LOCKPORT – Niagara County Veterans Court opened for business Thursday, with County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas accepting guilty pleas in two drunken driving cases.
Allyn D. Smith, 32, of Bollier Avenue, Niagara Falls, admitted to attempted second-degree assault and misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, reduced charges from a Nov. 2 incident in which three Niagara Falls officers were injured in trying to subdue Smith after pulling him over on Niagara Falls Boulevard.
In the other case, Thomas B. Staley Sr., 52, of Colt Avenue, Lewiston, pleaded guilty to felony DWI, stemming from an Oct. 25 arrest in Lewiston.
Smith, a Navy veteran, and Staley, who served in the Air Force, both were placed on interim probation for a year and assigned to alcohol counseling and mentoring by former military personnel working with the court. If they succeed, their charges will be reduced and they will be sentenced to probation; if not, they face up to four years in state prison.
Allyn D. Smith, 32, of Bollier Avenue, Niagara Falls, admitted to attempted second-degree assault and misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, reduced charges from a Nov. 2 incident in which three Niagara Falls officers were injured in trying to subdue Smith after pulling him over on Niagara Falls Boulevard.
In the other case, Thomas B. Staley Sr., 52, of Colt Avenue, Lewiston, pleaded guilty to felony DWI, stemming from an Oct. 25 arrest in Lewiston.
Smith, a Navy veteran, and Staley, who served in the Air Force, both were placed on interim probation for a year and assigned to alcohol counseling and mentoring by former military personnel working with the court. If they succeed, their charges will be reduced and they will be sentenced to probation; if not, they face up to four years in state prison.