Replies

http://www.nbc4i.com/news/4149702/detail.html

State Justice Charged With Drunken Driving
Patrol Says Resnick Failed Sobriety Tests

UPDATED: 6:47 PM EST February 1, 2005

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A state Supreme Court justice was pulled over and charged with driving under the influence after several motorists called to report an erratic driver on an interstate.

"A strong odor of alcohol was detected" on Justice Alice Robie Resnick, and police believe alcohol was the reason for the erratic driving, Lt. Rick Zwayer, a State Highway Patrol spokesman, said Tuesday.

Resnick, 65, of Toledo, was arrested Monday afternoon on Interstate 75 near Bowling Green in northwest Ohio, Zwayer said. She was driving a gold Jeep Cherokee, which is a state-issued vehicle, NBC 4's Nancy Burton reported.

She failed field sobriety tests and refused to take a blood-alcohol content test, Zwayer said. She also was charged with driving outside marked lines.

SLIDESHOW: Judge Pulled Over

An unofficial portable test was given along I-75, and Resnick tested at more than twice the legal limit, Burton reported. The test was given at about 2 p.m., Burton reported.

"What are you going to do with me, take me to jail?" Resnick asked at one point during the stop.

The Highway Patrol started following the judge after a number of drivers called 911, Burton reported.

"I have a car right in front of me going on 75 South swerving all over the place, going across the median," one caller said.

"I got what looks like a drunk driver out here on 75 southbound, south of Toledo," another caller said.

Resnick pulled over at mile marker 173.

"The way you were driving, I can't let you go on," an officer told Resnick.

The two troopers who pulled Resnick over called for a supervisor. Instead of waiting inside her car, Resnick confronted the two troopers, Burton reported.

"This is ridiculous," Resnick is heard saying on the in-cruiser camera. "There's nothing wrong with me."

Resnick conversed with the troopers often during the stop.

"I've always said the Highway Patrol should drive us to work," Resnick told the officers at one point. "They do it for the U.S. Supreme Court. This is so embarrassing."

FeedRoom

Justice Arrest On Tape

The trooper told Resnick that he could smell alcohol.

"Come on," Resnick responded. "I have not been drinking. You know you are really infringing on my ... OK, I'm not going to [inaudible]."

Resnick then returned to her vehicle.

Two Bowling Green officers first saw the judge get off the interstate and pull into a gas station earlier in the day, Burton reported.

According to police records, the officers asked Resnick if she had been drinking or was on any medicine. She said no.

Records showed that the judge told them she just wanted to go to Columbus and that she was not going to take any tests. The officers advised her not to leave, but Resnick rolled up her window and left, Burton reported.

She pulled over again six miles later, Burton reported.

Justice Alice Robie Resnick

Driving while intoxicated is a misdemeanor that carries a possible penalty of three days to six months in jail and a fine of $250 to $1,000. Resnick's driver's license was suspended for a year for refusing the breath test, although a judge can revise the suspension to a shorter period or up to three years.

A message seeking comment was left for Resnick, who did not attend court hearings Tuesday on a death penalty case and a medical malpractice case. Resnick, a justice since 1989, is the court's only Democrat.

Court officials said there is no automatic disciplinary action when a judge is charged with driving under the influence.

Resnick, who previously served as an assistant county prosecutor, a municipal judge and a state appeals court judge, has voted in a handful of drunken driving cases with the Supreme Court.

In 1996, for example, she wrote the majority opinion in a case that said police do not have to tell people suspected of drunken driving that they have the right to a second, independent blood alcohol test.

Her arrest came just days after the conclusion of a long-running court battle over an unsuccessful attempt by business groups to unseat her in 2000. On Friday, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce was forced to disclose who contributed to the advertising campaign.

Faced with $25,000 in daily fines, the chamber complied with a court order by providing a list of 383 donors who gave $4.2 million to a chamber organization that raised money to defeat Resnick.

Business groups are said to dislike Resnick because of votes she cast that went against the insurance industry and companies trying to limit personal injury lawsuits.

The campaign included a television ad showing a female justice changing a vote after bags of money are dumped on her desk.

Since Republicans regained control of the court in 2003, justices have made a handful of rulings that businesses say are more favorable to their interests.