On holidays, it’s typical for people to celebrate with alcohol—especially on holidays like Halloween, New Year’s Eve, or St. Patrick’s Day, when drinking and partying are integral to many people’s celebrations. This means that holidays like Halloween see a sharp increase in OUI arrests and subsequent OUI charges. If you ever get arrested for an OUI on Halloween, here’s what you should expect.
What’s Different About Getting Arrested for an OUI on Halloween?
Expect delays throughout the entire process. On a holiday like Halloween, your local police station will be much busier than usual, which can make getting booked take a lot longer than it otherwise would. When you get an OUI on Halloween, expect to spend a while at the station.
What’s Different About the Legal Process?
Halloween also marks the beginning of the holiday season as people begin to prepare for major holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s. During the holiday season, crimes of all types will spike. This means that the entire legal process will take longer because the court will be processing more charges and scheduling more hearings than they do during the rest of the year.
While it’s true that those charged with crimes are entitled to a hearing within a certain period of time following the arrest, the number of days between your arrest and the deadline for your hearing doesn’t include weekends or holidays. So, during the holiday season, that window can be extended by the higher number of days off.
What’s Different About Finding an Attorney?
Additionally, you may have greater than typical difficulty finding a qualified OUI lawyer with availability to take your case due to the increased number of OUIs and other arrests. It’s important to take action immediately after being arrested for an OUI; seek out a lawyer as soon as you can. Not only will this help you ensure you’re being represented by a good attorney who can successfully combat OUI charges, it will also mean that you’ll have a professional to guide you through the entire legal process.
With over 25 years of experience fighting OUI charges, Attorney James Milligan is one of the top OUI lawyers in Massachusetts. His practice is dedicated solely to defending against drunk driving charges, which has earned him the distinction of being one of the very few OUI defense lawyers who is board certified in drunk driving defense. Attorney Milligan is a member of the National College for DUI Defense (NCDD), the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), and the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (MACDL). He is also the chair of the Massachusetts continuing legal education courses on handling OUI cases and has lectured other Massachusetts lawyers on how to best defend clients charged with drunk driving.
If you’re interested in working with an OUI defense lawyer who has a proven track record of beating OUI charges, get in touch with Attorney Milligan today to schedule your free consultation.
