Trial Date set for Reporter Charged with DUI
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WMUR Reporter Audrey Cox has a date for jury selection to start in her DUI trial.
Cox is charged in connection with striking a 79-year-old Hampton woman with her vehicle while allegedly under the influence last year.
Jury selection is set for June 13 in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Cox faces three Class B felony charges — two counts of aggravated driving while intoxicated or operating under the influence of liquor with serious bodily injury and one for reckless conduct.
Seacostonline reports that Cox's defense attorney, Andrew Cotrupi, said after her dispositional hearing Wednesday that he’s confident evidence will show his client is innocent. He said he’s “not aware of any evidence of any alcohol at that scene.” He would not say if Cox took a breathalyzer test after the crash.
“We’re looking forward to going to trial,” Cotrupi said. “We are very confident that Ms. Cox was not impaired, that this case is an accident. And I don’t think anyone who objectively looks at the evidence is going to disagree with that.”
Cotrupi said Cox is sympathetic to the victim, Sandra Dary. At approximately 7 p.m. on Sept. 25, police said Cox allegedly hit Dary in the breakdown lane of Ocean Boulevard near Winnacunnet Road. At the time, Dary was out walking her 12-year-old poodle. Dary sustained fractures to her foot’s fifth metatarsal and her hip. Dary said in November she would require multiple surgeries.
When police arrived, a witness directed officers to the vehicle involved, a 2011 Jeep Patriot. Cox was identified as the driver and charged with reckless conduct and driving or operating under the influence of alcohol.
Cox appeared in court for Wednesday's hearing with her elderly mother, according to Cotrupi. He said Cox has been a caretaker for her mother recently and understands the difficulties an elderly woman like Dary would have after being struck.
“We feel horribly bad for this woman. She’s very hurt, there’s no question,” Cotrupi said. “Older people do not bounce back, even from minor accidents, they simply don’t, and (Cox) is aware of that.”
Cotrupi said Cox was arrested because officers did not have all the evidence available at the scene.
“One of the officers made a determination of impairment," Cotrupi said. "We disagree with that. That’s what this trial is going to be about. He did not have all the information that the jury will have. I understand why he made that judgement, but that’s why we have trials.”
