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Mr. Corletta scored still another impressive victory, this time in rural, prosecution-oriented Yates County, in People v. D.K. (Potter Tn. Ct., 1/11/19). The difficulty of this case made this triumph most striking.

 

          Here, a retired police officer town justice who had contact with a witness on the night of the arrest dismissed all charges against the client, including suppressing a .26 blood test, finding a lack of probable cause to arrest.

 

          What was more critical is that this was Mr. Corletta’s client's 6th DWI arrest, which would have meant a lifetime license revocation for the client, a construction worker who needed to drive. The problems started at the beginning of the case, in December, 2017, where an aggressive Assistant District Attorney, a former District Attorney of a contiguous county, requested bail for the client, who had lived in the area their entire life and was fully employed.

 

          Mr. Corletta had difficulty getting his client hardship driving privileges, which were conditioned on the client participating in treatment. Mr. Corletta’s client completed treatment nearly a year ago.

 

          However, not giving up, Mr. Corletta attacked the case vigorously, filing multiple motions, including Motions to Dismiss and to recuse the Judge. Although the preliminary Motions to Dismiss were denied, Mr. Corletta raised additional issues, including the unwitting participation of the Town Justice in speaking to a witness to the motor vehicle accident on the night of the arrest, when the witness went to the Town Justice’s home.

 

          In addition, Mr. Corletta challenged probable cause to arrest, and conducted a full hearing on the issue where he repeatedly hammered home the argument that the People’s proof was insufficient to prove his client had recently operated the vehicle involved in the accident, on a dark,. Unpaved rural road. Mr. Corletta’s client was found outside the vehicle, and the People wanted the Court to assume the client was the driver, without providing adequate proof of actual operation.

 

          Finally, after over a year of litigation, countless motions and Memoranda, Mr. Corletta’s argument was fully sustained in a written decision, citing several cases Mr. Corletta had previously handled, including one from contiguous town. The result was outright dismissal of the charges and restoration of Mr. Corletta’s client's license and ability to work.

 

          What made this result more impressive was that it happened in a rural county with an over 90% conviction rate in DWI cases. Mr. Corletta’s persistence and advocacy dealt a stinging defeat to an over-confident District Attorney who simply did not carry the People’s burden at the hearing, and was called on it by Mr. Corletta.

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