Even Superior Court Judges drive drunk - Celebrity DWIs

Enforcing DWI laws is a difficult job for police officers. Here is the transcript of such an arrest that occured in Glastonbury, Connecticut on October 10, 2008 when a Connecticut State Trooper had the unfortunate job of having to arrest a State Superior Court Judge. To read about the nonsense that goes on, there is a brief transcript of the interview. To access the whole interview, click here.

From a video recorded shortly after midnight on October 10 at police headquarters in Glastonbury, Connecticut. State Superior Court Judge E. Curtissa Cofield was pulled over earlier that night after her car sideswiped a parked police cruiser occupied by Trooper Michael Kowal. Cofield, who smelled of alcohol, was arrested and taken to police headquarters by Kowal, who is white, and was processed by Sergeant Dwight Washington, an African American. She was eventually found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.16, twice the state’s legal limit. Cofield, sixty, became the state’s first female African-American judge in 1991. After the incident, Cofield entered an alcohol education program, and charges against her will be dropped upon completion. In February, she was suspended from the Connecticut Superior Court for 240 days.

Every year GCASA honors the law enforcement personnel who make our roads safer and who have to deal with the abuse and harassment by drunk offenders even judges and politicians who choose to drive drunk. These men and women who enforce our laws to keep us all safer deserve our recognition, acknowledgement, support, and gratitude. Please join us on June 12, 2009 in Batavia, NY when we honor our men and women in blue. For more information, click here.

Former New York State Assemblyman, John Sweeney, arrested for second DWI within 2 years

From CNN on April 6, 2009

Former New York Rep. John Sweeney was arrested early Sunday morning on his second DWI incident in 17 months after refusing to take field sobriety tests, the Saratoga County District Attorney's office confirms to CNN.

"We will treat this prosecution like any other felony DWI case," District Attorney James Murphy said in a statement provided to CNN. "We are fortunate that his alleged conduct did not result in death or serious physical injury to himself or any one else."

In 2007, Sweeney pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor DWI charge, Murphy also said in the statement.

Alcoholism is a terrible disease which can be terminal for the person suffering from it and for others who are endangered by the alcoholics behavior. Genesee County's District Attorney's policy is that all DWI offenders obtain a drug and alcohol evaluation and comply with treatment recommendations. This policy helps make our roads and communities safer.

Celebrity DWIs #3 - NFL Hall of Famer, Carl Eller

CBS News reported on 2/24/09 that NFL Hall of Famer, Carl Eller, was sentenced to 60 days for DWI. Here's the report:

A National Football League hall of famer is going to be spending time behind bars. Former Minnesota Vikings great Carl Eller Monday was sentenced to 60 days in the Hennepin County workhouse for driving while intoxicated and assault. That assault involved an altercation with a couple of police officers who followed Eller to his home last April after observing his erratic driving.After getting out of the workhouse, which is an adult corrections facility, Eller will be have 60 days of electronic home monitoring. He’ll also have to get chemical dependency treatment and pay a three-thousand dollar fine.In announcing the sentence Monday, Judge Dan Mable ordered Eller immediately taken into custody.

This is article #3 in a series on Celebrity DWI.

Celebrity DWIs - Anne Adams former prosecutor in Buffalo

Anne Adams a former prosecutor and professor at University of Buffalo law school plead guilty of drunk driving, offering a false instrument, and tampering with evidence. She was fired from her job at UB law school.

This comes from an article in the Buffalo News on 02/22/09.

Adams, 46, a former prosecutor, pleaded guilty before Erie County Judge Sheila A. DiTullio to three misdemeanors: drunken driving, offering a false instrument for filing and attempted tampering with physical evidence.

Resigning from the bench the same day was Joseph G. Makowski, 55, who had been a State Supreme Court justice for 10 years and had nearly four years left in his term. The job paid $136,700 a year.

Adam’s guilty pleas and Makowski’s resignation stem from her arrest on driving while intoxicated charges Sept. 2 after she had been at Shanghai Red’s restaurant on the Buffalo waterfront with Makowski. He said they were discussing her program at the law school.

Makowski did not mention why he resigned in his letter to Justice Sharon S. Townsend, administrative judge for the 8th Judicial District, but the district attorney who forced the resignation did not mince words.

“Because of his recantation and cooperation, I will not seek to brand Makowski a criminal,” District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III said. “However, I am deeply troubled by Makowski’s original affidavit and initial conduct. Accordingly, Makowski, in lieu of criminal prosecution, will also be required to resign from the bench.”

Makowski’s testimony in an affidavit he submitted after Adams’ arrest was at odds with what witnesses told investigators from the district attorney’s office.

“Neither party to this pathetic episode committed violent crimes, nor have criminal records,” Sedita said. “By the same token, one of my most important duties as district attorney is to restore public confidence in the justice system. Accordingly, this type of misconduct, particularly on behalf of lawyers, judges and public officials, will not be tolerated and will not be overlooked by this office.”

You can read the whole article by clicking here.

This is article #2 in a series on Celebrity DWIs.

Celebrity DWIs - Charles Barkley

Video lasts 1:53.



This is article #1 in a series on celebrity DWIs.