Fossella's new trial, take II

After being found guilty and sentenced to five days in jail Fossella decided to try again in hopes of a more lenient verdict based on his blame everyone but himself strategy;

An Alexandria, Va. court has set aside two days for former Rep. Vito Fossella's trial on charges that he drove while under the influence on May 1 last year.

Fossella, who was sentenced in December by an Alexandria District Court judge for having driven with a blood-alcohol-content level of .17, will appear before an Alexandria Circuit Court jury April 13 and 14.

Seriously just go to jail. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

Fossella runs out the clock on House Ethics Committee

In a statement by the House Ethics Committee investigating Fossella's arrest, the committee announced they will not be making any findings or recommendations due to their term expiring before Fossella's appeal is heard;

On May 21, 2008, an investigative subcommittee was established to conduct an inquiry regarding Representative Vito Fossella with respect to his arrest on or about May 1, 2008 in Alexandria, Virginia for the misdemeanor criminal charge of driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

The subcommittee concluded its work without a recommendation of further action against Representative Fossella. The investigative subcommittee had deferred action in this matter because of the pendency of the criminal proceedings involving Representative Fossella. Representative Fossella did not seek re-election, and the Committee will lose jurisdiction over him when his term expires on Jan. 3, 2009.

An investigation and potential removal from Congress by his colleagues would have been disastrous for any future life in politics or lobbying that likely is in Fossella's future. My guess is the appeal of his sentence has more to do with running out the clock on the House Ethics investigation than it has to do with avoiding jail time.

Random items from Fossella's trial

There were a few items that slipped past me that have come out with updates from Fossella's trial.

In his October trial Fossella claimed that his hand sanitizer was the cause of his .17 blood alcohol level;

"Later, he went back to his Capitol Hill office and cleaned his hands with Purell, a hand sanitizer that is more than 60 percent ethyl alcohol.

The alcohol in the hand sanitizer led to his elevated blood-alcohol reading, his attorneys said."

Five days is the lightest sentence he could receive;

The maximum penalty on the misdemeanor charge is one year in jail.

Umm;

...police there tried to give him another blood-alcohol test nearly three hours later. Initially, Fossella "claimed he was not able to perform the test and threatened to defecate on the floor of the police station if he was not allowed to use the restroom,"

Brutal reality check for Fossella

The Daily News comes out with a hard hitting piece today Good-Bye, Vito.

If Fossella - the sole Republican in the city's congressional delegation - harbors thoughts about a return to public life after his current term ends, he should abandon them now.

The article leaves Fossella with a little advice he should probably heed;

Aside from avoiding a five-day jail sentence, Fossella needs to concentrate on raising his families. Both of them.

More on Fossella's DWi guilty verdict

So we jumped the gun a little. Fossella has been found guilty of his DWI but his punishment has not been decided. There is yet another court date when the presiding judge will hand down her decision. Jail time, time served, a fine, etc. That is scheduled for December 8th. After that Fossella has the option of appealing to a jury case and wasting even more tax dollars trying to declare he is above the laws of average Americans.

The Advance today also has his only public statement;

"I'm grateful that this matter was presented in fuller detail before the court today and for the public to hear for the first time an honest and straightforward account of what happened that night instead of sensationalized media accounts.

"As I have said before, I made a serious mistake and I want to again apologize for setting the wrong example.

"I believe we live in nation of laws, that no one person is above the law and I look forward to the Judge's final determination in December.

"In the meantime, I will continue working hard for all the people of Staten Island and Brooklyn who are facing real tough times as our nation goes through this financial crisis.

Fossella's DWI court case tomorrow

Oct. 17 at 9:30 a.m.

2 days until Fossella's DWI court date

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Fossella makes bi-partisan appearance, unintentionally mocked for DWI

Yesterday in an attempt at showing bi-partisan support for the economic bail out bill in Congress, Vito Fossella and Rep. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from Queens held a joint conference on wall street. It unexpectedly turned quite funny when Rep. Meeks described the financial situation as such;

"The issue that's before us right now is not a Democratic issue and it's not a Republican issue. It's an issue that we have to resolve so that we can make sure that we stabilize our economy. Everyone is hurting," Meeks said.

Meeks used a different analogy to describe the economy: A drunken driver who has crashed on the highway, with the federal government as the emergency workers who have to clean up the wreckage.

If you were watching cable news yesterday you probably saw Meeks all over tv using that same analogy. I doubt he intentionally used it when standing next to Vito, but considering Fossella's DWI arrest it is all the more humorous.

NYTimes on Fossella's court date delay

So Fossella is fighting his DWI instead of helping pass legislation to support the troops, nothing new. New York Times is running an article on the most recent court delay and more stall tactics from Fossella.

Barry J. Pollack, Mr. Fossella’s lawyer, said he had numerous questions regarding the reliability of the breath analysis machine, made by CMI Inc. of Owensboro, Ky.

He said he had issued a subpoena to the Virginia Department of Forensic Science to get materials related to the machine that was used for Mr. Fossella. The state has responded in part, but Mr. Pollack said more information was needed.

The Times nicely points out what may be a bigger issue for Fossella. He failed breath analysis tests on two different machines. Both times he was well over the legal limit.

At the time of Mr. Fossella’s arrest, law enforcement officials said he had been tested on two different breath analysis machines, which produced different readings.

The arrest report said Mr. Fossella failed several sobriety tests on the street, including a preliminary breath test on which he registered a blood alcohol level of 0.133 percent. After he was arrested, he recorded a level of 0.17 percent on another machine. The legal limit in Virginia, as in most states, is 0.08 percent.

Fossella's DWI case postponed again

Vito Fossella is still refusing to take responsibility for his drunk driving and his lawyers have had his court case pushed back from this week to October. Despite failing three field sobriety and breathalyzer tests, Fossella is fighting his arrest and claiming error on the part of the breathalyzer machines and maintenance. Records of those machines are at the front of his cases postponement;

Rep. Vito Fossella's DWI trial in Alexandria, Va., has been postponed a second time, because his attorney claimed the state agency that overseas breathalyzer tests did not provide the defense with sufficient documents to precede with their case.

Of course this has little significance other than delaying his case and possibly forcing a humiliating early retirement had he been found gulty before the end of his term. A conviction now or in October will still be an appropriate ending to Fossella's fiasco.

Is Fossella still part of the GOP plan to regain a majority?

Maybe the cause of the local Republican parties disfunction stems from the national party. They did place Fossella, an incumbent, on the front line of their regaining their majority despite him, well, not being able to pick up a new seat. All this happened just a couple of weeks before that whole DWI, I had an affair, I have a secret family/child "mistake." I wonder if the party still considers him a crucial part to regaining their majority because it looks like he is actually about to make them lose a seat. Semantics I realize, but I wanted to point that out.

Fossella's DWI court date delayed

via The Slueth;

Fossella's court date was originally scheduled for June 27 but it has been postponed until July or August, according to Fossella defense attorney Barry Pollack. Pollack cites a number of reasons for the delay, including a typo in his subpoeana to the manufacturer of the breathalizer machine that recorded the congressman's blood alcohol level at twice Virginia's legal limit.

More time for Fossella to support the troops fight his arrest.