Prosecutor favors appeal in DWI case to get ruling
LOCKPORT— Harold L. Eichorst Jr. pleaded guilty Tuesday in Niagara County Court to a felony count of driving while intoxicated, but the prosecutor surprised the judge by saying he hopes Eichorst appeals.
Deputy District Attorney Theodore A. Brenner said he would be interested in an appeals court ruling clarifying the law on the admissibility of blood tests in DWI cases. Eichorst, 47, of Raymond Street, North Tonawanda, was pulled over on Oliver Street in North Tonawanda on March 15, and two hours after the arrest, a blood test rang up a 0.24 percent alcohol reading.
Customarily, a blood test inside the two-hour mark is considered admissible, and after that, it’s not, because of a time limit on implied consent to testing. Meanwhile, Judge Matthew J. Murphy III, who ruled the blood test admissible, agreed to sentence Eichorst to no more than six months in jail when he returns to court Jan. 27.
