Fossella's Plea Partly Prompted By Ball Player's Death

A lawyer for Vito Fossella explained the former Congressman's decision to plead guilty to a May 2008 DUI, "He wanted to accept responsibility for what had occurred and he wanted to end this. He wants this behind him. He realizes it was wrong to be drinking and driving that night. He's going to get on with his life."

Fossella was pulled over by a Alexandria, Virginia police officer for running a red light; he was found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.17. He was convicted last October, but planned to contest the validity of the blood alcohol test in a retrial set for yesterday. However, another of Fossella's three lawyers alluded to the apparently drunk driver who killed a Los Angeles Angels pitcher and two others, "It certainly highlighted again for Mr. Fossella, and I think for the public, the dangers of drinking and driving."

The case was, according to the Advance, "one of the longest DUI cases in Virginia history, to a conclusion." Now, besides having his license suspended, getting fined $250 and being required to take an alcohol safety program, Fossella faces a four-day jail sentence (there's a mandatory five-day sentence, but Fossella gets credit for spending a night when he was first arrested). The Daily News reports that he'll be at the Alexandria Detention Center which houses "450 inmates behind steel doors - not bars" and where "he'll don the same garbage-green jumpsuit with 'PRISONER' emblazoned in white across his back that every other gangbanger, spy and terrorist was issued in one of the nation's most secure jails." A sheriff previously told the News, "There are no bonus points or upgrades because you're a congressman."