The attorney defending NFL Hall of Fame Football Coach and CBS Sports Analyst Mike Ditka’s son in a driving under the influence violation finds himself on the other side of the courtroom – defending himself on a Dui charge.
The attorney who represented two sons of Mike Ditka in recent DUI cases was cited in march for driving on a suspended license, which resulted from the lawyer’s own arrest for DUI in October. As reported in www.chicagotribune.com.
Attorney Robert Ritacca had been found not guilty of the drunken driving charge filed against him (probably had a good attorney). But despite being ultimately cleared of the DUI, Ritacca lost his driver’s license for a year because he declined to take a breathalyzer or field sobriety test (on the advice of his attorney).
Ritacca denied he’d been drinking. He said he refused the tests because he was feeling effects of a medical condition from which he suffers called cerebral vasculitis, which has caused him to become “disoriented and lose focus.” Probably shouldn’t be behind the wheel of a car when he is losing focus and disoriented.
The attorney did have a permit enabling him to drive if he had a breath alcohol ignition interlock device, or BAAID, installed in his vehicle, however there was not one installed in Ritacca’s 2005 Corvette at the time of his arrest.
He represented Mark Ditka when the son of the former Bears coach pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI in January. Ritacca was also the lawyer for Mark Ditka’s brother, Michael Ditka, when a felony DUI case was dropped against him in early 2012.
Is it just me or do you think Ritacca could use a thorough DUI class?