Sierra County Judge Thomas Pestak will serve as the judicial officer overseeing the drunken driving case of San Juan County Chief Deputy District Attorney Dustin O’Brien.
Pestak was appointed Sept. 17 after Magistrate Mark Hawkinson recused himself, followed by Magistrate Erich Cole and Magistrate Stanley King.
The San Juan County District Attorney’s Office will not handle the prosecution, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Decker, who said, “Our office would clearly have a conflict.”
Decker said a prosecuting attorney from another office in the state should be appointed the case.
He added that “generally” in a case such as this, the “trial should still be here. A judge from out of town and a prosecutor from out of town would come up.”
This is because the defendant and prosecution have a right to have a “trial where the defense is alleged to occur,” Decker said, adding “some of the pretrial things might be done virtually.”
O’Brien, 53, was arrested Sept. 15 and was charged with a misdemeanor count of aggravated DWI. He also was cited for leaving the scene of an accident, after reportedly crashing into a retaining wall.
O’Brien was placed on administrating leave pending an internal and external investigation, according to District Attorney Rick Tedrow.
Farmington Police investigated the crash in the 900 block of Gladeview Drive, after receiving a call that a driver crashed into a retaining wall and walked away.
Officers found a gray 2022 Dodge Ram 1500 on the property “parked against the retaining wall, and truck reportedly sustained “heavy damage to the driver-side and passenger-side front bumpers and the driver-side rear bumper was directly against the retaining wall,” according to the statement of probable cause.
The homeowner had Ring cam video of the incident, and police reportedly identified the driver as O’Brien, who was found about 30 minutes later at the Speedway on the corner of North Dustin Avenue and East 20th Street, according to a statement of probable cause.
The officer questioned O’Brien, who reportedly “admitted to consuming one to two alcoholic drinks and said he was safe to drive,” according to the probable cause the statement.
O’Brien, who reportedly “refused to provide a breath sample,” did complete three standard field sobriety tests, in which the officer stated that O’Brien “appeared to struggle to maintain his balance as his body was swaying from side to side,” court records state.
The officer also noted in the probable cause statement that there was “a heavy odor of alcohol from his exhaled breath.”
O’Brien reportedly told the officer that he “was not ‘feeling good,” and did not feel well enough to drive. He also refused medical attention, according to the probable cause statement.
A preliminary hearing has not been set in this case.
