Commonwealth v. Karanja

Following a jury trial in the District Court, the defendant, Michael M. Karanja, was convicted of operating under the influence of intoxicating liquor (OUI) third offense, OUI while his license was suspended for OUI ("OUI while OAS for OUI"), and leaving the scene of property damage. On appeal, he contends that the judge abused her discretion by refusing to bifurcate the OUI while OAS for OUI count from the OUI count. We affirm.

Background. On August 2, 2016, at approximately 8:30 P.M. , the defendant crashed the white Toyota Corolla automobile he was driving into the rear of a parked Honda…