An Act to Ensure the Ability to Prosecute Repeat OUI Offenses

Lead Sponsor: Representative David M. Rogers

Impetus

People should not be haunted by past mistakes when they have gone on to lead law-abiding lives.  To that end, recent criminal justice reform measures have made it easier to seal a conviction so that it does not prevent an otherwise law-abiding person from obtaining housing, employment, or other opportunities.  At the same time, however, repeat drunk drivers pose a continuing danger to everyone in our communities, and a sealed OUI conviction can prevent the Commonwealth from holding accountable those who repeatedly endanger others by driving under the influence.  In recent years the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office has seen several cases where a defendant who should have been charged with a third or even fourth OUI could only be prosecuted for a first offense.  This legislation seeks to strike a balance between the need for second chances and ensuring that Massachusetts roads are safe for all by appropriately prosecuting repeat OUI offenders. An OUI conviction may still be sealed, and so long as the mistake is not repeated it will not haunt the person convicted.  However, the proposed legislation amends the OUI statute to make clear that a sealed prior OUI conviction may be admitted in a subsequent OUI prosecution.

Need

Under current law, there is no mechanism by which a sealed conviction can be admitted in evidence in a subsequent offense prosecution.  This legislation addresses that problem.  Rather than amend the sealing statute (G.L. c. 276, § 100A) to prevent sealing an OUI conviction (which would leave that conviction visible on a person’s record for all purposes), this legislation amends the OUI statute (G.L. c. 90, § 24) so that it expressly allows the admission of a sealed prior OUI in a subsequent-offense prosecution.