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2 testify at drunken-driving trial
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Keith Urso
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
John and Margaret Beil of Mecca Township were traveling north on Bazetta Road about 12:30 p.m. Jan. 31, 2010, when Keith Urso’s car turned in front of them and proceeded slowly.
“A minute later, [Urso’s car] went off the road on the right side, then the other side of the road, nearly in the ditch, then the car stopped in the road,” Margaret Beil said during testimony Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
The Beils called 911 and stayed on the phone with the dispatcher as they remained behind Urso.
“After a couple minutes, he started to drive again, going about 20 mph,” Margaret said.
Things got really scary when two cars passed Urso coming the opposite direction.
“He just got over in time or he would have hit either car,” she said.
Margaret Beil was the first witness Monday in Urso’s felony drunken-driving trial. If convicted, Urso could get 10 years in prison because he’s been convicted of five or more drunken-driving charges in the past five years and has a previous felony drunken-driving conviction.
During opening statements in the trial, Mike Burnett, assistant county prosecutor, listed 11 previous drunken-driving convictions Urso has had in Warren, Newton Falls and Ashtabula in the last 20 years.
Prosecutors believe Urso, 50, of Monroe Street, Warren, has actually been convicted of drunken driving additional times, but Judge Andrew D. Logan of common pleas court, who is presiding over the trial, has ruled that convictions older than 20 years are not admissible.
When Urso and the Beils reached the state Route 88 intersection in Mecca Township, Urso’s car stopped for about four minutes, Margaret said.
Eventually, Urso pulled into the parking lot at Monty’s Carry Out and Restaurant, where the Beils waited some more.
When officers arrived, they took Urso into custody and determined that his blood-alcohol level was 0.286 — more than 31/2 times the legal limit, Burnett said.
Urso “could barely stand and had to lean on the car to maintain his balance,” Burnett said during opening statements.
Officers also detected the “overwhelming smell of alcohol” in the car and saw beer containers strewn around the car, Burnett said.
Public Defender Anthony Consoldane, Urso’s attorney, asked jurors in his opening statement to refrain from making judgments on Urso’s guilt or innocence until they have heard all the witnesses.
“If you have children and they did something wrong ... you wait to hear the other side of the story. That’s what I’m asking you to do is wait until you hear the evidence, and for God’s sake, don’t convict him on what he’s done in the past.”