Exclusive: Man Convicted Of 5 DWIs Served Hardly Any Jailtime
NEW YORK -- There is outrage and allegations that a driver with five drunk-driving arrests is getting preferential treatment. The Long Island man has spent just two days behind bars. And some wonder if the fact that a family member was a judge has something to do with it.
The man has somehow managed to avoid substantial jail through five alcohol-related driving convictions.
The president of Long Island's Mothers Against Drunk Driving chapter said she thinks she knows why.
"He's got a connection," Deena Cohen told CBS 2's Sean Hennessey. "His grandfather is a retired judge. I think that is part of the reason that his sentences have been nothing."
Christopher Samenga's DWI journey began in 1992 at the age of 16. The record is sealed, but he was arrested six years later in Nassau County and received 5 years probation. An arrest in 2002 in Vermont got him two days in jail but picked up again in 2003 in Manhattan he drew three years probation. And two years after that, when a judge gave him seven days in jail he somehow never served. Then there was the arrest eight months ago and once again the sentence was probation.
He is the grandson of retired Nassau County judge Alfred Samenga, who on Tuesday afternoon at his home in Massapequa Park was indignant at any suggestion Christopher has gotten preferential treatment.
"I didn't go to court with him. The case was handled by outside counsel from Albany," he said.
The judge at Christopher Samenga's sentencing last week, though, even mentioned his judicial connection from the bench. Judge Meryl Berkowitz, though, insisted she was being impartial in sentencing him to treatment rather than jail.
"You might think I am giving you that opportunity because I'm easy or because I liked your grandfather, but that is not the truth. I'm giving you the opportunity because I read the letters from the program and I believe you will stay sober," Berkowitz said.
Cohen begged to differ.
"This is a man … if he hasn't learned his lesson through six DWI convictions when will he?" Cohen said.
In court Samenga's attorneys said he has learned his lesson after this last drunken crash in Seaford back in November with a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit. They said he's been sober since. Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said she's disappointed with the sentence and called him a repeat offender who belongs in jail.
Reached by phone on Tuesday night, Samenga's attorney told CBS 2 HD this sentence of probation is clearly his client's last chance. An incident during the next five years, he said, will likely send him right to prison.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
