Trial avoided at last minute
NORWICH – A man scheduled to begin his jury trial Monday worked out a deal with the prosecution while 60 potential jurors waited in the Chenango County Court house.
Jury selection was scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m., and dozens of citizens lined themselves up to pass through security and occupy the pews before the judge’s stand.
Mark Dexter was to go before the court accused of bail jumping. He was found not guilty of driving while intoxicated at an earlier trial and found guilty of driving while ability impaired. He had been wanted for a DWI and did not appear for court.
In the deal worked out by his defense attorney, Jeffrey Leibo, Dexter will serve no jail time. The ruling will suspend sentencing for one year while he attends Cortland County Drug Treatment Court. “If at the end of that year he stays out of trouble then the court will allow him to plea to a misdemeanor,” said Leibo. The prosecution objected to the court’s ruling, said Leibo.
The District Attorney’s Office had brought the additional felony charges against Dexter after failing to convict him of a felony at a prior trial.
“Mr. McBride had his chance to prosecute these charges already, the timing of which proves that they are designed at a vendetta against my client who a jury found innocent of committing any felony at the previous trial,” said Leibo at a previous court appearance.
The District Attorney’s Office refused to make any comment.
The bail charge comes from a bench warrant for a Chenango DWI issued in 2003. After Dexter failed to notify the court within 30 days and not showing up for a court appointment, the DA pressed bail jumping charges.
Leibo says Dexter had been stopped by police several times in the last three years, but was never notified a warrant was out for his arrest. “He sat in his home wondering about what was going on,” he said.
Dexter has two prior felony DWI convictions and has been arrested by police in Cortland County for a separate DWI charge. After that arrest, he was found to be wanted by county officials in Chenango for a DWI three years prior, and turned over to Chenango County Sheriff’s Department.
Dexter was free to go and left the courtroom with his wife.
e-mail: tmurphy@evesun.com
Jury selection was scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m., and dozens of citizens lined themselves up to pass through security and occupy the pews before the judge’s stand.
Mark Dexter was to go before the court accused of bail jumping. He was found not guilty of driving while intoxicated at an earlier trial and found guilty of driving while ability impaired. He had been wanted for a DWI and did not appear for court.
In the deal worked out by his defense attorney, Jeffrey Leibo, Dexter will serve no jail time. The ruling will suspend sentencing for one year while he attends Cortland County Drug Treatment Court. “If at the end of that year he stays out of trouble then the court will allow him to plea to a misdemeanor,” said Leibo. The prosecution objected to the court’s ruling, said Leibo.
The District Attorney’s Office had brought the additional felony charges against Dexter after failing to convict him of a felony at a prior trial.
“Mr. McBride had his chance to prosecute these charges already, the timing of which proves that they are designed at a vendetta against my client who a jury found innocent of committing any felony at the previous trial,” said Leibo at a previous court appearance.
The District Attorney’s Office refused to make any comment.
The bail charge comes from a bench warrant for a Chenango DWI issued in 2003. After Dexter failed to notify the court within 30 days and not showing up for a court appointment, the DA pressed bail jumping charges.
Leibo says Dexter had been stopped by police several times in the last three years, but was never notified a warrant was out for his arrest. “He sat in his home wondering about what was going on,” he said.
Dexter has two prior felony DWI convictions and has been arrested by police in Cortland County for a separate DWI charge. After that arrest, he was found to be wanted by county officials in Chenango for a DWI three years prior, and turned over to Chenango County Sheriff’s Department.
Dexter was free to go and left the courtroom with his wife.
e-mail: tmurphy@evesun.com
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