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MA upholds DUI roadblocks

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Massachusetts SJC upholds DUI roadblocks, including secondary screening based on observations, under Fourth Amendment and state constitution. Commonwealth v. Murphy, 2009 Mass. LEXIS 416 (July 23, 2009); Commonwealth v. Swartz, 2009 Mass. LEXIS 417 (July 23, 2009). "We are not willing to assume that the Defendant, who was not singled out by the informant and was not observed by the officers to have been engaging in any criminal conduct, was in possession of narcotics and subject to warrantless arrest merely because he, along with three other people, was seated at a table upon which there was a dusting of cocaine residue. Because the officers lacked probable cause to believe that the Defendant had committed an offense, the search was not permissible as incident to a lawful arrest...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 27, 2009 (boomark / email).