La Plata, MD – For Eduardo Enrique Iglesias, 53 of Waldorf, it had been a long day in Charles County Circuit Court.
Almost every case on Judge Helen I. Harrington’s docket for Wednesday, Feb. 18 had been called but his, and so he waited into the afternoon to face sentencing on DWI charges stemming from an October 2013 incident.
Iglesias, an artist by trade, was facing a cluster of charges from a day he told Harrington he would rather forget.
“That day started very early, about 4:30 in the morning,” he said. “The incident happened at 9:30 at night. It was in the middle of a terrible rainstorm.”
Charles County Assistant Public Defender Fred Lester told the court that Iglesias was returning home from a job in Baltimore the night he was arrested.
“He works in the painting industry,” Lester said, showing Harrington and Charles County Circuit Court Judge Thomas R. Simpson examples of Iglesias’ work. “He was going through a tough time. His father had just passed away. He has a 26-year-old daughter who struggling with an addiction to heroin who has been in treatment. He lives with his mother and pays $400 a month in child support. If your honor should decide to incarcerate him, it would seriously impact his ability to meet that obligation. I would like for him to avoid this ugly consequence. I would ask the court to consider probation before judgment.”
Lester told the court Iglesias had a few “rather old” cases on his record.
“Mr. Iglesias told me that the type of work he does brings him to life,” he said. “He is a good person. He works extremely hard.”
Iglasias’ mother told the court she would like to see her son get his life back.
“He has continued to help me since I lost my husband,” she said. “He is a good son.”
Lester said his client accepted a plea agreement because of other charges associated with the case, which included driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled dangerous substance.
“We understand there are some risks in going to trial,” Lester said.
He added that “there was some dispute” as to the presence of alcohol or drugs.
“It occurs to me that you work with paint, probably in a closed area,” Harrington told Iglesias. “I wonder if it was the fumes you were inhaling that caused you to react in such a way that perhaps an officer thought you were under the influence. I would suggest you make sure the areas where you were working are well ventilated.”
She then granted the defendant probation before judgment, gave him three years of unsupervised probation, and told him to complete 24 hours of community service.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com