Kahuna
LIF Toddler
Member since 4/10 497 total posts
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Joe Giudice's DWI sentence reduced
Husband of Montville, NJ 'Real Housewife' Teresa Giudice gets reduction in DWI penalties
By Peggy Wright • Staff Writer • August 20, 2010
MORRISTOWN -- A Superior Court judge today significantly lessened the penalties heaped on the husband of ''Real Housewives of New Jersey'' star Teresa Giudice for driving drunk in Montville in January.
''Certainly you're not a Boy Scout but I don't think you're John Dillinger either,'' Judge Philip Maenza told Giuseppe ''Joe'' Giudice, 40, in deciding his appeal of the DWI sentence he received in March from Montville Municipal Court Judge Seth Davenport.
For Giudice's first drunken driving conviction, Davenport had imposed maximum penalties of a one-year driver's license loss, a $500 fine, and 48 hours at the Intoxicated Driver Resource Center. Davenport also ordered Giudice to serve either 30 days community service or 30 days in jail.
On Giudice's appeal, filed by defense lawyer Joseph Afflitto Jr., Maenza cut out the 30 days community service or jail time altogether. He reduced the license loss to seven months, slashed the fine to $300, and told Giudice to complete 12 hours at the IDRC. Other mandatory fines of about $358 remained unchanged.
Afflitto argued that Davenport abused his discretion, perhaps because of Giudice's celebrity status or because he fought the DWI at trial. The lawyer contended that Giudice was polite and cooperative with police, did not injure anyone when he flipped his pick-up truck on Jacksonville Road, and was not egregiously drunk. Giudice did not appeal the DWI finding, only the sentence.
His blood-alcohol content after the crash was .11 percent, or above the .08 percent level at which a driver is considered legally drunk in New Jersey.
Relying on transcripts of the municipal court trial, Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Matheu Nunn argued for the original sentence to remain intact. He said it was largely based on Giudice's driving record, which had 39 points on it as of the time of trial. Nunn also noted that Giudice was fortunate he didn't hurt anyone while driving drunk on a public roadway.
After he struck a telephone pole and flipped over, Giudice got out of the truck and went to a neighbor's house, where police found him about 45 minutes later. Nunn said he believes Giudice was hoping his blood-alcohol content would dissipate before police tracked him down.
But the judge -- who has handled thousands of DWI cases in his past 20-year career as a municipal court judge -- said many of Giudice's driving record points and suspensions over the years were based on ''inconsequential'' violations. They include, he said, failure to pay parking tickets, failure to maintain lamps, speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, and using his cell phone while driving.
While not condoning any of Giudice's actions or his record, the judge said he believed the penalties were too harsh but he warned him not to make the mistake of drunken driving again.
''I think this is a case that called for minimum penalties,'' Maenza said.
Giudice surrendered his license in March and now can get it back in October instead of next March. He declined comment after the hearing.
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seaside
LIF Adult
Member since 6/08 3101 total posts
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Re: Joe Giudice's DWI sentence reduced
I am sickened by this. It is also extremely disrespectful to call it "inconsequential" that this guys does what he wants when he wants, ignores tickets, endangers those around him by talking on the phone on the road. etc.
It's about time drunk drivers started getting the sentences they deserve and facing some consequences. 
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SpiceGirl
Dream big
Member since 1/06 2486 total posts
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j
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Re: Joe Giudice's DWI sentence reduced
Why is it that 'celebrities' ALWAYS seem to get away with stuff that the regular guy would be locked up for?????? This chump isn't even rich, so he couldn't buy his way out of charge. What gives?????
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