Drama on tap at ex-Southampton supervisor's DWI case

In a scene reminiscent of a television court drama, Riverhead Town Justice Allen Smith abruptly cleared his courtroom Thursday and ordered a witness - the executive officer of the Westhampton Beach Police Department - off the stand, ending for the day a contentious hearing over potential evidence in the drunken-driving case against former Southampton Town Supervisor Linda Kabot.

Defense attorney William Keahon had just asked Lt. Trevor Gonce if he had spoken to anyone about Kabot's arrest, which occurred over the Labor Day weekend, in the hours immediately following. Gonce was a sergeant at the time.

Keahon, who asserts that police set Kabot up, had noted that Gonce - like others in the department - was required by court order to give an affidavit detailing whom he spoke to late in the evening of Sept. 6 and on Sept. 7.

Gonce, who was off duty, had said in an affidavit that he had spoken to Patrick Aube, president of the Southampton Patrolman's Benevolent Association, about Kabot's arrest by cell phone and via text messages.

Hearing halted

When Keahon asked if Gonce had signed an affidavit in which he denied speaking to anyone that night about the arrest, Smith halted the pretrial hearing. After Keahon and the assistant district attorneys on the case met with Smith in the judge's chambers, Smith urged in open court that the district attorney's office follow Keahon's suggestion regarding the witness. The judge did not elaborate.

For a witness to make a false statement under oath is a misdemeanor.

Kabot, 42, of Quogue, has pleaded not guilty to the DWI charge. The Republican town supervisor's arrest was widely viewed as contributing to her loss in her November re-election bid. Democrat Anna Throne-Holst won handily.

The hearing is scheduled to resume Tuesday afternoon.

Gonce on the stand

Thursday, Gonce was called to the stand because an earlier witness, the officer who had arrested Kabot after he and his partner stopped her on Sept. 6 just before midnight, could not say how the district attorney's office had acquired a computer disk containing the video recording of Kabot's arrest.

Gonce was in charge of the video system, and said he downloaded the hard drive from the police car and then created the disc. He said the village police video system has no editing capability.

The 15-minute video, shown in open court for the first time, shows Kabot being followed, pulled over and given a field sobriety test. It also shows her refusing to take a breath-alcohol test.