‘Back-to-Back D.W.I.s’

A Springs man who is facing an aggravated charge of drunken driving for the second time in seven months may do jail time if convicted, East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana warned him at his arraignment.

During the Presidents Day weekend, East Hampton Town police stopped Edgar Roman Villa Albarracin, 48, on Old Orchard Lane, East Hampton, for a traffic infraction and suspected he was intoxicated. He failed roadside tests, they said, and was taken back to headquarters, where a breath test reportedly produced a reading of .18 of 1 percent.

Mr. Villa Albarracin’s earlier arrest was on July 16. That night, police said, the breath test produced an even higher reading, over .19. A reading of .18 or higher leads to the aggravated D.W.I. charge.

Because his license is still suspended from July’s arrest, Mr. Villa Albarracin now faces a felony charge of driving without a license.

Normally, he would have been arraigned locally on Feb. 17, the morning after his arrest. However, both East Hampton Justices, Steven Tekulsky and Lisa R. Rana, were in New York City that day taking annual judicial education courses, required of all New York State justices. In their stead, Mr. Villa-Albarracin was taken to Southampton Town Court in Hampton Bays to be arraigned by Justice Deborah Kooperstein.

There, he told the court he did not want to be arraigned without his attorney present, his right under the Constitution. The attorney, Christopher Worth of Riverhead, was not available. So Mr. Villa Albarracin was taken back to East Hampton Town police headquarters in Wainscott, where he spent the next 24 hours in a holding cell.

On Feb. 18, he was brought to the East Hampton courthouse, with Justice Rana, back from the city, presiding, and his attorney by his side. Mr. Worth argued for a lower bail than the $10,000 the district attorney’s office had requested. He told Justice Rana his client had never missed a court date and had lived in East Hampton for several years. The defendant was not a flight risk, Mr. Worth argued, and wasn’t that the point of bail?

“That is one of the points,” Justice Rana answered. But circumstances had changed, she said. “Now we have two alleged D.W.I.s.”

Mr. Worth said Mr. Villa Albarracin had been under great duress recently. “The defendant’s mother is dying of cancer, and she just took a turn for the worse.”

“This is his second criminal charge. He is looking at some possible jail time with back-to-back D.W.I.’s” at the aggravated level, Justice Rana replied. She set bail at $5,000, which was posted later that day.

A Sag Harbor resident was arrested on D.W.I. charges early Saturday morning in the hamlet of North Sea. Southampton Town police stopped John J. Farry, 20, at the intersection of Noyac and North Sea Roads for allegedly swerving out of lane, and added two moving violations to the charge. He was arraigned in Southampton Justice Court later that morning, and after pleading not guilty, was released without bail. He was given a return date on the court’s criminal calendar.