DUI Dishonor Roll

Of the 1,149 traffic deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years in 2013, 200 (17%) involved an alcohol-impaired driver

Amherst police arrested four impaired drivers over the long holiday weekend, three of them due to alcohol and the remaining one for driving under the influence of drugs.

And not a single one was a UMass student!

Yes Amherst being a college town, the long weekends usually stimulates a mass exodus of our college aged youth.

Interestingly two of the DUI arrests were coming from downtown bars when they were intercepted by police, one from Stackers Pub and the other from The Spoke.

Kind of makes you wonder if the bars get a tad more desperate for business when the students are gone and serve those who should be shut off.

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Tuesday two of the four took a standard plea deal the Commonwealth offers to first time offenders.  A 24D disposition will cost them $650 in fines/fees, loss of license for 45 days and one year with DUI charge "continued without a finding," aka probation.

But it does save them a couple thousand in legal fees and with a legally admissible Breathalyzer test as evidence against them, the chances of beating the charge is nothing if not slim.

Alex Forrest, age 26, stands before Judge Payne after making a 24D disposition plea

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Cayla Sicard, age 30, had public defender assigned and her case continued to next month

Cayla Sicard was arrested late Sunday afternoon after hitting another vehicle on busy Rt 9 in East Amherst. She also had her two year old son in the vehicle with her at the time.

Her legally admissible breath test came in at .18 more than twice the legal limit.

And as you can see from the video she failed miserably the 9 step walk and turn test.



Ms. Sicard  was released on her own recognizance to appear next month for pre-trial, but she will be subject to random alcohol screenings via the probation department until then.

Allan Tremblay, age 24, also had a pubic defender assigned to him and he will return next month for a pre trial on the charge of OUI drugs

DUI Dishonor Roll

Ryan West, age 20, stands before Judge John Payne. Case continued to October 19 

Considering he took both the PBT (Portable Breath Test), which is not admissible in Court, AND the chemical Breath Test back at APD headquarters, which is admissible in Court, Mr. West should save himself steep legal fees and simply take the standard state plea deal offer of a 1st time offender 24D disposition.

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DUI Dishonor Roll

Gates Larson, age 52, arraigned before Judge John Payne

Only one APD arrest for impaired driving over the weekend but it was of a kind that illustrates the danger drunk drivers pose not only to the general public but also to police officers who job it is to be out and about during those prime drunk driving hours.

UMass police, who also serve and protect property located in the little college town of Amherst, also had one arrest:

 Keyarra Wood, age 22, arraigned before Judge John Payne

 

And Hadley, close enough to catch our overflow, had one as well.  All three defendants had their cases continued until next month and were released on their own recognizance.  Although Ms. Ritchie-Dunham turned over her license to an Assistant District Attorney before leaving Court.

Jacqueline Richie-Dunham, age 20, stands before the Judge

 

DUI Dishonor Roll

Michal Wojewodzic, age 22 (photo courtesy APD)

Great weather over the weekend brought out droves of college aged youth to all the usual hot spots near UMass for foot traffic  -- Phillips, North Pleasant and Meadow Streets.  Which is what makes this drunk driving incident all that much scarier.

What if he had hit a tender body rather than a solid tree?

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 Meadow Street/Townhouse Apartments late Saturday afternoon

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday Mr. Wojewodzic had his case continued until next month.

DUI Dishonor Roll

The rate of drunk driving is highest among 21-25 year olds (23.4%)

Only one arrest for drunk driving over the weekend, about as typical as they come (the modus operandi, not the number):  Jesse Korzen, 21, a former UMass student and somebody not unknown to our police department, as he was arrested back in January for alcohol related rowdy behavior.

His twitter masthead seems to show a typical day drink gathering out at Townhouse apartments in North Amherst which was Ground Zero for the last three out-of-control Blarney Blowouts.

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Jesse Korzen in District Court reading his arrest report

In Eastern Hampshire District Court this morning Mr. Korzen was represented by what looked to be a high priced attorney (keep in mind Korzen was arrested on Sunday).   He took a standard 24D plea disposition, probably because of the Breathalyzer results of .15% -- almost twice the legal limit.

Korzen will lose his license for 45 days, pay $650 in fines/fees, take a driver education program and be on probation for the next year.  As long as he stays out of trouble (here or in New York) the case will be "dismissed", although "Continued Without A Finding" is pretty much an admission of guilt.

His attorney asked Judge Payne to waive the travel restrictions since he lives in New York, and the Judge agreed.

Coincidentally enough -- what are the odds? -- I received an email about an hour after Korzen's District Court appearance from his roommate who was also arrested back in January, requesting deletion of the article.   

The guaranteed way of keeping your name from appearing on these pages is pretty simple:  Don't get arrested.

DUI Dishonor Roll

Drunk driving costs each adult in the United States almost $800/year

Last weekend, with beautiful but hot weather and our little college town suddenly doubling in size, and APD still engaged in "Drive Sober or get Pulled Over" campaign, the conditions were all too good for a bevy of impaired driver arrests.  Especially since the previous weekend had a whopping five arrests.

But I'm relieved to say there were only two arrests.  Only two potential killers. 

May the odds be ever in our favor.

 Samuel Hurst-Macdonald, 21, arraigned before Judge John Payne

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In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Tuesday Mr. Hurst-Macdonald, a UMass student, took a standard 24D plea deal disposition.  He will lose his license for 45 days, pay $650 in fines and be on probation for the next year.  But at least he saved himself the hefty legal fees. 

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Gary Hochron, age 57, had his case continued until next month

DUI Deluge

APD arrested five (5) impaired drivers over the weekend

The sad/scary thing is if APD had the staffing I'm sure we would see five drunk driving arrests practically every weekend rather than just when state grant money provides the extra coverage.

Either way, last weekend too many great white sharks shared our ecosystem.   Although fortunately nobody was hurt. This time. 

With UMass dorms opening on Friday and no school on Monday because of Labor Day, this long weekend could be a potential record breaker for DUIs.

   Brian Kenney, age 29

Mark Emery age 21

Kyle Coffee, age 23

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Four of the five were arraigned before Judge Payne and released on their personal recognizance with trial dates set for later this month or October.  Juveline Tavares age 39 required a Portuguese interpreter so he was arraigned later in the day (hence no photo).

Ruth Castonguay failed to appear in District Court on Monday and Judge Payne issued a bench warrant for her arrest.  He is holding it until Friday because a friend called to say she had checked herself into a medical detox center after her arrest.  

   Just Another Amherst DUI

Drunk Driving: 4th Time The Charm?

Richard Sherwood (left) stands before Judge John Payne

At a revocation of bail hearing on Thursday morning Assistant District Attorney Andy Covington told Judge John Payne that Richard Sherwood, age 30, had violated the terms of his release by consuming alcohol.

A Sobrietor test the night before (9:01 PM) indicated the presence of alcohol, with a .031 reading.  Four minutes later a follow up test confirmed it with a reading of .029.

As per protocol a fax automatically went out to the Easthampton Police Department and they came to Mr. Sherwood's apartment and arrested him.

Back at the police station he took the Breathalizer test and passed with flying colors, as in a 0.0 reading.

But ADA Covington pointed out to Judge Payne that the breath test at police headquarters occurred at 10:47 PM, one hour and 46 minutes after the Sobrietor test, and with the normal elimination of alcohol from the bloodstream a zero reading would be expected.

Covington also pointed out to Judge Payne that Mr. Sherwood was most recently arrested in Amherst back in May with a very high breath test (.20), but do to an oversight APD only charged him with 3rd offense DUI, and in fact it was later amended to 4th offense DUI.

And had the state been aware back in May of that fact the Commonwealth would have moved for a 58A dangerousness hearing requesting Mr. Sherwood be kept in confinement until his trial.

Covington also told the Judge the State would be moving next week for a Grand Jury Indictment against Mr. Sherwood, which would then bump this drunk driving case up to Hampshire Superior Court.

Mr. Sherwood's defense attorney pointed out a Sobrietor, like a Portable Breath Test used by police in the field, is not admissible in court as stand alone evidence.  And the test that is admissible (the machines used at police headquarters) showed his client to be at zero for alcohol.

Sherwood's fiance was in the courtroom and would testify that she was with him that night and he did not have a drink.  In addition, earlier in the day of the Sobrietor test Sherwood had used a flea/tick bomb purchased at Dave's Soda and Pet Food City in his apartment which had trace amounts of alcohol in it.

Therefor the Sobrietor results were simply a "false positive."

Judge Payne asked when was Mr. Sherwood's trial date?   "September 2nd your honor," replied Covington.

"Motion to rescind denied," said the Judge.  Richard Sherwood was released (with the original $5,000 bail still in effect), until his September 2nd court appearance.

Drunk Driving Déjà Vu

Kathleen Brennan appears before Judge John Payne.  Again.

In Eastern Hampshire District Court yesterday Amherst resident Kathleen Brennan, age 50, appeared before Judge John Payne for the second time in less than a year for the serious charge of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Although technically, both times, she was not actually caught driving, but simply passed out at the wheel of her red Lexus. This time, however, the incident occurred in the middle of the week (Wednesday) at 5:30 PM, in the heart of a fairly densely populated family neighborhood (Amherst Woods).

   Amherst 2nd offense drunk driving

Back in December she approached me in the courtroom -- with her husband at her side -- requesting I not cover her plea deal.  Since becoming a self appointed court reporter two years ago that was the first time I had fielded such a request, although I get plenty after publication demanding removal.

Sometimes in not such a polite manner.

Brennan, with a well known Amherst DUI attorney at her side,  took a 24D disposition -- offered only to 1st time offenders.   Thus she lost her license for 45 days, paid $650 in fines/fees, attended a state run alcohol education program, and was placed on probation for one year (doesn't expire until this coming December).

She told Judge Payne she would be hiring the same attorney as before.   Judge Payne continued her case until August 20 but kept the $1,000 bail she posted in effect and made "random alcohol screening" another condition of release.

Yes in America everyone is innocent until proven guilty.  But the same could be said for Timothy McVeigh, up until he was proven guilty and executed by lethal injection; or Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who will rot in jail for the rest of his miserable life. 

DUI Dishonor Roll

On average, 2 out of 3 people will be involved in a drunk driving crash in their lifetime

Again this past weekend Amherst police took three impaired drivers off the road -- Amanda Gray, age 27; Claudimila Deoliveiramartin, age 22 and Michael Lewandowski, age 36.  All three had pleas of not guilty entered in their behalf this morning in Eastern Hampshire District Court and their cases were continued until next month.

And since all of them took and flunked the Breathalyzer test back at APD headquarters -- the one that is admissible in Court -- they all would be wise to accept the Commonwealth's standard offer of a 24D disposition.

Amanda Gray

Claudimila Deoliveiramartin

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Michael Lewandowski

DUI Dishonor Roll

The rate of drunk driving is highest among 21 to 25 year olds (23.4%)

When it comes to drunk drivers Amherst was no more dangerous over the holiday weekend than usual.  Of course the bad news is "usual" means APD took two potential killers off the road: Sage Grasso-Monroe (age 19) and Josh McDuffe (age 22).

The scary news is how many did they not catch?

Both had a plea of innocent entered in their behalf by Judge Shea and their cases continued for pre-trial until next month as they were going to hire their own private attorney.

Joshua McDuffe stands before Judge Shea

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Sage Grasso-Monroe stands before Judge Shea 

   Dangerous driver

Another Sleeping Beauty DUI

 Tyrone Sanders, age 32, stands before Judge John Payne

For the second time this month Amherst police had to awaken a driver so they could arrest him for Driving Under the Influence.

On the one hand you would rather have a drunk asleep behind the wheel of a parked vehicle, but the problem of course is prior to pulling over and passing out, he was a scud missile.

In Eastern Hampshire District Court yesterday, after being arraigned before Judge John Payne, Mr. Sanders took the Commonwealth's offer of a Chapter 24D disposition, available only to first time offenders.

He will lose his license for 45 days, pay over $650 in fines/fees and be on probation (at $65/month) for the next year.

DUI Do Over

Richard Sherwood stands before Judge Payne ... again

Richard Sherwood, age 30, was arraigned before Judge John Payne on Monday morning for a drunk driving arrest in Amherst on Saturday night May 9th.  Or perhaps I should say "rearraigned."

 Originally Mr. Sherwood was charged with "OUI 3rd offense" and as it turns out that was his 4th offense!  And when it comes to the American system of justice, details are important.

Sherwood was released on the original $5,000 bail he posted five weeks ago and the conditions remain the same:  no driving, use of a sobrietor, and report to probation officer twice per week.  His case was continued until July 13.