Taps Are Open And Backlogged Drunk Driving Cases Are Pouring Into Courts

LOWELL - The taps are open and the backlogged drunken-driving cases in the Merrimack Valley and elsewhere are pouring out after a long-awaited decision on the reliability of Breathalyzer machines was issued last week.

Lowell District Court Judge Daniel Crane presided over a hearing on Thursday at which defense attorneys for 62 accused drunk drivers with arrests from 2014 forward got court dates for March and April to decide if they want to go to trial or resolve their cases with pleas.

Those cases are the tip of the ice berg for the estimated 5,000 to 10,000 drunken-driving cases statewide that have been on hold pending a decision in a larger court case, the so-called Draeger case, according to Lowell attorney Greg Oberhauser, a local Breathalyzer expert.

District courts across the state will be forced to make room on already crowded dockets for these cases, Oberhauser said.

A group of private attorneys, including Oberhauser, and public defenders challenged the validity of breath-test machines used by police prior to 2014 when calibration protocols were instituted by State Police.

In his ruling last week, Concord District Court Judge Robert Brennan acknowledged that Breathalyzer results between 2012 and 2014 may be flawed due to faulty machine calibrations.

Oberhauser estimated about 20,000 drunk driving cases prior to 2014 may be impacted.

Defense attorneys and district attorneys still need to decide how to deal with those cases, Oberhauser said.

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