How many more of the Bronx's Assistant District Attorneys must be arrested for drunk driving before Bronx DA Robert Johnson makes his office watch one of those horrific driver's ed videos? 26-year-old Assistant District Attorney Rafael Urena was stopped at a checkpoint on East 61st Street in Manhattan at 3:40 a.m. on Saturday morning and allegedly registered a .081 BAC on a Breathalyzer. Sources tell the Post that Urena told officers he was aware of the BAC monitoring device: "Yeah, I know what it is; I'm a Bronx assistant district attorney."
Previously, former Bronx ADA Stephen Lopresti was charged with DWI and beat the case because of his arresting officer's involvement with the NYPD's ticket-fixing scandal. Jennifer Troiano, who allegedly avoided DWI charges in 2004 and 2006 thanks to her colleagues in the ADA's office, recently beat a possible license suspension in a three-car pileup on the Major Deegan in August 2010. Troiano refused to submit to a Breathalyzer test and admitted to drinking that night.
But according to the Daily News her attorney—the same one used by Lopresti—successfully argued that police waited longer than the maximum of two hours to ask her to submit to the test. She avoided a year-long license suspension and still possesses a valid license, and continues to await trial for the DWI charge.
The Post's sources say that Urena was also arrested in 2010 for driving with a suspended license, and was charged with marijuana possession in 2004, but that case is under seal. Urena's LinkedIn page, which has been taken down, showed that he is a 2007 graduate of Saint John's and a 2011 graduate of the American University School of Law, and has been working for the Bronx ADA's office since October. We've placed a call to the Bronx ADA's office and are still awaiting comment.
[UPDATE] A spokesperson from the Bronx DA's office notes that Stephen Lopresti hasn't been with the Bronx DA's office in over 20 years, and says they are "still gathering the facts with respect to Raphael Urena."
