Fight A DUI

On February 13, 2008, a federal judge rear ended a pickup truck at a traffic light. He was arrested and pleaded no contest to a first offense misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated, ordered to pay $600 in fines, and agreed to a 1 year suspension of his driver’s license. The fact that Robert Somma was a federal judge pushed the story into the mainstream media; the fact that he was wearing women’s clothes pushed it a little bit further.

Following his arrest, Somma resigned from his post:

Gary H. Wente, circuit executive of the US Courts for the First Circuit, declined to discuss Somma’s letter or Carpenter’s comments. Wente had announced Somma’s resignation on Feb. 15, saying the judge had called him from the Caribbean, where he had gone for a previously arranged vacation, and had resigned. At the time, Wente said, the judge had concluded that “it was best to put this behind him.”

On Monday, Wente’s office issued a one-sentence statement saying that Somma’s resignation, scheduled for yesterday, would not become effective until May 15. The statement gave no explanation.

Now, he seems to be slipping back into daily life, withdrawing his resignation and apparently preparing to return to work:

Somma said in a letter to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly posted online yesterday that an outpouring of support from judges, lawyers, and others had led him to conclude, “contrary to my initial belief, that the media frenzy occasioned by this episode would not be an impediment to my continued service as a judge.”

He said he had accepted full responsibility for his arrest and wished to apologize publicly for “that terrible lapse of judgment and the resultant controversy.”

For more details, check out the story on boston.com here

Boston.com tells the story of the sister of a Swansea, MA police officer killed by Wayne Smith (51), a volunteer firefighter, who was disappointed in the 5 year sentence issued by the judge this week. Last November, Smith had been drinking at a Fire Department fundraiser and crossed into oncoming traffic while driving home, killing Lieutenant Robert Cabral, a father of two boys.

“Drunken driving needs to be taken seriously, and it has not been,” Cabral’s sister, Josephine Lapre of Warren, R.I., said in a telephone interview yesterday after Smith was sentenced in New Bedford Superior Court. “Bobby never drank, ever. And Bobby’s death is only worth five years? I don’t understand that.”

Smith pled guilty, and could have faced up to 20 years due to his high BAC (over twice the legal limit), which qualified his offense as ‘extremely reckless’. Speaking in his defense, Smith apologized to the surviving family:

“I’d like to say that I’m just sorry for everything I’ve done, not only to the Cabral family, everyone that’s involved, but to the courts,” Smith said, his voice breaking. “I made a big mistake. Whatever you do to me, I think about it every day.”