Police Cite Addison County Prosecutor for Allegedly Driving Drunk to Crime Scene

Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos was arrested on suspicion of DUI on Thursday night after state police said the top county prosecutor smelled of alcohol and slurred her words at an active crime scene.

Vekos, an elected official, refused to take sobriety tests, Vermont State Police said, which can trigger the civil suspension of driving privileges for six months, in addition to any criminal penalties.

Vekos was responding to a scene in Bridport on Thursday evening where state police were investigating the suspicious death of 44-year-old Stephen Nuciolo Sr. The prosecutor arrived shortly before 9 p.m. and was visibly intoxicated, state police said.

After Vekos refused to take a field sobriety test, troopers arrested her and took her to the state police barracks in New Haven. There, the attorney refused to provide fingerprints, stand for a mug shot or submit to an evidentiary breath test, according to state police. She was cited and released with an initial court date of February 12 — at which point a criminal affidavit detailing more information about the evidence supporting the charge will become public.

Calls to the Addison County State’s Attorney’s office went unanswered on Friday morning, and Vekos did not immediately respond to an emailed interview request.

The Vermont Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, a state agency that works with county prosecutors, issued a statement on Friday morning stating only that it would not be making any statement. The statement included a one-sentence quote from executive director John Campbell saying the department would assist the Addison County State’s Attorney’s Office “as necessary.”

Labor relations director Annie Noonan would not say whether Vekos was working on Friday or whether anyone from the department had spoken to her since her arrest.

Vekos, 54, spent much of her career in criminal defense, including juvenile defense, before Addison County voters elected the Democrat as state’s attorney in 2022. She recently faced public scrutiny when she filed a murder charge in adult court against a 14-year-old Black youth who shot and killed another child while the two were playing with a loaded gun in a car.

In March, Vekos is slated to prosecute a fatal DUI case against a man who is accused of striking and killing a woman with his car in 2020. The attorney for the defendant did not return a call on Friday morning.