Yesterday Reid pleaded guilty to DUI, and possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia. He is not likely to face additional jail time when sentenced at a later date, O'Neill suggested.
Reid is serving an eight-to-23-month jail sentence for pointing a handgun at another driver during a road-rage incident in West Conshohocken last January.
"There's very little doubt that he's entitled to credit" for time already served, O'Neill said. The real dilemma, said O'Neill, is whether to grant Reid early parole into a court-sponsored drug-treatment program.
"I don't want drug-treatment court to be that exit from prison if you are not going to be serious about your drug recovery," O'Neill said.
Though Reid applied for the treatment program, state prosecutors disclosed yesterday that they have "evidence" that he isn't really interested in participating.
"We have information that leads us to believe he's at least said different things at different times regarding his interest in actually being a part of drug court," said Senior Deputy Attorney General E. Marc Costanzo after the plea hearing.
Costanzo declined to reveal the source of the information. The evidence, however, is expected to come out when Reid is sentenced on the DUI and drug charges. That sentencing will include a parole hearing.
"I'm not interested in someone who is conning me," O'Neill told Reid. "It sounds like your off-the-record comments belie your on-the-record comments, and I don't know what to do with that. "
Reid's attorney, Joseph Toogood, said his client is "very sincere" in his desire to participate in drug court. Reid is hoping to get paroled by next week so he can start classes at Montgomery County College.
"I will not be backed up to a wall just because school is next week," said O'Neill, who did not set a date for a sentencing/parole hearing. The drug-court program, run by O'Neill, offers addicts an alternative to jail. They must report to court twice a week, participate in a 12-step recovery program, hold a job, and provide urine samples four times a week, O'Neill said.
Reid and his older brother, Garrett, have been wrestling with drug addiction. Garrett, 24, is in jail for running a red light while high on heroin and smashing his Jeep into a motorist in Plymouth Township last January. Garrett Reid pleaded not guilty this month to new charges that he smuggled drugs into jail in his rectum. *
