Drive Drunk, Lose Your Car

Assistant D.A. Heather Abissi District Attorney Adam Levy’s New Year’s resolution is to reduce the number of motorists driving drunk on Putnam County roads in 2010 following last year’s alarming number of DWI arrests that exceeded 500.

Levy has hired Heather Abissi as a new assistant district attorney whose prime responsibility will be to initiate and effectuate the new asset forfeiture unit of the D.A.’s office.

Abissi told the Courier that asset forfeiture was a civil action by which “the instrumentality of the crime or the proceeds of the crime can be seized. The money that people make when committing a crime or the materials used in the commission of a crime are our concern. In cases of DWI, the instrument used is a vehicle.”

State law allows for the seizure of vehicles in DWI cases by listing circumstances under which forfeiture can occur.

Abissi says two scenarios occur: “Preconviction forfeiture crimes are primarily drug crimes. The money used by drug dealers is turned over very quickly. As a result the law allows a prosecutor to commence a forfeiture proceeding prior to a criminal conviction which secures the funds.”

Post-conviction forfeiture proceedings must wait until a grand jury hands up an indictment or a criminal conviction takes place. Abissi said DWIs were a “postconviction forfeiture crime.”

During her first days on the job, Abissi has begun to set up the protocols necessary for success: “A secure facility must be found to hold the cars. A towing contract must be negotiated. Courts and judges must be on board with the bottom line greatly reducing the number of DWI arrests across the county.”

Levy called the incidence of drunken driving “alarming. First-time offenders as well as repeat offenders pose a menace to every man, woman and child in our county. Intoxicated drivers are dangerous. They kill and maim and the epidemic must stop.”

Levy told the Courier his staff will be concentrating on felony DWIs— ”defendants with previous convictions for drunken driving who get re-arrested will be subject to the asset forfeiture law on the books in New York State.” Vehicles will be seized and sold at public auction.

Levy said “people in Putnam County as well as our neighboring communities ... must get the message: If you repeatedly drive drunk in Putnam County you will not only be severely prosecuted and punished, but you will lose your vehicle, which is the instrumentality of the crime.”

How does a young attorney learn to specialize in an area such as asset forfeiture?

Abissi explained, “this area of the law found me,” since in her former position as staff attorney for the New York Prosecutors Training Institute, her responsibilities dealt with while collar crimes. “I started from the ground up learning about asset forfeiture and wrote an article for the ‘Empire State Prosecutor’ pertaining to all vehicles in the law that can be seized. My expertise was developed by accident but I am thrilled to be on board in Putnam County to hopefully reduce the incidence of the drunken driving menace.”

Abissi currently resides in Kent, was born in the Bronx, and grew up on Long Island before relocating to Westchester.

Abissi said her message to the residents of Putnam was straight and to the point: “You drink; you drive; you lose your car!”