NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Bristol County prosecutors refiled drunk driving charges against a Dartmouth man after 25 Investigates exposed how suspected drunk drivers frequently beat the cases against them in Massachusetts.
In February, Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen visited 10 local courts in and around Boston and reviewed dozens of drunken driving cases from a two week period in 2015.
Records revealed defendants accused of operating under the influence, or OUI, exploited loopholes that keep them on the road. Many beat their charges by challenging police reports, exploiting errors in court procedure and delaying their cases for months or even years.
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That includes 54 year-old James DeCosta Jr. of Dartmouth.
The court recently reopened and dismissed a conviction in a 30 year-old OUI case against DeCosta – based on a procedural mistake by a judge – in 1985.
A judge also dismissed a more recent case against DeCosta -- which could have been his 3rd OUI conviction -- but he trooper who made the arrest didn’t show up for the trial. State Police say he was given the wrong court date, but without the testimony of that trooper, the judge dismissed the case.
After 25 Investigates reported on the case, the Bristol County District Attorney's Office filed a motion to reconsider the dismissal and the judge granted the request, reopening the case and sending DeCosta back to court on Thursday.
"I haven't been arrested in over 30 years. I'm not a criminal," DeCosta said to Rasmussen after walking out of New Bedford District Court.
DeCosta acknowledged his last arrest was actually in December 2015, in the drunk driving case for which he's now charged, but DeCosta insists he wasn't drunk. He said he was "distraught" over the anniversary of a close friend's death, five years earlier.
"I drank two shots of liquor in a toast to my uncle - I mean, my best friend and my brother's," said DeCosta.
A witness in the case, Eric Brasidio, told 25 Investigates he saw DeCosta driving erratically through New Bedford and Dartmouth before rear-ending another car, just off of Route 195. State Police say he failed a sobriety test and had a blood alcohol level above the legal limit.
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Troopers also found a six-pack of beer in his van with two bottles missing and one already open.
Brasidio said DeCosta was unsteady on his feet while speaking to police.
"Was I being reckless on the road? I'm sure I was," said DeCosta who denied hitting another car even though a Dartmouth Police officer witnessed a crash, according to the arrest report.
"They would not let me show them that for being human one night and expressing how distraught I was, that I couldn't drive," said DeCosta.
He's due back in court for a pretrial hearing in September.