Posted on 06/07/2005 4:51:02 AM PDT by Born Conservative
Roberta Petrucci and husband John react emotionally when judge gives her 30 days to year.
WILKES-BARRE – Roberta Petrucci crouched to the floor and loudly wept in front of a judge after learning she was going to prison for at least the next 30 days for tampering with a hubcap at the scene of her husband’s drunken-driving crash.
“Oh God, please,” she bellowed, rapidly flailing her hands as her stunned husband, a former councilman, and tearful daughter watched from the gallery behind her. “No. Do something.”
Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. sentenced the 48-year-old Exeter woman on Monday to 30 days to one year in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility on a misdemeanor count of tampering with evidence that a jury convicted her of in May.
She was shackled and taken to prison after her sentencing, while an ambulance was summoned for her husband, who also dropped to the ground upon leaving the courthouse, officials said.
He was OK and left the courthouse before the ambulance’s arrival.
The sentence did not sit well with Petrucci’s husband, former Exeter Councilman John Petrucci, or her attorney.
“It’s completely unfair,” attorney Joseph Sklarosky Sr. said. “She’s in jail because her name is Petrucci.”
The charge stemmed from a 4:40 a.m. wreck Aug. 22 involving John Petrucci.
Police said the 50-year-old had a blood-alcohol level of 0.16 percent when a vehicle he was driving struck a building at Lincoln Street and Wyoming Avenue in Exeter, and fled the scene. An adult driver in Pennsylvania is considered intoxicated with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent.
Police said Petrucci’s wife was found at the scene, retrieving a hubcap and another part of the car, before leaving the scene.
The tampering charge called for a standard minimum sentence of probation, and Assistant District Attorney Jeff Tokach left the sentencing up to the judge, telling him Roberta Petrucci had no prior record.
Petrucci, though, never offered an apology or showed any remorse for her actions. She has adamantly denied being the woman at the scene, and she stuck by that stance Monday, again telling Olszewski she was not at the scene.
Her words were a heavy factor in Olszewski’s decision to stray from imposing a sentence of probation.
“I note the defendant’s complete and total lack of candor,” he said, also noting Roberta Petrucci was intoxicated at the scene. “Like the jury, I also don’t believe you.”
The judge noted arresting officer Dion Fernandes testified that he knew Petrucci for years and was positive he saw her with the hubcap at the crash site.
Outside the courtroom, Petrucci’s husband did not want to speak with a reporter, but loudly criticized the sentence as he spoke with Sklarosky.
“For a hubcap?” he said. “Has this area lost its mind? Over a hubcap you go to jail? … She’ll lose her mind in there.”
Sklarosky said his client had a good reason for not offering an apology or showing any remorse. She was not the person at the scene tampering with the hubcap, he said.
“So what does an innocent person do?” an admittedly angry Sklarosky said.
He said Olszewski should have considered that Fernandes, possibly, misidentified Roberta Petrucci as the woman and sentenced her to probation. Because of the jail sentence, Petrucci will likely lose her job as the business manager of a Kingston roller skating rink, said Sklarosky. She has worked there for 24 years but cannot apply for work release for 10 days, he said.
Sklarosky said he considered asking Olszewski to allow Petrucci to remain free pending an appeal in the case. The attorney figured Olszewski would have denied that request. Sklarosky will file a motion asking Olszewski to reconsider the sentence.
John Petrucci was convicted of a drunken driving charge in May and will be sentenced later this month by Judge Michael Toole. He faces 72 hours to six months in prison, and might be allowed to serve the sentence on house arrest.
John Petrucci made headlines in 2001 as an Exeter councilman when he was accused of asking part-time police officer Carrie Gula not to file drunken-driving charges against his friend Gary Ball.
Police said Ball had been drinking vodka at Petrucci’s home before being stopped. Gula filed the charges and shortly after was not reappointed to her position. She was later reappointed and Petrucci entered the county’s Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program on a misdemeanor count of obstructing administration of law.
Gula filed a federal lawsuit against the borough and received an $115,000 settlement. Petrucci has since lost his seat on council.
He remains free pending his sentencing in the drunken-driving case.
Damn. Got me excited for a moment. I thought there was going to be a picture of Hellary doing the perp walk.
I doubt the wife of this crook will "lose her mind" during her 30 days in jail, but she will miss her liquor. She should use the month to dry out and think about a divorce.
As a first grader said to the teacher (my wife): "You might have seen me do it but I didn't do it."
As the mother of the first grader said to the principal and the teacher: "Well, you might have have seen him do it, but if he said he didn't do it. . .he didn't do it."
"She’ll lose her mind in there.”
It sounds like she's already lost her mind.
Past, present and future Demokratz.................
Now THAT'S gonna hurt!
This guy should give up alcohol before something serious happens.
This woman seems to be taking this approach. And I notice that it's not a successful strategy.
Sounds like a television series could be done on these two.
If you get off watching good people go to jail than you are a very sick person.
I wonder if she looked like that air-activated roadside advertisement?
She should have used the Sandy Burglar defense - I put the hub cap in my under pants by mistake - no crime ..
Good people and "Hellary" (Hillary Clinton) are mutually exclusive. I find it hard to believe that your comment was intended to defend Hillary Clinton, 'cause that's who Dahoser was writing about.
I hope you realize someday that there is a law against every single action we take in life, to government, we citizens are nothing more than felons that have yet to be imprisoned.
You forget that this article is not about Hillary Clinton.
Agree with AC that you have a reading comprehension problem. But as for the people you apparently thought Dahoser was referring to:
Good people don't drive drunk, try to cover up evidence of other people's drunk driving, or lie in court. There are no good people going to jail in this story.
Good people, perhaps.
And if you can point out the "good" in this person (as in: innocence) or in "Hellary" (who is guilty of everything in the universe, to include the crucifixion of Christ), then perhaps I'd agree.
I'd dance in the streets if either one of the Clintons were to go to jail and I don't think I'd be alone.
After all, the nasty hog did the same thing, in effect, that the dumb ass in this report did, so why shouldn't she go to jail?
Where are the "good" people you speak of that makes him a very sick person?
Did I miss something?
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