Volusia County Judge Holds Trooper Accountable For Failing To Appear

A Florida Highway Patrol trooper has been jailed for five days after failing to appear in court last month for a DUI trial, according to the Volusia County State Attorney's Office.Trooper John Costa was sent to the county jail Friday for contempt of court by Judge Belle Schumann. Costa's absence on Oct. 30 forced Schumann to enter a judgment of acquittal on all charges for a motorist with a history of drunk driving, records show. Before dismissing the case, court workers repeatedly tried to locate Costa, who did not answer telephone calls or knocks on the door of his home, records show. Costa, 41, may be the first member of the Florida Highway Patrol jailed for contempt of court.

The DUI case began about 2 a.m. last Dec. 3 on Interstate 4 when Stephanie Halcomb of Jacksonville was stopped for driving erratically at 92 miles per hour.Halcomb smelled of alcohol but told Costa she had not been drinking, despite the discovery behind the driver's seat of a nearly empty bottle of 99-proof watermelon liqueur, records show. After failing a series of field-sobriety tests, 26-year-old Halcomb took a breath test which showed she had a blood alcohol level of 0.192, records show. Halcomb, who was charged with driving under the influence, had been convicted of the same crime in 2009, records show. Because DUI is a compounding crime, previous offenses weigh heavily when someone appears in court for additional arrests. According to Florida DUI laws, Halcomb would have faced up to a year in jail if convicted of a second DUI with a BrAC higher than 0.15. And she would have lost her driver's license for five years if convicted of a second DUI wit.in 5 years. If you are arrested for a DUI contact Daytona Beach DUI attorney Kevin J. Pitts