Michael Stephen Bowser Jr.

In this video, Dean Contover and Attorney Mike Bowser -- http://www.bowserlaw.com -- discuss facts about Mike Bowser and how Bowser law was started.

In this video, Dean Contover and Attorney Mike Bowser - http://www.bowserlaw.com - discuss cannabis and medical cards, and what to do if you’re stopped by a police officer while possessing cannabis.

Dean Contover and Board Certified DUI attorney Mike Bowser of Bowser Law -- http://www.bowserlaw.com -- discuss plea deals in drunk driving cases in this video. Plea deals in drunk driving cases may sound like a good “deal,” but they can actually have more severe consequences.

In this video, Dean Contover and Attorney Mike Bowser of Bowser Law -- http://www.bowserlaw.com -- discuss the various techniques for a drug possession defense.

Dean Contover and Board Certified DUI defense attorney Mike Bowser of Bowser Law - http://www.bowserlaw.com - discuss hardship licenses and the Board of Appeal in this video. Individuals who have lost their licenses after a DUI arrest may be entitled to hardship licenses.

Dean Contover and Board Certified DUI attorney Mike Bowser of Bowser Law -- http://www.bowserlaw.com -- discuss junior licenses and the Junior Operator Law in this video.

Dean Contover and Attorney Mike Bowser of Bowser Law - http://www.bowserlaw.com - discuss what breath tests are and under what circumstances they may or may not be admissible in a New Hampshire or Massachusetts court of law.

Dean Contover and Attorney Mike Bowser of Bowser Law - http://www.bowserlaw.com - discuss what you can do when you are pulled over for a DUI, DWI, and OUI. Being pulled over by a law enforcement officer under the suspicion of a DUI, DWI, and OUI is a frightening and disconcerting experience. However, by understanding your legal options when you’re pulled over, you can keep a level head and protect your rights.

In this interview with Dean Contover of The Current Buzz, Attorney Michael Bowser of Bowser Law-- http://www.bowserlaw.com -- explains what it means to be a board certified DUI defense lawyer, and the process for getting that certification.

Not all criminal defense attorneys are the same. When you’ve been arrested, you want to be certain that you’re working with someone who has the skills and resources to help you. Hiring a Board Certified DUI defense lawyer to help you fight drunk driving charges may mean your exoneration.

Attorney Mike Bowser -- http://www.bowserlaw.com -- talks with Dean Contover of The Current Buzz on CTM TV about the issues surrounding driving under the influence of drugs in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Attorney Mike Bowser -- http://www.bowserlaw.com -- talks with Dean Contover of The Current Buzz on CTM TV about the DUI and DWI process in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Attorney Mike Bowser -- http://www.bowserlaw.com -- talks with Dean Contover of The Current Buzz on CTM TV about the difference between a DUI or DWI trial vs taking a plea deal.

DUI Attorney Michael Bowser explains sobriety check points (or road blocks) in Massachusetts, which are especially prevalent during the holiday season.

http://www.bowserlaw.com

Mike Bowser Transcript: "Hello. My name is Mike Bowser, I am a board certified DUI defense lawyer practicing in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

The holiday season is upon us, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's are all just around the corner, and I am thinking about state police roadblocks or otherwise known as sobriety checkpoints. If you are out on the roadways in this coming holiday season, whether it be Essex county, Middlesex County, Worcester County, Suffolk County, Norfolk County, any of these Eastern Mass locations where I regularly practice, you are going to see or encounter a sobriety checkpoint.

These sobriety checkpoints are conducted typically from 12:01 a.m. to 2:30 a.m., and they're usually set up at a location where there's going to be heavy traffic, a main thoroughfare like Route 16 in Chelsea, Route 38 in Tewksbury, Thorndike Street in Lowell, Route 114 in North Andover. These are all locations where I have experienced clients that have been stopped at sobriety checkpoints.

The road is blocked off so that the flow of traffic is funneled into one lane. And in that one lane, the state police are authorized to stop each and every vehicle. They will greet you with a brief encounter, "Good evening, this is a state police roadblock. Sorry for the inconvenience."

They are allowed, if they detect any indications of impairment, whether it be an odor of alcohol, slurred speech, glassy eyes, they are authorized to then direct you off of the main road onto an area designated as the pit. And there, additional officers are going to ask you to step from the vehicle to participate in field sobriety testing, a preliminary breath test, which is a handheld breath test device.

You may or may not be arrested, depending on the evidence that they derive, and you will be asked at that point to submit to a chemical test. Now, these roadblocks are very prevalent. I see them in some counties every other month at the same location. You can expect to see them throughout the holiday season, as I said, all over Eastern Massachusetts.

It's usually the state police conducting the roadblocks along with a contingent of local police, whether it be Tewksbury, Chelsea, Lowell PD, Worcester Police Department, other local police departments asked to join the state police conducting these roadblocks.

If you are stopped at a roadblock, you must know that these roadblocks and the manner in which they conducted are subject to judicial scrutiny, meaning, if you've been stopped at a roadblock, the government must justify the seizure, the stopping of your vehicle. They have to justify the arrest that flows from that seizure.

Because in this commonwealth and in this country, you have an absolute right to be left alone. And by stopping every single driver upon the roadway, we're going in the exact opposite direction. So, the courts will allow the state police to conduct a roadblock, but only if they adhere strictly to an operational plan.

The job of any qualified DUI defense lawyer is to insure that if you've been stopped, seized and arrested at a roadblock, that the state police and the local police did, in fact, conduct that roadblock, in accordance with, strictly in accordance with the operational plan, the troop commander's directive, and the division commander's directive.

Every one of my cases involving a roadblock, I file what's called a motion to suppress. And that's an evidentiary motion where I'm asking the court to make a judicial determination whether the stop of the vehicle, the manner in which that roadblock was conducted, was legal.

And quite often, when you dig through all of the details of the particular roadblock, you find that there is an instance, and many times, there are cases where they have not adhered with the plans, the operational plans that are in effect.

And if they have not, you're in a position as a defense lawyer to ask the court to order that the seizure of that vehicle, the arrest of that client, is in fact, illegal, all the evidence derived from that illegal seizure is inadmissible. And often times, the charges against a person stopped at a roadblock are dismissed.

So, if you find yourself at a roadblock during this holiday season, and if you are, unfortunately, you find yourself subject to an arrest, please be sure to call a qualified DUI defense lawyer like myself that can protect your rights. That can protect your driver's license. And hopefully, help you avoid a wrongful criminal conviction."

Drunk Driving Attorney Michael Bowser explains how the Souza v. Registrar of Motor Vehicles decision will affect Massachusetts drivers. Attorney Bowser has successfully defended hundreds of cases for clients charged with drunk driving, commonly referred to as "Operating Under the Influence" (OUI) in Massachusetts. Attorney Bowser has developed a well earned reputation for being one of the top drunk driving defense attorneys in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. http://www.bowserlaw.com/michael-bowser/

Attorney Bowser has successfully defended hundreds of cases for clients charged with drunk driving, commonly referred to as "Operating Under the Influence" (OUI) in Massachusetts. Attorney Bowser has developed a well earned reputation for being one of the top drunk driving defense attorneys in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. http://www.bowserlaw.com/michael-bowser/

Drunk Driving Attorney Michael Bowser explains the legal process for MA residents arrested for first offense OUI in MA. Attorney Bowser has successfully defended hundreds of cases for clients charged with drunk driving, commonly referred to as "Operating Under the Influence" (OUI) in Massachusetts. Attorney Bowser has developed a well earned reputation for being one of the top drunk driving defense attorneys in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. http://www.bowserlaw.com/michael-bowser/

If you're involved in an auto accident and there's been damage to your vehicle or any other part of your property you should always contact the police. First, you want to file an accident report so that there is a record of the fact that the accident did occur, and also it enables you to obtain a record that would also contain the names of the people involved, the cars, the vehicles, the registrations, the names and phone numbers of any possible witnesses. Then, if you've been injured as a result of that car accident, and quite often in automobile accidents there are what we call soft tissue injuries. Soft tissue is just another word for anything but a bone, meaning that you could have ligament, tendon, nerve, disc damage that you would not even become aware of until sometime later. It is not unusual for 24 hours or even 48 hours to pass before you really start feeling pain as a result of that injury that occurred in that automobile accident. Therefore it is also critically important that if you've been hurt you follow up and you obtain necessary, reasonable medical care. If you're hurt go see a doctor. Follow the doctor's instructions, do what they tell you. And if you are going to pursue a claim because someone else is responsible, negligent and they caused that injury, then find a qualified attorney that can help you with this automobile accident claim. Accident is a word that should not apply to these types of matters. Someone's at fault, someone caused this injury, therefore you need an attorney that can present both the legal and factual and medical issues appropriately to obtain for you a fair settlement. And if that case can't be settled, then you absolutely need to be sure that you have hired an attorney that is capable of putting this matter into court and trying the cause to a judge or a jury if necessary in order to obtain fair compensation for you and your family.

If you have been charged with a drug crime, possession, trafficking, sale of a controlled drug or narcotics, you absolutely need to hire a qualified criminal defense lawyer. The number one issue in every drug defense is how did the police, the drugs and the defendant/client come to be in the same place at the same time. The defense of these cases starts in day 1, looking at the search and seizure issues involved. Whether it's a motor vehicle stop, a search of a locker at school, entry into a home, going through a person's purse, whether there was a pat down or a frisk, an exit order from the motor vehicle. Drug defense involves constitutional analysis of the rights of the defendant versus the rights of the government to stop, seize and search that person's person, home, motor vehicle, belongings. If you've been charged with a drug offense, please, hire a qualified criminal defense lawyer who is familiar and well versed with the search and seizure constitutional issues that apply to each and every one of these cases.

Trial experience when selecting a personal injury attorney is important because if you can not try a case, then you will never settle a case. Most personal injury cases are settled and the reason that they are settled is because the insurance industry knows that if it goes to trial they may end up paying an amount of money to you through your attorney. My practice is both criminal defense and personal injury. In my criminal defense practice I try anywhere from 40 to 60 trials every year, and I've been doing that for over 15 years. I try more cases than most. When I pick up a personal injury case, from day one I treat that case as if it is going to trial, and if it does in fact go to trial I have had numerous verdicts, successful verdicts, only because I'm willing, able, and capable of trying that case in front of a jury. So again, if you're looking at a serious personal injury matter, make sure that you're hiring an attorney who has the experience level to actually try that case to verdict if necessary.

If you've been hurt as a result of someone else's negligence, whether that be an automobile crash, a slip and fall due to a defective premise or surface at a store, if you've been hurt at a workplace, construction site accident, there are any number of ways that people can be hurt due to no fault of their own, and someone else is responsible for that injury. You need an attorney that can represent your interests in those types of cases, whether it's me or someone like me. The insurance industry is not in the business of paying claims. They are in the business of making money for their shareholders, and the way that they do that is they withhold payments, sometimes even to deserving claimants, for as long as possible. By hiring a qualified attorney, an attorney who is willing and able to try a case to verdict, if necessary, is the type of attorney that's going to get you a fair and equitable settlement, and if a fair and equitable settlement can not be reached then you absolutely need an attorney that can go to the mat, try a case all the way to verdict, if necessary, to get you the compensation that you deserve.

If you were charged with a crime and you find yourself before a court in Massachusetts or New Hampshire, my advice to you is don't ever go to court without a qualified attorney. You need someone like myself to go to court with you each and every time. The collateral consequences of a criminal conviction can affect so many other aspects of your life. You can lose your ability to gain financial aid as a student, public housing. You could lose your right to carry a firearm or your license to carry. You could lose your driver's license, you could lose your commercial driver's license. You could be denied the right to obtain citizenship. There are so many collateral consequences to a criminal conviction that you absolutely need to go to court with a qualified attorney to protect your rights. There are rules of evidence, there are rules of procedure, that apply to each and every case. And without a qualified attorney, you're going to lose the ability to effectively defend yourself before a court.

If you've been arrested and charged with DUI, and DUI, DWI, OUI, in Massachusetts and New Hampshire you hear those terms, those acronyms switched over and over again, it's all the same thing, it's just a matter of the language of the statute and the acronyms they may use but drunk driving as a defense practice for a criminal defense lawyer like myself, is a very specific, technical, sometimes complicated area of the law. If you've been arrested and charged with this type of offense and you want to fight and obtain an acquittal or a dismissal of those charges then you need to hire an attorney who is well versed and experienced and capable of trying this type of case to verdict. I pride myself of not being what I refer to as a plea escort service. I am not going to charge a client a fee with the purpose or the intent of walking into court and pleading them out. Because pretty much any lawyer who knows a little bit about the law can walk you into a courtroom and plead you out to a continuance without a fining. That is not why people hire me. I'm hired because I specialize in the defense of these cases meaning I fight the case from the first day it comes into the office until I obtain a verdict from a judge or a jury. If you're going to spend money to fight these cases then make sure that you're hiring an attorney who can truly help you. There is hope in every single one of these cases because they are so factually specific. The smallest change in detail and facts from one case to another may be the very difference between a guilty and a not guilty finding. And you need to hire a lawyer that can recognize both those factual issues and the legal issues and the scientific issues behind many of the breath and blood testing techniques that are used by the government.

Board certification as a DUI defense specialist is a American BAR Association accredited certification through the National DUI Defense College. It's a very elite status because there are over 900 members of the National DUI Defense College and as of 2011 only 42 members of that college had attained the level of Board Certified as a DUI Defense Specialist. It means that I took an exam through the National College for DUI Defense last year in January of 2010. In order to sit for that board certification exam I had to show the National College that I had litigated, and the number that I submitted that they asked for was 60 contested matters within a three year period to ensure that I was actually trying cases to verdict year in and year out. They then confirmed by way of docket sheets and certified copies from the courts that it was in fact me and not an associate or a partner that was doing all those cases. I also had to submit six judicial recommendations meaning I had to ask six different judges that are familiar with my work and my defense work in DUI to write recommendations to the National College and I also had to submit six lawyer recommendations. Lawyers that are familiar again with my practice and my DUI defense work. Once all of that was submitted I was accepted for examination. That examination was over the course of one day last January very much like a bar exam. The topics that were tested were constitutional law, ethics, science behind breath testing, blood testing, and then I also had to submit an atelic brief, and that argue that brief before a panel of three judges and those three judges were three regions of the National College for DUI Defense. I was very honored and very pleased to find out last April that I had passed the exam and I did obtain a board certification as a DUI Defense Specialist. I am one of only three attorneys practicing in Massachusetts that is board certified as a DUI defense specialist. I am one of only two lawyers practicing in the state of New Hampshire that is board certified as a DUI defense specialist.

My practice has been both in Massachusetts and New Hampshire for fifteen years and I maintain offices, an office in Nashua, New Hampshire and an office in Chelmsford. I spend about 50% of my time in the state of New Hampshire and their courts, and the rest of my time are in the state of Massachusetts, so I'm very familiar with what happens typically to a Massachusetts driver when they get arrested in New Hampshire. The only entity that can take away a Massachusett's driver's driver's license is the Massachusetts court or the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. When you are arrested in New Hampshire, as a Mass resident, you're going to be asked to take a chemical test -- breath, blood, urine test -- after your arrest for a DUI. If you refuse that test, or if you submit to that test and you test over, your privilege to drive a motor vehicle in the state of New Hampshire will be suspended for at least 180 days and that goes into effect 30 days after your arrest. That does not mean that your Massachusetts driver's license is suspended or revoked. There is reciprocity between the two states, and you will, if you're suspended in New Hampshire for a chemical test refusal or testing over, and later if your convicted or you've plead out to a DUI, you will receive notice from the Massachusett's registry that they know about what happened in New Hampshire, through the National Driver Registration, and through that National Driver Registry they inform you, by way of a letter from the Mass Registry, that we know you're suspended in New Hampshire, therefore, effective fourteen days out, your Mass license will be revoked. And it's going to be revoked for either an indefinite period of time or a set period of time based on a conviction in a court. So essentially a Massachusetts driver, if arrested in New Hampshire or any other state, still has a valid Mass license but they can expect there to be a reciprocal suspension later on of their Mass license based on the consequences in that other state.

A C.W.O.F. is a continuance without a fining. You will see on a CORI, which is your Criminal Offender Record Information, or your BOP, your rap sheet, the letters CWOF, and that stands for continuance without a fining. What that means is that you've entered a plea, you've made an admission to the court that there is sufficient evidence to result in a guilty finding, however, based on either your lawyer's recommendation or the prosecutor's recommendation the court, being the judge, agrees to continue the matter without a fining for a period of time. And a guilty finding does not enter on your court record or on your CORI record. That's significant and important because under state law, it's not considered a criminal conviction. So you can avoid a criminal conviction by obtaining a continuance without a fining. During that one year that it's continued, your placed on probation, your subject to restrictions and conditions and if you violate the terms and conditions the CWAF can be vacated and a guilty finding entered on your record. So you can lose the benefit of the continuance without a fining if you violate the terms of your probation. In an OUI first offense, the most common disposition that you see by way of a plea is a continuance without a fining under the section 24 D of Chapter 90 the drunk driving statute. People will oftentimes come in to see me on a second offense, OUI or DUI, and say to me "I had a continuance without a fining 6 years ago or 12 years ago, it's not a conviction." It is, for purposes of a drunk driving second offense, a conviction. The continuance without a fining is treated by the courts and the registry of motor vehicles as your first drunk driving offense, regardless of whether it's continued without a fining or not. For that reason, I am not a person who is in favor of walking into court, pleading clients out and getting a continuance without a fining on a typical first offense. I would rather try that case, obtain a dismissal or an acquittal of not guilty, and if a guilty enters, the penalty is, in all likelihood, going to be exactly the same, the only difference being it's a guilty fining vs. a CWAF. The reason being that continuance without a fining is going to be treated as your first offense for the rest of your life and under Melanie's Law, you've then given away a conviction, a first offense, that will be used against you, possibly for the rest of your life if you were ever to be charged again with a drunk driving offense.

I know that New Hampshire has the highest refusal rate in the country in terms of implied consent, meaning when an officer arrests a driver in New Hampshire, brings him back to the station, reads them the implied consent form, and asks them to take a breath or blood test, folks in New Hampshire, more than any other citizens of any other state in the country, refuse to participate in that testing. I believe it is probably due to the fact that in New Hampshire, you're given an option. If you take this test and you register over the legal limit of .08 on the Intoxilizer 5000, your license or privilege will be suspended for a period of 180 days. If you refuse that test, or you don't take it, your license or your privilege to drive will be suspended for a period of 180 days. The suspension period is exactly the same whether you take the test and fail it, or you refuse it. And given that option, which really creates no benefit to the driver, faced with that decision, 85% of the people in New Hampshire, given that choice, decide, "I'm not taking the test."

It is in your best interest if you are placed in police custody, or if you're in a position, even at roadside, where you've been pulled over and an officer is asking you questions, you have the right to remain silent. You do not have to answer questions that are out to you. And I think very often people feel obligated by, whether it's a guilty conscience or they think it's the right thing to do to always cooperate and provide information to the police, it's not in your best interest. You've heard the expression "everything you say can and will be used against you," that is exactly what will happen. If you were at road side, if you've been pulled over, if the police begin to ask you questions, you should not answer the questions because everything that you say can and will be used against you. It will be construed and looked at from the perspective of an arresting officer who is making the arrest for a prosecution that's going to come later. Everything you say will be included in this report, and if it's damning, if it affects you adversely, it will certainly make it's way into the report and into the courtroom. If you refuse to answer questions, if you exercise your right to remain silent, that's not admissible, they can't use that against you in a courtroom, the fact that you've exercised your constitutional right to remain silent. It's always in your interest to be cooperative, to be polite, not to be belligerent, not to give the police a hard time, but at the same time, it's not in your interest to answer questions. The less you say, the better. As I said, be cooperative, polite, but keep your mouth shut, don't answer questions, and then talk to an attorney.