The drunk-driving trial against outgoing Rep. Vito Fossella has been postponed until October, due to requests from his lawyers to obtain more information about the sobriety test equipment used the night of his arrest in May, the New York Times reported this week.
The Bay Ridge Republican was pulled over by police in Alexandria, Va. and allegedly failed several sobriety tests, but his defense team questions the reliability of the Breathalyzer machine that registered his blood alcohol level at 0.17 percent — twice the legal limit in that state. If convicted, Fossella, first elected to Congress in 1997, would be sentenced to a mandatory five days in prison.
On the night of his arrest, his blood alcohol level was measured two times and came back with varying results. In other drunk-driving cases, defense lawyers have questioned the performance of the machines, manufactured by CMI Inc., and Fossella’s lawyer, Barry Pollack plans to make a similar case for his client, the Times said.
After Fossella’s arrest it was revealed that he had fathered a child out of wedlock with a woman living in Alexandria and he announced his retirement from Congress at the end of his current term.
