Daughter of Judge Leticia Astacio tells new story of ghost reading

David Andreatta | Democrat and Chronicle

Corrections and clarifications: This story and headline have been modified to reflect that Judge Astacio did not testify about her daughter using the ignition interlock device in her car. An earlier version reported that she had. David Andreatta explains.

A hungover friend of the daughter of Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio blew the high blood-alcohol-content reading into Astacio’s car breathalyzer that set off the chain of events that landed the judge in jail, according to the daughter.

The daughter, Jaiya Astacio, 18, said in an interview with WROC-TV News 8 broadcast Thursday that she happened upon the friend, who was sick from alcohol at a local park, and offered to let the friend stay at her house overnight.

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The next morning, April 29, the friend attempted to use Astacio’s car to go buy coffee and blew into the ignition interlock device while sitting in the passenger seat, Jaiya said.

That version of events runs counter to that offered by Astacio's lawyer.

Attempts by the Democrat and Chronicle to reach Jaiya at phone numbers listed for Astacio’s home were unsuccessful. A voicemail left on Astacio’s cellphone was not returned.

The blow that April morning registered a blood-alcohol-content reading of .061, forcing the service that monitors the device to alert Judge Stephen Aronson, who is overseeing Astacio’s drunken driving case.

Astacio is prohibited from consuming alcohol under the terms of the sentence she received upon her conviction in August 2016.

Her interlock ignition device is equipped with a camera that is intended to capture an image of the person blowing, who is typically sitting in the driver’s seat.

But the breathalyzer is attached to a cord long enough for the person blowing into the device to do so without being photographed.

The reading in question on April 29 did not capture the image of the person blowing.

Aronson was troubled enough by the reading and its lack of photograph, which he referred to as a “ghost reading,” to order Astacio to take a urinalysis to test for alcohol.

Astacio has since taken the test, but not before traveling to Thailand, missing a court date and getting arrested upon her return to Rochester. She was later found guilty of violating her sentence and ordered held in custody without bail.

She is currently in Livingston County Jail awaiting her next court date of July 6, when she is expected to be sentenced.

Astacio's lawyer, Ed Fiandach, has said that his client informed him it was her daughter, Jaiya, who blew into the device on April 29.

Jaiya, in the interview, said she hid the episode from her mother.

“I didn’t tell my mom because I didn’t want her to know I smuggled a drunk person into our house,” Jaiya said.

It was not clear whether the interview marked the first time Jaiya revealed her version of the events to anyone, or whether she previously had informed her mother of the story. If she did tell Astacio, the question then becomes when.

Astacio’s lawyer, Ed Fiandach, said the discrepancy between the story he said Astacio told him and the news report was disturbing.

“If this is true,” he added, “I’m troubled by the fact that (her daughter) didn’t bring this information forward at a time when it would have been more helpful.”

DANDREATTA@Gannett.com