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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
what do you think of this?
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A Nassau County judge Friday morning found a Northport woman not guilty of felony drunken driving charges after she testified that she had no choice but to drive drunk to escape a man who was about to attack her.
Nassau County Judge George Peck found Donna Powell, 48, not guilty of all the charges against her except making an illegal left turn.
Powell, who admitted driving with more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in her system in October, said she was forced to get behind the wheel drunk after the man she was with, Long Island Jewish Medical Center executive director John Steel, grabbed and groped her.
Steel, who has not been charged with any crime, denied in court that he attacked Powell.
Under New York law, a person is justified in committing a crime if by doing so she avoids a harm worse than the one she causes.
Steel, on leave as executive director of LIJ, testified he met Powell at a Northport bar last October, and asked her to come with him to buy crack.
He said after buying the drugs in Queens, the two stopped in a clearing off a dirt road in Old Westbury to smoke it.
But he said he did not grab or grope Powell, as she testified last week.
Steel of Northport, who said he has been married 17 years, said he remembers putting his hand on her leg while they were driving, and that she never rebuffed him. He said he did not touch her after they stopped in the clearing, and was 30 to 40 feet from the car, urinating in the woods, when she drove away.
"I did not assault her," he said in court.
Steel testified about the case before a Nassau County grand jury Thursday morning, making him immune to prosecution in the case.
He said he has been at a Pennsylvania rehabilitation facility since shortly after the last time he smoked crack, about three weeks ago.
Brian Mulligan, a spokesman for Long Island Jewish Medical Center, confirmed Steel is the executive director there. Steel recently requested, and was granted, a leave of absence, Mulligan said.
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Posted 7/17/09 9:27 PM  |
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BaroqueMama
Chase is one!
Member since 5/05 27530 total posts
Name:
me
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
 Everything about this story bothers me. Everything.
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| Posted 7/17/09 9:30 PM |
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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
this is the part that is sticking in my head:
Posted by headoverheels
Under New York law, a person is justified in committing a crime if by doing so she avoids a harm worse than the one she causes.
now i realize that this is hypothetical, but what if when driving drunk she seriously injured or killed someone? would the judge's decision have been different - or should it have been?
reading only the Newsday quote and not knowing the actual law, it seems to read that she is justified in committing a crime ONLY if she causes no harm WORSE than what she was enduring.
how does a judge determine whether rape or involuntary manslaughter is worse?
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| Posted 7/17/09 9:31 PM |
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BaroqueMama
Chase is one!
Member since 5/05 27530 total posts
Name:
me
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
Well, the crime she committed was driving while drunk, right? She didn't kill anyone, did she? So, I guess, technically, the crime she actually committed is less severe than that which was done to her? Whatever. I just can't even believe this story Like I said, I'm bothered by it on so many levels.
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| Posted 7/17/09 9:33 PM |
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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
Posted by lehcar
Well, the crime she committed was driving while drunk, right? She didn't kill anyone, did she? So, I guess, technically, the crime she actually committed is less severe than that which was done to her? Whatever. I just can't even believe this story Like I said, I'm bothered by it on so many levels.
you know i agree with you, but in a sense i feel like she was lucky this time that she didn't harm anyone. what if someone else tries to use this as precedent in a manslaughter case?
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| Posted 7/17/09 9:34 PM |
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BaroqueMama
Chase is one!
Member since 5/05 27530 total posts
Name:
me
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
Posted by headoverheels
Posted by lehcar
Well, the crime she committed was driving while drunk, right? She didn't kill anyone, did she? So, I guess, technically, the crime she actually committed is less severe than that which was done to her? Whatever. I just can't even believe this story Like I said, I'm bothered by it on so many levels.
you know i agree with you, but in a sense i feel like she was lucky this time that she didn't harm anyone. what if someone else tries to use this as precedent in a manslaughter case?
Oh, I hear you loud and clear and agree with you 100%! But I guess, in being very literal about the law, she didn't commit a worse crime. I guess
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| Posted 7/17/09 9:54 PM |
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JJN4
LIF Adult
Member since 5/09 1109 total posts
Name:
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
nm
Message edited 7/17/2009 10:51:22 PM.
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| Posted 7/17/09 10:50 PM |
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KittyKatCopper
missing my handsome boy
Member since 3/09 1579 total posts
Name:
Kat - HamptonsBride (LIW)
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
Posted by headoverheels
Under New York law, a person is justified in committing a crime if by doing so she avoids a harm worse than the one she causes.
Hmmm...this sounds like it's referring to the Choice of Evils Doctrine which states "By your actions you commit an offense, but by doing so you prevent a greater evil from occuring." but the theory (from what i understood) is more along the lines of you come upon an accident on a desolate road and have no cellphone, so you break into a house to call 911...so techically you are breaking & entering, but it's to save a life. This sounds like a great defense attorney interpreting the law to fit a BS reason..guess had she killed someone it wouldn't have worked?? And the "buying & smoking crack" alone makes me 
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| Posted 7/18/09 12:01 AM |
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PictureFrame
LIF Infant
Member since 5/09 70 total posts
Name:
Lizzy
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
i am more disturbed by the executive director of a well known hospital doing crack
and how can she get away with this when there is no proof that he did attempt to grab her. can all DWI charges be dropped if the person claims someone was going to hurt them?!
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| Posted 7/18/09 7:27 AM |
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Cpt2007
A new love!
Member since 1/08 5946 total posts
Name:
Liz
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
this story is totally disturbing. from the dwi, to the crack use, to the claim of unwanted "advances" (using that term cause I'm not sure what the legal term would be for her claim)...
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| Posted 7/18/09 8:53 AM |
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ihilani
LIF Adolescent
Member since 9/07 858 total posts
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alias
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
I'm horrified on so many levels.
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| Posted 7/18/09 9:57 AM |
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DayDay
Livin' the Good Life....
Member since 9/06 5939 total posts
Name:
Dayna
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
This is just not good on so many levels..
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| Posted 7/18/09 9:59 AM |
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seaside
LIF Adult
Member since 6/08 3101 total posts
Name:
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
BS. If she's really claiming necessity & she did everything right, she'd have abandoned the car a safe distance from her attacker and the cops would have found her on the side of the road flagging THEM down, instead of still driving drunk.
'Cause if you're REALLY trying to avoid harm and illegal behavior, you don't drive druk for one second or mile more than you HAVE to,
(You also don't ingest crack.)
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| Posted 7/18/09 10:05 AM |
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Nifheim
allo
Member since 1/09 5476 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
Wow that is all I can say. I have been drunk/hammered and had a guy basically molest me in full site while I said get the f' off me and I didn't even get in my car and drive - i called a friend. Locked myself in my car while I waiting for my friend to get there. If this person was in such harms way why not call the police? I am sorry I do not take excuses when drunk that you "didn't think.
If she had no means of calling (no cell phone) and she was in the middle of the forest with no people/stores/anything THEN maybe i would say okay i see your point to drive but not on LI.
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| Posted 7/18/09 10:14 AM |
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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
you know, thinking about this more, i am surprised that she didn't have to prove that he tried to attack her (via a conviction or at least an indictment) before the judge was able to base his decision on that law.
i know you can appeal a conviction but can you appeal an acquittal?
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| Posted 7/18/09 10:20 AM |
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seaside
LIF Adult
Member since 6/08 3101 total posts
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
Posted by headoverheels
you know, thinking about this more, i am surprised that she didn't have to prove that he tried to attack her (via a conviction or at least an indictment) before the judge was able to base his decision on that law.
i know you can appeal a conviction but can you appeal an acquittal?
 
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| Posted 7/18/09 10:23 AM |
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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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Re: Northport woman acquitted of DWI charges in alleged attack
good idea right? 
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| Posted 7/18/09 10:32 AM |
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