LOS ANGELES : Judge’s Plea Averts Third Trial in Drunk Driving Case

A Los Angeles Municipal Court judge will plead no contest to a charge of reckless driving rather than face a third trial for driving under the influence of alcohol, his attorney said Tuesday.

“It’s costing the county a lot and he’s taking a lot of time off the bench, and we don’t feel it would be productive to go through it again,” said Jacob Adajian, who represented Judge Edward L. Davenport in two trials that ended in hung juries.

The plea bargain came on the eve of Davenport’s scheduled appearance in Santa Monica Superior Court today for the third trial in his case, which arose from a traffic accident in Beverly Hills on May 1, 1991. It is expected to result in a fine of about $400. If convicted on the original charge--drunk driving and refusal to take a blood, breath or urine test--the judge would have faced a possible 48-hour jail stay and six-month license suspension.