Updated at 3:05 p.m.
BURLINGTON –– Grand Isle County’s top prosecutor, Douglas DiSabito, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a DUI in Vermont Superior Court in Burlington.
In a brisk hearing in which DiSabito appeared remotely and did not speak, his attorney, also attending remotely, entered a plea on DiSabito’s behalf.
DiSabito’s attorney also contested the state’s effort to suspend DiSabito’s driver’s license.
DiSabito, 57, was arrested in mid-April after he arrived at the Franklin County Superior Court in St. Albans showing signs of impairment, according to court documents. Court employees alerted the police, who spoke with DiSabito and performed a field sobriety test, in which he showed multiple signs of impairment, according to those documents. Police later performed a Breathalyzer test on him.
That test, which measures breath alcohol concentration, showed DiSabito’s level was 0.084%, according to court documents. That is over the legal limit of 0.08%.
According to court documents, DiSabito initially told police that he had not been drinking and that he had not taken any medication that would explain signs of impairment, but later told police that he had taken prescribed Xanax earlier in the day, prior to driving to the courthouse.
DiSabito’s case came two years after that of Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos, who was arrested for driving under the influence in January 2024 after arriving at a potential crime scene showing signs of impairment. Vekos has since been convicted, and her law license has been temporarily suspended pending disciplinary proceedings related to the conviction.
DiSabito has served in the elected role since 2014, according to the Vermont Secretary of State’s website. Prior to his arrest, he had said he intended to run for the position again, according to WCAX.
DiSabito is expected to next appear in court on July 15. If convicted, he could face up to two years in prison. Timothy Lueders-Dumont, executive director of the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, said that, to his knowledge, DiSabito remains the state’s attorney for Grand Isle County.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Timothy Lueders-Dumont’s name.
