Blake
04-19-2013, 05:41 PM
"Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg was taken into custody Friday morning after being sentenced to 45 days in jail for driving while intoxicated. Lehmberg pleaded guilty to the charge Friday following her arrest over the weekend for drunken driving, according to the Associated Press. She later apologized for her actions and announced she would plead guilty to a DWI charge and not seek any plea agreement.
But the 63-year-old chief prosecutor has said she has no plans to give up the office, which she has held since 2009. She was re-elected last year and her current term runs through 2016. The Austin American-Statesman called on her to step down in a sharply worded editorial on Friday. And a local attorney has filed a petition under an obscure state law allowing a district attorney to be removed from office for intoxication “on or off duty caused by drinking an alcoholic beverage."
News reports indicate that her blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit when she was arrested in West Austin after a witness called 911 late Friday to report a car being driven erratically and veering into oncoming traffic. A blood alcohol content that is twice the legal limit – 0.15 or above – is listed in the criminal code as a Class A misdemeanor, subject to a maximum sentence of a year in jail and a $4,000 fine. An attorney for Lehmberg said she has assigned staff to run the district attorney’s office while she is incarcerated."
http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/04/travis-county-da-sentenced-to-45-days-in-jail-for-dwi.html/
But the 63-year-old chief prosecutor has said she has no plans to give up the office, which she has held since 2009. She was re-elected last year and her current term runs through 2016. The Austin American-Statesman called on her to step down in a sharply worded editorial on Friday. And a local attorney has filed a petition under an obscure state law allowing a district attorney to be removed from office for intoxication “on or off duty caused by drinking an alcoholic beverage."
News reports indicate that her blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit when she was arrested in West Austin after a witness called 911 late Friday to report a car being driven erratically and veering into oncoming traffic. A blood alcohol content that is twice the legal limit – 0.15 or above – is listed in the criminal code as a Class A misdemeanor, subject to a maximum sentence of a year in jail and a $4,000 fine. An attorney for Lehmberg said she has assigned staff to run the district attorney’s office while she is incarcerated."
http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/04/travis-county-da-sentenced-to-45-days-in-jail-for-dwi.html/