There is a widespread misconception among those charged with DUI in Massachusetts that the court’s treatment of a Mass. OUI offense will determine the length of the resulting Massachusetts license suspension. For example, many clients, and even some lawyers, mistakenly believe that if an individual who has multiple DUI convictions is charged as first offender, the Registry will treat him as such. This is absolutely not true. Some also believe that, because the Registry is not bound by the court’s treatment of a particular OUI case, the Registry had discretion and it can do whatever it wants regarding an OUI offense. This is also untrue.
With respect to DUI license suspensions, the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles is bound by the law. The Mass. OUI Law requires the RMV to suspend 2nd offenders for 2 years, 3rd offenders for 8 years, 4th offenders for 10 years, and 5th offenders for life. DUI Second Offenders are eligible for consideration for a hardship license after 1 year, 3rd offenders are eligible after serving 2 years, 4th offenders are eligible after serving 5 years, and 5th offenders are not technically eligible to be considered for hardship licensing. However, in some cases, it is possible for a 5th offender to receive hardship consideration from the Massachusetts Board of Appeal.
The OUI license suspensions listed above are mandatory and no judge or court can reduce or eliminate them. Under Melanie’s Law, there is a lifetime lookback period when counting prior OUI offenses and offenses committed anywhere in the world count. Also, it does not matter that the prosecution was unable to prove a previous conviction in the criminal case. The Registry will likely still be able to count this against the driver when calculating the length of the OUI suspension.
In addition to the above-listed OUI suspensions, if there was a breathalyzer refusal, the Registry will impose an additional Chemical Test Refusal Suspension. DUI First Offenders are suspended for 180 days, 2nd offenders are suspended for 3 years, 3rd offenders are suspended for 5 years, and 4th offenders who refuse the breathalyzer are suspended for life. Anyone facing a breathalyzer refusalsuspension has a right to challenge the suspension. However, appeals regarding the validity of the CTR suspension must be filed within 15 days of the suspension date.
Those arrested for OUI in Massachusetts should understand these suspensions and not be lured into thinking that because the driver was only charged with a first offense DUI, or a charge was reduced to a lesser DUI, that he or she will get a reduced DUI license suspension. It will not happen. The Mass. RMV will suspend the driver’s license based on his driving record and the law. The Registry will show no lieniency, as the suspension is governed by law.
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