Ayer District Court

Ayer District Court is located at 25 East Main Street, within walking distance from official downtown Ayer and the Commuter Rail station. This small town finds itself close to Route 495 and Route 2, although neither has an exit directly in the town itself. The court, and its helpful staff, serves the towns of Ashby, Ayer, Boxborough, Dunstable, Groton, Littleton, Pepperell, Shirley, Townsend, Westford, and Devens.

The small courthouse is currently presided over by the Honorable First Justice Margaret R. Guzman. Justice Guzman deals with the oversight and staffing of all the various judges who sit in Ayer. The active probation department is headed by Chief Probation Officer Susan G. Reed, with the able court officers led by Chief Court Officer Matt Burns. Clerk Magistrate Wendy A. Wilton is in charge of the friendly staff at the Ayer District Court, assisted by Assistant Clerk Magistrate Jennifer Lennon. The caring, competent, and efficient courthouse staff (in all departments), makes Ayer District Court a wonderful place to practice for any Ayer Criminal Defense Attorney.

Ayer District Court has a jury session on Mondays and Tuesdays, allowing for the other days of the week to handle pretrial conferences, compliance and election hearings, motions, and bench trials. Thursdays are designated as civil days, with civil litigation, summary process, and other non-criminal matters taking up the majority of the days work. The judges, defense bar, and prosecutors all work extremely hard to efficiently handle a high number of cases each year, with an impressive amount of cases actually proceeding to trial compared to other courts of a similar size.

The variety of crimes that are prosecuted in Ayer is vast. Many of the towns actively patrol their streets looking for motor vehicle offenses and making OUI arrests. As with most small courts, there have been an increased number of DUI and OUI-drug arrests. With the decriminalization and legalization of marijuana in Massachusetts, the rise is suspected drugged-driving has increased. While the number of cases is growing, the Supreme Judicial Court and Appellate Courts have been issuing decisions protecting the rights of those accused of these crimes from alcohol related law enforcement tools. The Courts are not promoting the behavior, but they are preventing police from using tools tested for DUI-alcohol cases to investigate DUI-drugs cases — or at least testify about the results in Court. This protection is possible because of the zealous advocacy of many Massachusetts DUI Defense Attorneys.

Ayer does not only see motor vehicle related cases. There are a large number of domestic violence allegations alleged in the Towns that Ayer District Court serves. Additionally, the various detective bureaus in the police departments are busy with investigating and charging allegations of property theft, writing false checks, breaking and entering, and other public order crimes. Ayer boasts a successful drug court session, with active participants from local counseling services, the probation department, the Judges, and law enforcement. It is because of courts like this that the drug court programs can brag about a statistic of 75% of Drug Court graduates remaining arrest-free for least two years after leaving the program.

If you or a loved one is arrested for, charged with, or being investigated for a crime in any of the surrounding communities, call Ayer defense lawyer Ryan Sullivan to schedule your free consultation today.