MONTVILLE — After Joe Giudice, husband of “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Teresa Giudice, flipped his truck in a DWI crash in Morris County earlier this year, a municipal court judge threw the book at him. Giudice, 40, of Montville, was sentenced in March in Montville Municipal Court to maximum penalties for a first DWI offense, including a...
Seated with his attorney Joseph Affilitto, Giuseppe "Joe" Giudice appeals the sentence of a DWI conviction he believed to be too harsh at the Superior Court in Morristown.MONTVILLE — After Joe Giudice, husband of “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Teresa Giudice, flipped his truck in a DWI crash in Morris County earlier this year, a municipal court judge threw the book at him.
Giudice, 40, of Montville, was sentenced in March in Montville Municipal Court to maximum penalties for a first DWI offense, including a one-year driver’s license suspension, a $500 fine, an ignition-interlock device, 30 days of community service and 48 hours in a driver-education course.
Giudice appealed the sentence as too harsh and argued he should have received minimum penalties.
Today, Superior Court Judge Philip Maenza, sitting in Morristown, agreed. He overturned the sentence and imposed minimum penalties of a seven-month license suspension, $300 fine and 12 hours of driver-education; and also eliminated the community service and ignition device.
“I think the judge was more than fair,” said defense attorney Joseph Afflitto Jr.
Giudice, who is featured regularly with his wife on the Bravo-channel reality show, attended the hearing alone and declined to comment.
It was the latest legal drama involving Giudice, as he and Teresa also have a bankrupty case pending in federal U.S. District Court in Newark. Like many facets of their lives, the DWI crash that occurred Jan. 14 around 1:45 a.m. near their home became fodder for their television show.
Giudice did not report the crash, but went to a neighbor’s home where police found him 30 minutes later, authorities said. Giudice claimed he only had a couple of shots of liquor after the crash at the friend’s home to calm his nerves. His blood-alcohol content after the crash was .11 percent, or above New Jersey’s legal limit of .08 percent, and he was issued the motor-vehicle violations.
In March, Montville Municipal Court Judge Seth Davenport rejected Giudice’s version and found testimony of the friend to be not credible. Giudice also had numerous prior motor-vehicle offenses over the years, including a prior DWI more than a decade ago and minor infractions, authorities said in court. Davenport found Giudice guilty of DWI, careless driving and failing to maintain a lane, and imposed maximum penalties.
But Maenza ruled minimum penalties were sufficient.