Liberal Judge Outrageous DWI Ruling Kept Hit-and-Run Driver Julio Acevedo, Who Crashed Into and Killed a Brooklyn Family, Behind the Wheel

NYDailyNews.com:

He should have never been behind the wheel.

When Julio Acevedo was arraigned last month on a drunken driving bust, a Brooklyn judge not only refused to set bail, he declined to suspend the ex-con’s license — even after being told it was mandatory.

Court transcripts show Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Michael Gary fumbled on the law and released Acevedo, 44, after a Feb. 18 arraignment. With an active driver’s license and no bail, the felon was free to speed a borrowed BMW into a livery car, killing a young Hasidic couple in Williamsburg about two weeks later.

Nachman and Raizel Glauber’s son, delivered by C-section after the March 3 wreck and weighing less than 3 pounds, died the next day.

Gary, a judge for 26 years, had said that if he was wrong about the mandatory license suspension in February, a judge could correct him during the next court date on April 10.

Records show the prosecutor, Ashley Ford, tried to keep Acevedo behind bars after the DWI arrest. And she wanted his driver’s license suspended.

“The defendant has a bench warrant history and is not recommended for release,” said Ford, requesting $5,000 bail and noting that Acevedo was apprehended chasing a cabbie who had cut him off.

Gary released the lowlife without bail and ordered him to attend an alcohol screening. Ford then pointed out that state law required the judge to suspend his license.

“I believe the statute requires that the license be suspended,” she said, according to the arraignment transcript. “I’m not quite sure it’s discretionary.”

But the judge disagreed, telling Acevedo he could have his license back despite registering a 0.13 blood-alcohol level in a breath test.

“I don’t believe that I must do it ...,” Gary said. “If I’m wrong, the judge can correct me on April 10 (Acevedo’s next court date), but I think I’m correct.”

Gary was handling arraignment court during the February hearing, part of a rotation in which Supreme Court justices each fill in five days a year. He declined to comment Tuesday.