Katherine M. Janowski is fined $1,000, loses her license and gets five years probation for driving drunk with a child aboard.
Katherine Janowski, the first Onondaga County resident charged under Leandra's Law, was sentenced to probation today for driving drunk with a child in her car. She is with her attorney, James McGraw.Syracuse, NY – The woman charged in the first DWI case in Onondaga County involving Leandra’s Law was sentenced to five years’ probation this morning in Onondaga County Court.
Judge Joseph Fahey handed down that sentence after Katherine M. Janowski, 44, of 4147 Metauro Drive, Clay, pleaded guilty on Aug. 17 to a felony aggravated driving while intoxicated with a child in her vehicle.
Janowski also was fined $1,000 and had her license revoked for a year. If she is licensed in the future she must have ignition interlock devices installed on any vehicle she owns or drives during her probation, Fahey said.
Her attorney, James McGraw, told Fahey before sentencing that his client had been in voluntary treatment for alcohol abuse since her arrest. He was confident continued treatment would be successful, McGraw said.
The prosecutor, Senior Assistant District Attorney Chris Bednarski, said the sentence was appropriate.
Leandra’s Law, formally called the Child Passenger Protection Act, took effect in December and made it a felony to drive drunk with a child in the car. Janowski could have gotten four years in prison under the law. The ignition interlock part of her sentence also is required by Leandra’s Law under a provision that became effective in August.
DWI offenders must blow into the device before their car will start. The car will not start if they register a blood/alcohol content of 0.025 or higher, a little less than one-third of the legal limit.
Janowski was charged with the Leandra violation, several other drunk-driving related counts and endangering the welfare of a child on Feb. 6 after state police stopped her at Thruway Exit 39 in Van Buren. Her 12-year-old daughter also was in the car.
Troopers said Janowski’s blood-alcohol level was 0.20.
While her arrest made her the first person charged in Onondaga County under Leandra’s Law, an estimated eight to 10 drivers who later were charged under the law have had their cases go through the courts to disposition, Bednarski said.
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Previous coverage of Katherine Janowski.
Nedrow man to serve year at Jamesville for Leandra's Law violation, drug charge