Guilty, or not guilty? What say you, the jury?
Posted on 02/17/2008 5:15:32 AM PST by Leisler
A 63-year-old Massachusetts federal bankruptcy judge has resigned a week after he was arrested for driving under the influence in New Hampshire while reportedly wearing a woman’s dress, heels and stockings, and carrying a purse.
Judge Robert Somma, a Newbury resident, pleaded no contest to the drunken driving charge in New Hampshire and agreed to have his license suspended for 12 months, the Manchester Union Leader reported.
“He decided with the media coverage the way it had been, it was best to put this behind him,” Gary Wenta, circuit executive for Boston’s First Federal Circuit, told the Herald.
Wenta said Somma worked in private practice for years in Boston before he was appointed to the bench by President Bush in December 2004. He will remain on leave until he resigns on April 1, after roughly three years on the job.
“He’s a highly respected member of the bar and remains so,” Wenta said. “He was serving a 14-year appointment. This will leave him without a pension.”
The Union Leader reported yesteday that Somma crashed his Mercedes into the rear of a car stopped on Elm Street after leaving a bar in the city last week.
When cops arrived, the paper reported, Somma was wearing a cocktail dress, fishnet stockings, women’s heels and fumbled through a purse for his driver’s license.
Somma had a hard time keeping his balance, smelled of alcohol and slurred his speech, the paper reported, citing the Manchester police report. He failed a field sobriety test and took a breath test at the station that registered a blood-alcohol level of .12.
He told police he drank two gin and tonics at a Manchester bar. He said he came to New Hampshire because his wife was out of town and nobody knew him in the city, the paper reported.
A phone call placed to Somma’s home was not immediately returned yesterday. The Manchester Police Department also did not return a call for comment.
During his career, Somma has hosted numerous legal talks at the Boston Bar Association. He was called on frequently for legal workshops when bankruptcy laws recently changed to help lawyers maneuver through new regulations.
Guilty, or not guilty? What say you, the jury?
sick and sad, I hope he gets help, if there is help for this kind of mental problem.
You are the entire world?
If asked how your self esteem is lately, how would you answer it? lol...
Here Come da judge! Here come da judge!
They know now. I always heard a judge was just a lawyer in a dress but this is ridiculous
Regards
He’s been hiding this from the wife for how long and where did he keep his heels when she was in town?
Somma’s Mercedes-Benz E320 sedan hit a pickup truck from behind about 11:29 p.m. on Feb. 6, the police report said. No one was hurt.
Somma fumbled in his purse for his driver’s license before handing it to the officer who later arrested him, according to a police report.
The arresting officer reported Somma smelled of alcohol, slurred his speech and fell backward against the doorframe while getting out of his car.
The judge failed the field sobriety test and, after taking a breath test at the police station, was arrested on alternative charges of driving while under the influence of alcohol and driving with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or more, according to the police report and court records. Somma also was charged with following another vehicle too closely and causing an accident, a violation.
Somma told police he had been at the Breezeway Pub where he had one gin and tonic about two hours earlier, the police report reveals. He later said he drank two gin and tonics.
The Breezeway Pub, at 14 Pearl St., bills itself as “New Hampshire’s favorite gay and alternative bar,” according to its Web site.
Yuck! He looks like the killer in Silence of the Lambs.
Judge quits after cross dressing DUI bust
Wenta said Somma worked in private practice for years in Boston before he was appointed to the bench by President Bush in December 2004.
"When cops arrived after Somma crashed his car, he was wearing a cocktail dress, fishnet stockings, women’s heels and fumbled through a purse for his driver’s license."
Why was it "a purse" instead of "his purse" LOL!
This story made me think of a song by THE RED ELVISES. They do music like the Ventures did in the 1960s. Surf music was all guitar, but these guys have added words. They are from Russia and they are GREAT. The song that came to mind was RED EYES, RED LIPS, RED STOCKINGS. If you get a chance to see this band they are fantastic in concert. Check them out at...
http://www.redelvises.com/
These are the characteristic credentials one needs to be a Massachusetts judge.
"14 Pearl Street, Manchester, New Hampshire Open seven days! 4:00 pm - 1:00 am (603) 621-9111 New Hampshire's Favorite 21+ Gay & Alternative Bar where we don't JUDGE our customers!"
You should see our state judges.
With a face like that, you'd probably have to have a BAC of .12 just to look at yourself in the mirror. And no wonder his wife is out of town a lot. But next time, she'll have to lock up her closet.
God Bless this fine representative of Democrat party inclusiveness and progressivism. Every good male Democrat has a boner he’s trying to mollify.
If two G&T’s can get you this bombed, they must have been serving them by the Pitcher.
I'm supposed to feel sorry for him? He resigned. Of course it will leave him without a pension. Resignations have that effect.
He's free to stay on the bench for the next 11 years in order to get his pension. No one dare fire him for his ... peccadilloes. But he will have to tolerate the snickers.
I belive he is a Republican( they take anyone, as we all know ). Gin and Tonic, Newbury, Massachusetts. Yeah, it fits.
( By the way, Newbury once had the rep of divorce capital of Massachusetts.)
Hey, it could've been worse. Ted Kennedy could have been behind the wheel.
Cheers!
As Howie Carr said, the mug shot is inadequate. Need a picture with the cocktail dress, stockings and purse.
He SHOULD have been arrested. Fishnets with a cocktail dress is soooooooo .... gauche.
If he were in Colorado, they’d give him 2 unisex bathrooms and demand we call him Ma’am.
He is a Republican, the same party as Larry Craig and Rudy Giulian.
“He’s a highly respected member of the bar and remains so,”
First part of the sentence? Maybe. Second part? Not so much.
Must be one in Greenwich Village.
If his campaign contributions are any indication, you might be mistaken.
That guy would make a queer looking woman..
Now it could be me who is mistaken.
He was appointed the the Bench by Bush.
About the only thing we can say for sure about the guy is that he is a weirdo.
I did not vote for President Bush so that he could appoint Cross Dressing Alcoholic Democrats to the Bench.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1974836/posts?page=5
Might be of interest..
In Maine, no photo and no name ...
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