Judge Sends Massachusetts Senator to Jail After his Toothpaste Defense Didn't Hold up in Court

Massachusetts Senator Anthony Galluccio will be spending a year in jail for violating his probation after being convicted of DUI. According to reports, Gallucio was involved in a hit and run accident in October where a father and son were injured.

Gallucio was given two years probation, and also ordered to undergo random urine tests, and use a Sobrietor, a portable device for monitoring blood-alcohol content to make sure that he was not drinking. Galluccio has to breathe into the device at random times during the day. Galluccio also lost his driver's license for five years and was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. He got a jail sentence that was suspended.

It was less than a week after sentencing, on December 21st, when probation office worker, Michael Jacobs, showed up at Galluccio’s home to perform the alcohol test. According to reports, not only one, but two breath tests were failed during the visit. Galluccio denied drinking any alcohol that day, and argued that it must have been his toothpaste that caused the positive result.

Cambridge District Court Judge Matthew Nestor did not buy the “toothpaste defense” in court Monday. Galluccio even flew in an expert to testify that by hair sample, he had tested Galluccio, and it was proven that he had not consumed alcohol. But the test was not approved by the court, and the Judge sent Galluccio away in handcuffs. Reports have referenced the fact that the October crash was not Galluccio’s first encounter with the law over alcohol. Maybe a year in the slammer will teach him that being a senator doesn’t give him special treatment!

Maybe his senator friends will fight for laws helping to prevent DUI's while he's behind bars, like mandating ignition interlock devices on ALL vehicles.  Of course, we should always remember that alcohol testing in the criminal context is pathetically inaccurate.  It is definitely possible for a person who hasn't had a drink to provide a breath sample that a machine will report as positive for alcohol.  Maybe the Senator's cronies will pass a law banning the horrific guilt machines that lie silent outside of our courthouses, pointing the finger of blame at people.