East Hampton Cops Say She Drove Drunk With Kids in Car
A visitor to East Hampton who lives in Nairobi, Kenya, was arrested by town police Wednesday night for allegedly driving while intoxicated with her twin 10-year-olds in the car.
Under Leandra’s Law, named for an 11-year-old killed in a drunken driving accident on the Henry Hudson Parkway seven years ago, driving drunk with a child 15 or under in the car is an automatic felony.
Police said Julia Moffett, 47, was driving a 2007 Toyota S.U.V. without the headlights on at about 9:40 on Wednesday night on Pantigo Road near the intersection of Spring Close Highway. Stopped by police, she reportedly told the officer that she was coming from a party on Shelter Island, where she said she had had two glasses of wine, at about 6 p.m. She failed roadside sobriety tests and was arrested on a drunken driving charge as a misdemeanor, along with the felony charge. Her twins were in the backseat of the car, according to the arresting officer.
After she was arrested, she agreed to allow police to draw blood to determine the level of alcohol in her body, which was done a little over two hours later.
According to Rudy Migliore, an assistant district attorney who handled the arraignment in East Hampton Town Justice Court on Thursday afternoon, once she was told she was under arrest, she resisted, kicking a police officer as she was being placed in the back of a patrol car. This resulted in an additional charge of resisting arrest.
Ms. Moffett, the former head of strategic planning in the Clinton White House and the National Security Council and a former vice-president at NBC News, told the court that she is a director at the Equity Group Foundation in Nairobi. The organization is a not-for-profit bank in Eastern Africa, dedicated to fighting poverty. Bill and Chelsea Clinton visited the organization last year.
Mr. Migliore pointed out to East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana that Ms. Moffett, who cried several times during the process, had no ties to East Hampton, asking bail to be set at $10,000. She had been staying with her parents in Stony Creek, Conn.
Daniel G. Rodgers, Ms. Moffett’s attorney, strongly objected, questioning the people’s case. He pointed out that police had taken a breath test at the side of the road, but the result of that test was not included in the paper work he had received. He also said that Ms. Moffett had offered to take a breath test at police headquarters, but the police, instead, waited for the blood test. The blood test is considered the most reliable indicator of the level of alcohol in the blood.
Ms. Moffett told Justice Rana she had planned to return to Kenya on Saturday, but the justice ordered her to turn over her passport. She also issued an order of protection for the two children that allows her to be with her children but requires that she refrain from any “injurious behavior” toward them. Mr. Rodgers strenuously objected to these actions. “I have never ever seen a case so serious lacking so many details,” he said. “There is no evidence that my client has done anything wrong,” he said. “If I was in the same position she was in, being taken away from my children, I would have put up a hell of a fight, too.” He called the accusatory document “boiler plate,” and said “There is zip” evidence.
“I’m not trying the case now,” Justice Rana said as she set bail at $5,000. “Other than the fact that she has friends on Shelter Island, she has no ties to this community,” she said.
It will be several days before the results of the blood test are in. She is due back in court Sept. 29. If her blood test comes back with a reading of .08 of 1 percent or higher, the legal definition of intoxication, the case will be presented to a grand jury for indictment and would be moved to county court.