Published: November 07, 2008 01:24 am      

COURTS: Ex-teacher Marcy Cole sentenced to prison on DWI plea

A former city elementary school teacher will serve at least a year in prison after pleading guilty to two felony charges of driving while intoxicated.

Marcy L. Cole, 35, of Main Street, Gasport, was sentenced Thursday in Niagara County Court to two terms of one to three years in prison, to be served concurrently.

Cole pleaded guilty in September to two felony counts of DWI in connection with her arrests on Oct. 7, 2007, and Jan. 10, 2008.

She had a previous DWI conviction, after pleading guilty in October last year to misdemeanor DWI in connection with an April 18, 2007, traffic stop in the Town of Lockport.

She was arrested a fourth time in June on charges of DWI in the Town of Royalton.

Cole has been in jail since early September, when Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza ordered her bail revoked. Probation officers had reported several incidents in which Cole was reportedly still drinking and causing disturbances while awaiting trial on what was originally an 11-count indictment.

Her guilty plea later that month satisfied all counts of the indictment.

Cole’s attorney, Thomas Scirto, said Cole has enrolled in several recovery programs available at the Niagara County Jail.

“She’s just now on the long road to recovery,” he said.

He said she has also ended an “abusive” relationship that had been causing her problems and has been reconnecting with her family, including her children, who are “seeing their mother sober for the first time in months.”

Cole read a two-page statement before sentencing was handed down, at times breaking down in tears when telling Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza about her recovery process.

“I’ve come to realize what ... the recovery program means. It’s taken this to get me to that point,” she said. “My decisions have brought me humiliation. ... I had to be broken, your honor.”

Cole taught fourth grade at Roy B. Kelley Elementary School until January, when she was pulled from the classroom after parents and teachers reportedly complained about her conduct.

The school board accepted her resignation in June.

Cole apologized to her family, whom she said have been supportive of her through the past year.

“I take full responsibility, and I apologize to those I have hurt,” she said.

Sperrazza said there were “too many troubling moments” in the case to grant Scirto’s request of a six-month local jail sentence followed by probation.

“I see a woman who mouths the words, ‘I now get it,’ but I truly don’t think you do,” Sperrazza said. “Honestly, Marcy, I don’t think you get it yet.”

Contact reporter April Amadon at 439-9222, ext. 6251.