CANFIELD Judge pleads guilty to drunken driving

Judge Lisotto received a standard punishment for DUI, his lawyer said.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
CANFIELD -- When Judge Robert Lisotto pleaded guilty to drunken driving Thursday in Mahoning County Court, he passed up a chance to fight the charges at trial.
"If my client were not a judge, there would be no way he would have pleaded guilty," said defense attorney J. Gerald Ingram. "In pleading guilty, he probably abandoned a defensible case."
Judge Lisotto, of Canfield, is a common pleas court judge. Canfield police charged him with two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol in September.
He pleaded guilty to one count Thursday afternoon. The second count was dismissed, as was a charge of failure to signal a turn. The judge had initially pleaded innocent to all charges.
Judge's statement
Lisotto said it's "important for the public to have faith in the judicial system. Judges, just like any others, must accept responsibility for their actions."
Judge Lisotto was sentenced to 180 days in the county jail with all but three days suspended. The remaining three days will be suspended if he completes an alternative school within 90 days.
He was fined $500, with $250 suspended, and his driver's license was suspended for six months. The judge will be allowed to drive only back and forth to work.
"That's all standard," Ingram said. "He was not treated differently than anyone else would have been."
Ingram said would not say why he believed the case might have been won at trial. He said Judge Lisotto opted instead to accept the plea and put the matter behind him.
His arrest
Canfield police stopped the judge on Herbert Road in Canfield around 1:15 a.m. Sept. 3 after he was seen driving erratically. He told police at the time that he had not been drinking, and that he was on his way home from eating dinner at a Boardman restaurant.
Because the charges are misdemeanors, the judge is not disqualified from remaining on the bench. He was elected to the common pleas bench in 1996 and was re-elected in November 2002.
bjackson@vindy.com