Lisa Rooney appeared briefly before the new judge assigned to her fatal drunken driving case in Suffolk County Criminal Court in Riverhead on Friday morning.
The Suffolk County District Attorney's office requested Ms. Rooney be ordered to submit to a D.N.A. swab to connect her to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital after crash that killed John James Usma-Quintero, a 28-year-old who was bicycling home from work in Montauk on Oct. 30.
Her attorney, Marc C. Gann, consented to a buccal swab, a way to collect DNA samples from inside the cheek. "It's a formality more than anything else," he said outside of the proceeding.
There are two blood samples from the night of the crash. The first, obtained through a warrant, was taken at 9:33 p.m., more than three hours after the crash, at police headquarters, showed her blood alcohol was more than twice the legal limit at .18, according to the D.A.'s office. The second toxicology report, from blood drawn at the hospital at 10:50 p.m., shows her blood alcohol level was .13.
The blood drawn at the police station automatically has chain of custody established, but the chain of custody for the blood drawn at the hospital is less clear because it is drawn by a hospital employee; the DNA analysis is expected to connect Ms. Rooney to that sample.
She will have to submit to the swab sometime between now and her next court date on April 3.
Asked how his client is doing, Mr. Gann said she is continuing an in-patient treatment program, which she entered in the days after the accident. "She's distraught over this whole set of circumstances and incredibly remorseful," he said, adding that she wants to reach out to the victim's family, but he has advised against it, "although I think she's going to try and write something and have me review it because she wants to get something to them to express her regret for what happened."
A trial seems unlikely. Mr. Gann said he and the D.A.'s office are in the midst of "working toward a resolution that is just all the way around. That's really what the goal here is."
His client is facing 8 1/3 to 25 years on the top count of aggravated vehicular homicide. He conceded prison time would likely be a component of any deal. "We anticipate there is going to be some significant consequence but exactly what that is I don't know yet."
Mr. Usma-Quintero's cousin Jennifer Cano of East Hampton and his girlfriend, Valentina Garcia of Montauk, were in court on Friday, but had little to say after talking to the prosecutor. Simon Q. Ramone, a White Plains attorney, accompanied them. He said a petition for a public administrator has been filed with the Suffolk County Surrogate's Court to begin a civil action on behalf of Mr. Usma-Quintero's estate.
Ms. Rooney remains free without bail — due to new state laws which prohibited any bail from being set. She had been arraigned before Judge Fernando Camacho in Central Islip, but he recused himself because he knows Ms. Rooney's mother, Bruna L. DiBiase, a New York City judge. The case was transferred to Acting State Supreme Court Justice Mark Cohen's calendar.
"Judge Camacho, we kind of knew from the get-go, wasn't going to really be able to stay on the case, because he knows my client's mother rather well," Mr. Gann said. "Even though the D.A. and I would not have been uncomfortable with that, I don't think he was comfortable with that."
