<font size=3>Bankruptcy judge faces license loss after traffic stop [/color]
His lawyer says Judge Arthur N. Votolato's rights were violated by Warwick police, who exaggerated the case.
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01:00 AM EDT on Friday, September 10, 2004
BY ZACHARY R. MIDER
Journal Staff Writer [/color]
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Arthur N. Votolato spent some time on the other side of the bench yesterday, appearing at the state Traffic Tribunal to face an accusation of refusing to submit to a breath test.
Votolato, who has been the state's only bankruptcy judge for decades, smelled of alcohol when the Warwick police stopped his car on Post Road two weeks ago, according to a police report. After eating dinner on Federal Hill, he had been driving at night with his headlights off.
Votolato pleaded not guilty to the traffic violation yesterday before Judge Albert Ciullo. A conference on the matter is scheduled for next Wednesday.
His lawyer, Richard S. Humphrey, said the police violated Votolato's rights and exaggerated the facts of the case. The headlights were off because of a mechanical problem, Humphrey said. "He's guilty of driving with a bad alternator, that's it."
On Aug. 27, at about 9:23 p.m., Sgt. Robert C. Rocco was patrolling Post Road when he saw a white Mazda convertible in the opposite lane with its lights off, according to a report he wrote later.
Rocco pulled the car over. Votolato emerged, explaining that his car's alternator was failing. Rocco smelled alcohol on Votolato's breath and noticed he was staggering and his eyes were red, the report said.
Suspecting that Votolato was drunk, Rocco administered a field sobriety test, which he said the judge failed. A passenger also appeared too drunk to drive, Rocco said, so he had the car towed.
Back at police headquarters, at about 10 p.m., Rocco said he asked Votolato to take the breath test, and he refused. At 10:45, Rocco said, the judge signed a form declining to take the test and got a ride home.
His lawyer said Votolato was unsteady that night because of his artificial hip. And he said the police violated his rights by informing him of the consequences of refusing the test only after he had done so.
"This is a case that could happen to any [elderly man] with a broken hip that went out to dinner," Humphrey said.
The police are asking to have Votolato's driver's license suspended while the court case proceeds, Humphrey said. He said he will challenge that request.
Votolato, 74, who lives near the site of the traffic stop in Warwick, was appointed the U.S. District Court's bankruptcy referee in 1968. When a separate U.S. Bankruptcy Court was created in Rhode Island years later, he was named its first and only judge.
Under Rhode Island law, anyone who drives a car consents to a chemical test. Someone suspected of drunken driving who refuses to take the test can face fines and the loss of his driver's license.
Votolato was not charged with drunken driving, a criminal offense.
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