Convicted Lawyer Blames Toothpaste for Positive Alcohol Test; Appeals Court Isn't Persuaded
When Anthony Galluccio tested positive for alcohol, three days after being sentenced to six months of home confinement for leaving the scene of an accident in 2009, the former Massachusetts state senator blamed his toothpaste.
It contains sorbitol, an artificial sweetener and sugar alcohol, explains the Associated Press.
But the Massachusetts Appeals Court didn’t buy that explanation. It ruled today that there was a sound basis for a trial court judge to revoke Galluccio’s probation and sentence him to a year in jail for violating a no-alcohol provision of his sentence.
The Massachusetts Bar Journal offers a more sympathetic ear in a lengthy Lawyers Journal article. The “Sobrietor” with which Galluccio was tested isn’t approved for the purpose of providing courtroom evidence, it points out, and Galluccio’s request for a blood test to disprove the machine’s reading was not immediately granted.
Galluccio was released in July after serving about six months. The articles don’t state exactly what the Suffolk University Law School graduate is now doing.
The Boston Globe says Galluccio could not be reached for comment.
A Boston Globe article last year gives additional details about the accident.
