Summary: A New York Judge will be viewing court from the other side as she defends herself against a driving while intoxicated charge.
Drunk driving is no joke and neither are the consequences. One upstate New York judge is learning the hard way that she is not above the law.
A judge is supposed to be the balancer of justice but how can they do that if they are failing to follow the laws themselves. Judge Leticia Astacio of Rochester was scheduled Saturday morning to oversee criminal arraignments. On her way to work, she was involved in a single-car accident around 8 a.m.
Judge Astacio was then arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor charge. She had refused to take a breathalyzer test when asked by a state trooper. She was given a ticket and will appear in court on March 11 in a reversal of roles.
Astacio is the former Monroe County Assistant District Attorney who was then elected as Court Judge in Rochester City two years ago. Another judge, Charles Crimi, took over her duties in court that day.
She had joined the Monroe County District’s office in 2007 and joined the drunken driving bureau in 2009. She then moved to serve as the senior district attorney in the Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Bureau. She started her own criminal defense practice in 2011.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/judge-arrested-dwi_us_56c320e3e4b08ffac1266738
Photo: democraticandchronicle.com