Verdict in Zack Scott case postponed until January

The verdict in Zack Scott’s drunk-driving case, scheduled for Thursday, was postponed until Jan. 6 because he contracted COVID-19 and could not be present, further delaying a conclusion to the four-month-old proceedings.

Scott, the Mets’ former acting general manager, asked permission to attend the verdict virtually, said his lawyer, Bruce Bendish. But the White Plains City Court judge presiding in the case, Eric Press, declined that request.

When the proceedings resume, Scott will await one of three fates: not guilty, guilty of driving while ability impaired by alcohol (DWAI) or guilty of driving while intoxicated (DWI).

The DWAI would be less serious than the original DWI. That possibility arose officially Monday afternoon, when the prosecution and defense completed their closing arguments and agreed to the down charge.

Both sides seemed to think the DWAI was the most likely outcome, with Westchester County assistant district attorney Davida Hawkes conceding in her closing argument that Scott was "at least impaired."

If convicted of the DWAI, Scott would face up to 15 days in jail, a fine of $300 to $500 and a license suspension of 90 days. If convicted of the DWI, the punishment would be up to a year in jail, a fine of $500 to $1,000 and a license revocation for at least six months.

Scott’s trial began Dec. 8 and nearly finished Monday. All that was left was a decision from Press — at the request of Scott’s lawyer in October, it was a non-jury trial — and the parties had hoped to learn that Thursday.

In Scott’s defense, Bendish argued that he didn’t actually fail the standard field sobriety tests, which are of dubious accuracy. The judge agreed. The results, as seen on bodycam footage shown during the trial, "didn’t indicate a person was intoxicated by any stretch of the imagination," Press said, noting that on the other hand, Scott was basically parked in a lane of traffic.

Bendish also contended that Scott was not sleeping but had been distracted by the cellphone in his lap. On the bodycam video, it wasn’t clear whether Scott’s eyes were closed or whether he was looking down.

"He’s not charged with that [being distracted]," Bendish said during his closing. "But that may be what he’s guilty of."

The prosecution’s case was built around the bodycam footage and testimony from two witnesses: arresting officer Frank Confalone and sergeant John Guastella, both from the White Plains Police Department.

They testified that they watched Scott’s vehicle stopped at a traffic light for two full light cycles. When they approached, they said, they found him asleep behind the wheel, and upon getting his attention, noticed that his eyes were glassy, his speech was slurred and his breath smelled of alcohol. Scott failed all three sobriety tests, Confalone said.

During his interactions with police that morning, Scott admitted to drinking but said he had stopped a couple of hours earlier, according to the bodycam footage. He refused to take a chemical test to determine his blood-alcohol concentration, which Press called "a major thing" with a negative inference.

This saga began for Scott, then the Mets’ acting GM, when he was arrested at 4:17 a.m. on Aug. 31 in White Plains hours after attending an event at owner Steve Cohen’s Connecticut mansion. The team put him on paid administrative leave when he pleaded not guilty, fired him in early November and replaced him with Billy Eppler a couple of weeks later.