Jury finds defendant not guilty on DWI charge

NORWICH – A jury deliberated for over three hours Tuesday before finding defendant Mark Dexter, 49, Hartford, not guilty on a felony charge of driving while intoxicated, convicting him instead on the lesser charge of driving while ability impaired.

If found guilty of the DWI charge, Dexter could have faced serious consequences because of two prior felony DWI convictions; he currently has another pending DWI case in Cortland County. Dexter was wanted on a bench warrant for the Chenango DWI charge since 2003. He was arrested this year by police in Cortland for a separate DWI charge and was then turned over to Chenango County. District Attorney Joseph McBride said, “ this man should go to jail right now. He is a serious menace to society.”

Following the verdict, McBride requested that Dexter be remanded to county jail, but the request was denied. McBride also asked for the maximum sentence of one year for the DWAI charge.

On Aug. 30, 2002, at about 11:30 p.m. in the Town of Greene, Dexter was driving a tractor trailer carrying precast concrete blocks weighing around 52,000 pounds north to Sherburne from Binghamton. While negotiating a turn on Rt. 12, Dexter claims his brakes locked up, and he lost control of his rig.

“I heard a snap. I never heard anything like it. I didn’t even know iron could snap like that,” Dexter said on the witness stand. Dexter said he fought to control the vehicle, but it crossed the double yellow line and rolled into a ditch.

Officer Steven White, who responded to the accident for the Greene Police Department, testified, “I told him I felt he was highly intoxicated and told him I was placing him under arrest for DWI.” White claimed he observed Dexter acting suspiciously, slurring his words, unable to keep his balance and that he failed a field sobriety test. Dexter refused to take a breathalyzer test, White said. The police officer admitted he failed to file the correct paperwork after the incident. On a form that describes the kinds of field sobriety tests administered, it was left blank and none were recorded. White said on the stand that it was an oversight and that he did perform the tests, and Dexter failed them all.