Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

WARWICK, R.I. -- Lawyer Robert Ciresi is challenging the sobriety tests that Johnston police gave his client, former state Sen. Gregory J. Acciardo, who faces a charge of driving under the influence, first offense.

Johnston Police Officer Ryan Lemieux said he stopped Acciardo, 51, on Jan. 15 after noticing Acciardo driving erratically, sometimes crossing the center line, near 1400 Atwood Ave. According to the police report, Lemieux smelled "the distinct odor of an alcoholic beverage" on Acciardo's breath and Acciardo told Lemieux he had just left Mr. Bigg's Saloon, at 1463 Atwood.

After agreeing to undergo a breath test, Acciardo instead was taken to Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, in North Providence, where tests showed his blood alcohol level was 0.321 percent -- about four times the legal limit, the police said.

Acciardo, who represented Johnston in the state Senate for eight years through 1992, has had several run-ins with the police and court system.

In April 1994, he pleaded guilty in Massachusetts to a charge of vehicular homicide stemming from a fatal head-on car crash in Rehoboth the year before and was sentenced to probation. Alcohol, drugs and speeding had been ruled out as factors, and prosecutors, with the agreement of the family of the victim, Claire Russell, did not seek prison time.

In January 1998, Acciardo was sentenced to serve three years in prison after he was convicted by a jury of two counts of harboring a criminal. A little more than two years later, the Rhode Island Supreme Court overturned the conviction.

The trial against Acciardo began Friday in District Court, Warwick, and is tentatively scheduled to resume on March 27.

-- Reported by Journal Staff Writer Mark Reynolds

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