Florida Judge Cynthia Imperato Found Guilty Of DUI

According to the lawyer of Florida Judge, Cynthia Imperato, who was found guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol and reckless driving, she received a sentence of 20 days house arrest

Prosecutors sought 30 days in prison but a Palm Beach County judge ruled otherwise after a six-member jury rendered its decision.

57-year-old Judge Imperato had rejected a plea deal that needed no jail time and instead took the case to trial, which lasted 3 days. According to a report, she was convicted of DUI in the year 1998.

If convicted, she could have faced up to 1 year in prison.

Her attorneys are following an appeal of this conviction, so even the house arrest is on hold. As part of the sentence, the judge’s driver’s license was suspended for 1 year and she was ordered to serve a term of 1 year’s probation along with 150 hours of community service, and she has to pay almost $2,500 in fines. During the appeal, she will not be driving a motor vehicle and has to submit to weekly alcohol testing.

After being transferred from the criminal court, Judge Imperato is still serving on the bench in Broward County, hearing civil foreclosure cases. Her term of office runs until the year 2017.

Judge Imperato was stopped by the police in Boca Raton last fall as she was getting back from a networking event for lawyers and judges, and she was initially uncooperative with the police officers.

WSVN, Channel 7 in Miami/Fort Lauderdale reported, “According to a police report, on the night of Nov. 5, 2013, a 911 caller stated Imperato’s white Mercedes-Benz was driving erratically in the 2400 block of West Palmetto Park Road in Boca Raton. Once pulled over by officials, a dashboard camera showed Imperato repeatedly refusing the officer’s request for her to step out of her vehicle. That officer claimed he smelled alcohol on her breath, her eyes were red, and her speech was slow and slurred. She refused to take a breathalyzer test”.

Police told that a field sobriety test was issued to her which she refused. A blood sample was not drawn at the police station either for whatever reason.

According to a report by the Florida Sun-Sentinel, Imperato allegedly pulled out her judicial credentials in an attempt to get the cops to let her slide, said the prosecutors.

Defense attorneys claim that the police investigation was flawed and that police officers might have been angling for promotions by busting a judge, the Daily Business Review showed.

A detail was given by CBS News Miami about whether the judge stays on the bench is ultimately the call of the Florida Supreme Court, after the state’s Judicial Qualifications Commission looks into the case.

Other than that, as the Inquistr reported before, drunk driving charges against a Texas judge were recently dropped when the dashcam recorded video of the traffic stop somehow never reached the prosecutor.

News Source: www.Inquisitr.com