Friday, April 3, 1998 | 1:45 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal of a former captain in the Washoe County Sheriff's Office who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the drunken driving death of a Reno man.
Enrico N. Togneri is serving his time in a house arrest program in Reno. He was denied parole last June and will be eligible to reapply in October this year.
Togneri was commander of the crime lab for the sheriff's office and brought DNA testing to Washoe County. On June 23, 1994, he was the driving the car that slammed into the rear of anothervehicle, killing Gunter Paschkowiak, an executive of Porsche Cars North America.
Togneri was off-duty and in his own car when the accident occurred on U.S. 395 south of Reno. His blood alcohol level measured .133. In Nevada, a blood alcohol level of .10 is considered drunk.
Togneri had pleaded guilty to the charge of causing the death of another while driving under the influence of alcohol.
The court rejected his argument Thursday that he was being punished twice for the same offense. His driver's license was suspended and that together with the prison sentence constituted double jeopardy, his lawyer claimed.
The court ruled earlier that suspending a drivers license and imposing a criminal sentence does not violate the U.S. Constitution.
The court also rejected his argument that he was forced to submit to a blood test to measure the alcohol in his system. It said there was substantial evidence Togneri voluntarily consented to the blood tests.
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