There have been several recent court decisions in Massachusetts OUI Law that deserve special attention. Please contact Stephen Jones, your Massachusetts OUI Lawyer, to learn how these decisions affect your case.

Search and Seizure

Reasonable Suspicion to Stop

Commonwealth v. Love

56 Mass.App.Ct. 229 (2002)

A citizen witness who presented himself in person to the police and was readily identifiable is afforded more reliability than an anonymous informant.

An unidentified individual (the "tipster") stopped at the State Police barracks to report witnessing an erratic driver. The desk trooper did not get the tipster's name but did record the registration number of his car and was later able to determine his identity. Based on the information that the tipster provided the defendant was arrested for OUI 3rd offense.

The trooper who arrested the defendant did not independently observe him do anything that would give rise to a motor vehicle stop - the stop was based solely on the information provided by the tipster. A stop based solely on a tip must satisfy a two-prong test: (1) Did the tipster have a basis of knowledge; and (2) Is the tipster reliable? In this case, the tipster's basis of knowledge was not an issue because he obtained his information through personal observation. The Appeals Court was faced with determining reliability: whether an unidentified tipster who makes an in-person report should be afforded more reliability than an anonymous informant. The Court noted the tipster "placed his anonymity at risk" by contacting the police in person and getting out of a car whose license plate was visible to the desk officer, thus making his identity traceable. The fact that the tipster was "readily identifiable" heightened his reliability, thus satisfying the reliability prong.

Contact your MA OUI Lawyer to learn more about how these OUI Case decisions affect you.