PRESS RELEASE
FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT, DISTRICT ATTORNEY
DATE: APRIL 12, 2018
The Appellate Division, Third Department has unanimously affirmed the November 13, 2015 conviction of Kevin Warren upon a jury verdict convicting him of the crimes of driving while intoxicated and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the first degree.
Defendant’s convictions stem from an incident in May, 2014, when he was stopped by Town of Saugerties Police after being observed operating his vehicle in excess of the posted speed limit and in an erratic and reckless manner. When police approached his vehicle, defendant was observed moving from the driver’s seat over the center console into the passenger seat. At that time, the officer also noticed the indicia of intoxication. Despite the absence of footprints in the freshly fallen snow outside the driver’s door defendant claimed he had not been driving and that the driver had fled. Defendant subsequently refused to submit to a chemical test.
After being convicted as charged, defendant was sentenced by County Court Judge Donald A. Williams to an aggregate prison term of two and one-third to seven years.
On appeal, defendant claimed that he was arrested without probable cause, and that County Court erred in allowing evidence of his refusal to be heard by the jury. The Appellate Division, Third Department, however, rejected this claim and also concluded that his additional arguments, to wit, that the Judge exceeded his authority during the suppression hearing by assuming a prosecutorial role and that certain of the prosecutor’s remarks on summation deprived him of a fair trial were without merit.
On appeal, the defendant is represented by Alexis K. Rounds, Esq. of Rounds and Rounds, LLP of Kingston, New York. Assistant District Attorney Joan Gudesblatt Lamb, Esq. handled the appeal for the District Attorney’s Office.