ATTLEBORO - Sobriety checks points have been heralded by law enforcement and advocacy groups as a way of keeping the public safe and drunken drivers off the road.

But a lawyer for a repeat drunken driver is challenging the legality of a sobriety checkpoint conducted by state and local police the weekend before the July 4 holiday on Route 1 at the Attleboro-North Attleboro line.

North Attleboro lawyer Stephen Dalrymple argued Friday in Attleboro District Court that the checkpoint at Route 1 and Cumberland Avenue was not conducted with enough public notice and constituted an inconvenience to drivers.

Dalrymple is asking a judge to throw out evidence against his client, Gregory R. Zani, 44, of Plainville, gathered on the basis of the checkpoint.

Zani faces a fifth-offense drunken driving charge and was one of about a dozen drivers who were arrested during the checkpoint. Dalrymple argued that the state police notice about the checkpoint was not published in The Sun Chronicle with enough notice to the public as required.

He also said three state troopers who testified at two hearings in the case gave conflicting testimony about how drivers were directed in and around the checkpoint.

Zani, who was traveling north on Route 1 the night of the checkpoint was conducted, is accused of taking a left turn through a set of traffic cones before the intersection with Cumberland Avenue to get to a store on the southbound side of the highway.

He was charged with a fifth-offense drunken driving charge and has pleaded innocent. He has been held in jail on bail since his arrest.

Police allege he failed field sobriety tests and that a breath-alcohol test registered 0.079 percent. The legal limit for intoxication is 0.08 percent.

In addition to a history of drunken driving convictions, Zani has had his license suspended or revoked 16 times since 1989, prosecutors argued at a previous hearing.

Assistant District Attorney Donna Bentley argued that state police sent a notice to The Sun Chronicle and several other media outlets three days before the checkpoint was held and have no control about when or if the notices are published.

Despite inconsistent testimony by police, Bentley argued, there is evidence Zani drove out of the traffic-coned zone after driving by a warning sign set up in advance of the checkpoint.

She referred to the testimony of state police Capt. Thomas Stewart, who testified how he stood in the intersection and directed drivers who had passed through the checkpoint.

Thomas, who said he was the commanding officer for the checkpoint, said most drivers had no problem navigating through the checkpoint. He said state police conducted 15 checkpoints throughout the state last year. The checkpoint at Route 1 and Cumberland Avenue was conducted in conjunction with Attleboro and North Attleboro police.

Judge James Sullivan took the case under advisement and said he would rule in less than 20 days.