Steve Burns
WMAL.com
ROCKVILLE, Md. – (WMAL) Rich Leotta and his wife, Marci, are not done fighting in the memory of their fallen police officer son, Noah.
Following the passage of Noah’s Law, mandating all convicted drunk drivers in Maryland use an ignition interlock, Leotta said they need help continuing the “spirit of the law.”
“I’m okay for leniency, but (judges) need to start implementing the spirit of Noah’s Law, and that’s what our judges are not doing,” Leotta said at a press conference inside Montgomery County Circuit Court Tuesday.
Leotta decried what is known as Probation Before Judgment, essentially allowing an accused drunk driver to take a punishment while avoiding a guilty plea and thus avoiding the effects of Noah’s Law.
The new initiative, named Noah On Patrol, will include a program to keep an eye on the sentences judges issue in drunk driving cases.
“I’m going to tell you: Court watch works,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said. “I can tell you from my conversations with Rich and others – they’re in there. The judges know they’re in there.”
McCarthy said it is his office’s policy to always ask for an ignition interlock as punishment in all drunk driving cases.
“It should be, and will be, a national model for reducing and eliminating drunk driving,” Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger said. “This initiative, in Noah’s name, provides us the opportunity to save lives by ending this completely preventable crime of drunk driving.”
Leotta said they had to shame lawmakers in order to pass Noah’s Law, and a similar approach may be needed with judges.
“They’re going to see me in there ,and they might not like it, but guess what? They will get used to my face, and the information coming out,” he said.
Officer Noah Leotta was struck and killed by a drunk driver in December 2015 as he worked on a holiday season anti-drunk driving task force along Rockville Pike. The driver was sentenced to ten years in prison.
“This effort that I’m doing is more than just carrying on and soldiering on,” Leotta said. “It is carrying on Noah’s spirit. It’s a spiritual thing.”
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