Former prosecutor is charged with DWI
Had been considered as judge candidate
A former county prosecutor being considered as a possible candidate for a judgeship has been arrested on a charge of misdemeanor aggravated driving while intoxicated, authorities confirmed Friday.
Town of Hamburg police charged Anne E. Adams, 46, of Angola, after stopping her on Route 5 near the Ford plant the evening of Sept. 2. Police reports state that Adams registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.19 percent, more than twice the legal limit.
Following her arrest, Adams told police she had had three or four drinks.
The police report states that Adams failed all four roadside sobriety tests she was given, such as standing on one leg for more than a few seconds.
Officer Vincent Pupo III pulled her vehicle over at about 7:45 p. m. that night when he saw her Ford Thunderbird convertible weaving from lane to lane, nearly striking a guard rail, according to Town of Hamburg police reports. She was also charged with making an unsafe lane change.
Advocates for strong drunken-driving penalties are watching the Adams case closely, to make sure that the former prosecutor’s case is not handled any differently from other cases.
“MADD [Mothers Against Drunk Driving] will be carefully following this case, and we expect all parties accused of driving while intoxicated will be treated equally, and we’ll carefully follow the case to make sure this happens,” said Elizabeth A. Obad, president of MADD’s Erie County chapter.
Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark vowed that this case would be treated like any other aggravated DWI case.
“We get DWIs involving doctors, lawyers, politicians and business people every day,” Clark said. “This is nothing out of the ordinary. It will be treated according to our established guidelines.”
The district attorney’s guidelines say that for anyone registering a blood-alcohol level or 0.21 or above, no plea deal is available.
“If you are .18, .19 or .20, we will allow you to plead guilty to driving while intoxicated,” Clark said. “So in this case, we would allow a plea to a regular DWI instead of aggravated DWI, because there was no accident and she has no priors.”
Adams’ arraignment was adjourned from Sept. 5 to 10 a. m. Thursday in Hamburg Town Court. Several law-enforcement officials said that such an adjournment is not unusual.
Her attorney, Leonard E. Krawczyk Jr., former chief of the Erie County district attorney’s DWI Bureau, said he has brought a motion to dismiss the case, in the interests of justice, based on evidence that he believes would clear her.
Sources in the legal community say that Adams, whose name was mentioned last spring as a possible GOP candidate for district attorney, also has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the upcoming State Supreme Court judgeship that had been held by Amy Jo Fricano and will be filled in the November election.
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