A first OUI in Massachusetts: what it can result in

Massachusetts writes the first OUI as one broad band rather than a graded floor: a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $5,000, or imprisonment for not more than two and a half years, or both. There is no mandatory minimum in the sentence itself. What is mandatory sits beside it. A $250 assessment goes to the Head Injury Treatment Services Trust Fund and the statute says it shall not be subject to reduction or waiver by the court for any reason. A second $50 assessment goes to the Victims of Drunk Driving Trust Fund and likewise cannot be waived. Both attach not only on conviction but also on probation, on a continuance without a finding, and on an admission to sufficient facts — which is to say they attach on the dispositions first offenders usually take, including the alternative disposition the same section cross-references at § 24D.

Start from what the statute forces and what it leaves to the judge. The floor here is up to two and a half years. Everything above that floor is argued, and the same conviction can end up served in custody, on work release or as a condition of probation depending on the county and the judge. What no one can promise you is a sentence below the statutory minimum — that is not a question of persuasion.

Misdemeanor: up to two and a half years, and a fine of $500 to $5,000. The range is set by Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 24(1)(a)(1); § 24D, and the figures on this page come from the statute rather than from a summary of it.

Massachusetts marks the license itself — "HT" for a hardship license with interlock, "T" for interlock alone — expressly so that officers can identify these drivers at a stop. The program came out of Melanie’s Law in 2005 and is run by the Driver Control Unit of the RMV. The device requirement and the criminal penalty are separate tracks: one is handled by the court, the other by Massachusetts RMV, Driver Control Unit.