Maine’s Move Over Law: Safety for Police Officers and Safety for You By: Maine Criminal Defense Attorney Katherine M. Campbell It is well known that when you see an emergency vehicle driving up behind you with its lights or siren activated, you pull over. But one important law that many…
Articles Posted in Criminal Defense
First Offense OUI Penalties Maine – License Suspension
You’ve been stopped and arrested for Operating Under the Influence of alcohol (OUI/DUI/DWI). You posted bail, and now you’re home. You’re terrified and have no idea where things go from here. All you did was drive your motor vehicle! You cannot believe you got a first offense DUI in Maine.…
OUI Under 21 Years of Age – Saco and Portland ME Criminal Lawyer
By Saco ME and Portland ME OUI Super Lawyer John S. Webb With Over 25 Years of Courtroom Experience – Offering a Free Lawyer Consultation Under Maine Title 28-A, possession, consumption, or purchase of alcohol by a minor under 21 years old can cost up to $400 in fines (assuming…
DUI Marijuana Laws in Maine
Even if you are not stoned, you can lose your license in Maine if you are convicted of DUI marijuana, also known as DUI weed. Maine drug law says that if there is probable cause to believe you are under the influence of some drug, and you show a positive…
Breath test is a search, but so what?
When I last wrote I discussed whether a warrant was needed for a breath test. I argued that a warrant was needed based on previous Supreme Court cases. I was happy that one judge agreed with me. Well, a couple of weeks ago the Supreme Court decided North Dakota v.…
A Breath Test is a Search
In 2013 the Supreme Court held in Missouri v. McNeely, 133 S.Ct. 1552 (2013), that a blood draw is a search requiring a warrant or a warrant exception. Since then I’ve been arguing that the same logic applies to a breath test. I based this argument on Skinner v.…
Maine DUI Seminar – Defense training
The Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is putting on a seminar to train lawyers to defend DUI cases. It will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, Freeport, Maine, on August 22, 2014. (In Maine that is OUI – Operating Under the Influence.) I have the honor to be…
Federal Drug Sentences Lowered
The United States has the sorry distinction of locking up a higher percentage of its citizens than any other country. It is not that Americans break the law more than people in other countries. We don’t. The problem lies with the idea that putting people in prison is the cure…
Is a DUI Breath Test an Illegal Search?
In DUI cases police routinely order people to take breath tests. For years no one gave much thought to whether such orders are legal. The 2013 case of Missouri v. McNeely may be changing that situation. In McNeely the Supreme Court held that a warrant was required before a blood…
Supreme Court case is changing DUI defense
A little more than a year ago the United States Supreme Court decided a case that is having a significant effect on DUI cases around the country. In April, 2013, the Court decided the case of Missouri v. McNeely, 133 S.Ct. 1552, 185 L.Ed.2d 696 (2013). This post, and several…