click to enlarge - Derek Brouwer ©️ Seven Days
- Addison County State's Attorney Eva Vekos
Despite a pending DUI charge, Eva Vekos returned to work on Monday as the elected prosecutor for Addison County — and promptly cut a plea deal in a different DUI case.
Vekos announced her return on Sunday afternoon, writing in an email that her paid medical leave, which lasted about two and a half weeks, had allowed her to reflect upon her January arrest.
“Being a defendant in a criminal case brings me an unwelcome but important understanding of what the accused experience in our criminal legal system,” Vekos wrote.
Vekos is accused of driving impaired to the scene of an active homicide investigation and refusing to submit to sobriety tests requested by Vermont State Police.
Vekos stayed on the job for some time, until she unsuccessfully sought to have the case against her dismissed during an initial court appearance in February.
During that time, she also sent a sarcastic, condescending email to local law enforcement,
VTDigger.org reported. In the email, Vekos said she would not attend a training with police chiefs in person because she didn’t “feel safe around law enforcement.”
“This safety issue will conflict with the plan for me to do educational trainings,” Vekos continued in the email, VTDigger reported. “Its (sic) too bad, I would have loved to teach grammar skills to bring police up to the elementary school level, at least. I found a really great illustrated book to use. It has pictures of dragons and stuff.”
In her Sunday message, Vekos apologized for the email, which she described as “insulting, hurtful and unkind.” The state’s attorney expressed “profound respect” for local law enforcement and said she plans to apologize to them in person during a future meeting.
“I intend to fully restore my professional and productive working relationship with law enforcement,” Vekos wrote.
On her first day back in court, Vekos presented a plea deal with defendant Holly Gonyeau, who was charged in late 2022 with a second DUI after driving her car into a ditch. Police said a juvenile was inside.
Gonyeau’s earlier DUI stemmed from a high-profile crash in 2015 that killed a cyclist, Charlotte doctor Ken Najarian. Investigators in that case concluded that Gonyeau did not cause the crash, according to news reports from the time.
In exchange for pleading guilty in the latest case, Gonyeau can avoid prison time. The charge was amended to a first-offense DUI, despite it being her second; she received a suspended sentence, plus three years probation.
Her attorney, Francis Twarog, told the court that Gonyeau had entered residential treatment and intensive outpatient programs following the 2022 crash. Gonyeau has been sober for 14 months, Twarog said.
“She’s really turned the page,” he said.
Vekos told Judge David Fenster that, while the state understood the latest charge was “not her actual first DUI,” the previous charge was eight years old and Gonyeau has shown interest “in staying on this productive, positive path.”
As Gonyeau left the courtroom, Vekos wished her luck.