because the child was not in a car seat.

Police allege that Pires failed field sobriety tests at the scene. In this case, the police officer based his decision to arrest Pires on his apparent failure to perform field sobriety tests and an odor of alcohol. Generally, when an OUI arrest is made based almost entirely on field sobriety tests, a motorist has a strong case for trial. According to the news account, there is no evidence of erratic driving. Accordingly, a Massachusetts DUI lawyer will have an opportunity on cross examination at a trial to point out the numerous driving clues that drunk drivers display while driving and point out to the jury in this case there were no such clues. When there is no evidence of erratic driving, a DUI lawyer can present a strong defense that if the motorist was under the influence, there would have been erratic and unsafe driving.

The charge of child endangerment carries a severe penalty upon conviction. The statute imposes an additional one year license loss. The OUI child endangerment statute was added to Massachusetts OUI law as part of Melanie's Law enacted October 28, 2005. On a typical 1st Offense OUI in Massachusetts, a defendant would loss their license for 45 days.