BOSTON, Feb. 15, 2013—A Winthrop man was convicted of his eighth drunk driving offense today for a 2011 incident in which he failed every single field sobriety test, then kicked out one of the windows of the arresting State trooper’s cruiser, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.
A Suffolk Superior Court jury today convicted JOSEPH F. LIMONE (D.O.B. 6/18/51) of operating under the influence, assault with a dangerous weapon, and malicious destruction of property after a two-day trial. In a separate proceeding later this afternoon, Judge Raymond Brassard found that Limone was the same defendant previously convicted of OUI on seven prior occasions.
Jurors were not told of Limone’s driving history until after they had rendered their verdicts. After being told of his prior convictions, several of them remained at the courthouse even after they were discharged in order to see Limone sentenced.
“From what we’ve seen, nothing short of incarceration is going to keep this defendant off the road,” Conley said of Limone, whose license to drive has already been revoked for life. “We’ll be seeking prison time.”
Evidence and testimony introduced at trial showed that Limone was intoxicated when he attracted the attention of a State trooper on patrol at Revere Beach just before 5:00 p.m. on July 12, 2011.
Limone was sounding the horn of his 1988 Lincoln Town Car repeatedly, swerving, driving very closely behind another vehicle, and yelling, apparently at its driver. He then pulled his Town Car alongside that vehicle while continuing to yell. The trooper activated his lights and siren, prompting Limone to pull away from that car, travel north a short distance, and drive the wrong way down Beach Street, a one-way street.
As the trooper exited his cruiser, Limone left his car as well, appearing unsteady on his feet and leaning against the Town Car for support. He followed the trooper’s instruction to get back into his car. When asked for his license and registration, Limone produced his registration but said he didn’t have a license with him.
The trooper immediately detected the strong odor of alcohol coming from Limone. When asked how much he had been drinking, Limone responded, “Two shots.”
Limone failed all of all of the field sobriety tests put to him, being unable to recite the alphabet properly, stand on one leg, walk a straight line, or follow the movement of a pen without moving his head. At this point, the trooper placed Limone under arrest and secured him in the rear of the cruiser.
Limone became extremely agitated at this point, using obscene language and telling the trooper, “Get the cuffs off me and I will [expletive] you up. Just you and me.”
Upon arrival at the Revere Barracks, Limone kicked out the cruiser’s right rear window. That action did not dissipate the strong smell of alcohol that had filled the cruiser after his arrest.
Limone was so combative and resistant outside the barracks that troopers were forced to discharge chemical sprays at him just to transport him into the building. Once inside, he tried to swing a bench at the troopers, only to find that it was secured to the wall by a cable. At that point, he tried to pull the cable from the wall. Troopers again discharged their chemical spray to subdue him, then notified medical personnel, who treated him for minor, self-inflicted injuries to his hands and feet.
Limone’s record includes offenses dating back to 1970. It includes OUI convictions in Essex and Suffolk counties in 1983, Suffolk County in 1984, Essex County in 1987 and 1996, and Middlesex County in 2001 and 2007. Limone successfully appealed that latter case to the Massachusetts Appeals Court, but the Supreme Judicial Court reversed the MAC’s decision and reinstated the conviction.
The case was tried by Assistant District Attorney David Bradley of the DA’s Senior Trial Unit and Assistant District Attorney Donna Jalbert Patalano of the DA’s Appellate Division. Limone was represented by attorney Gerasimos Antzoulatos. He faces sentencing on Feb. 21 at 2:00 p.m.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
