Knowing Your Rights in Boston

With Offices in Hingham, Quincy, and Plymouth

While an arrest can be scary and unnerving, it is important to remember that you have rights. Police do not have unlimited power, though it can feel that way sometimes. If you have been arrested or are facing a criminal conviction, get the help of an aggressive Boston criminal defense lawyer on your side. By hiring Jack Diamond Law Offices, you have an advocate to help you protect your rights effectively.

Call (617) 925-6772 today or contact us online to schedule your free initial case evaluation with Jack Diamond Law Offices.

Your Rights in an Arrest

Following an arrest, it is important to remember that everything you say and do can and will be used against you in a court of law. The moment an arresting officer makes observations of your vehicle in traffic, they begin to formulate evidence to later be used against you. Simply operating a motor vehicle between midnight and 3:00 a.m. provides substantial likelihood that you are traveling from a nightclub or establishment that serves liquor.

If you are arrested, remember your rights, which are:

You have the right to refuse to tell the officer where you are coming from.
You have the right to refuse to tell the officer if and what you were drinking.
You have the right to refuse to get out of your vehicle in routine traffic stops.
You have the right to refuse to perform field sobriety tests roadside after you've been stopped by the police.
You have the right to refuse a breathalyzer test at the police station after you have been booked for OUI.
You have the right to request to be released from the police station as quickly as possible in order to have your own private blood test performed by a doctor of your choosing.

Identifying Drunk Driving

Police officers receive training to identify potential drunk drivers by the way they drive, such as by crossing marked lanes, weaving, and ignoring traffic control devices, especially between the hours of midnight and 3:00 a.m.

If a police officer approaches your vehicle and detects an odor of alcohol, you become a prime suspect for an OUI arrest. Everything you say from this point on will likely end up in a police report to be used against you in court. These include statements about where you are coming from, where you are going to, how much you had to drink, what you were drinking, when you had your last drink and how you are feeling.

Your Constitutional Rights

The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution allow you to decline from providing evidence against yourself. By exercising those rights, you greatly protect yourself in an OUI arrest. However, if you choose to exercise these rights, you are more likely to be arrested.

Once you have been pulled over and suspected of drunk driving, the officer has two options:

Place you under arrest for OUI
Issue a ticket for a motor vehicle infraction and allow you to continue driving, knowing you've been drinking

By politely declining to tell the officer where you're coming from and how much you've had to drink, you will not have admitted to consuming alcohol prior to driving your car. By politely declining to perform field sobriety tests, you will have eliminated the arresting officer's ability to testify about his training and experience with the standardized field sobriety tests, as well as your failing those tests.

Call Jack Diamond Law Offices before speaking with police officers. Schedule your free initial consultation by calling (617) 925-6772 or contacting us online.

The Problem with Sobriety Tests

Failing a field sobriety test almost always results in an arrest for OUI, and a police officer’s testimony about your failure of the test is usually the most damaging evidence against you in your drunk driving case. Most jurors do not realize that tests can be as much as 35% unreliable and that they are further unreliable if the tests are not given in strict accordance with the designed criteria.

You Are Not a Villain

OUI is probably the one crime most likely committed by non-criminals. While most police officers are professional and sympathetic in dealing with OUI suspects, they must observe their duty in upholding public safety during their investigation, especially after detecting the odor of alcohol. Do not mistake an officer’s joking with you to mean they are not investigating your case and gathering evidence to make an arrest.

Many people let their guard down and disclose more than they should, thinking friendly police officers might help them out of the situation. These people are often dismayed to later find their comments and admissions in the police report being used against them by a prosecutor. By politely and respectfully exercising your rights as listed above, you put yourself in a much stronger position to win your case when you get to court.