Pellegrino is awaiting trial for causing serious injury while driving under the influence of drugs.
Julian Pellegrino at previous arraignmentSPRINGFIELD – A city man awaiting trial for causing serious injury while driving under the influence of drugs is now saying his blood was illegally tested by police.
Julian Pellegrino, 41, of 29 Savoy Ave., filed a motion seeking to have results of a blood test thrown out as evidence.
The head-on crash which led to Hampden Superior Court indictment occurred on Dec. 30, 2009, at 2:20 p.m. when Pellegrino, driving a 2004 Ford truck eastbound on Granby Road, crossed the line into the westbound lane.
He hit a 1998 Honda driven by 26-year-old Mark A. Costa, of Chicopee, police said.
Both drivers were taken to Baystate Medical Center with serious injuries. Costa suffered two broken legs.
Raipher D. Pellegrino, Julian Pellegrino’s lawyer as well as his brother, said in the motion filed last month blood was taken and kept by Baystate Medical Center “against the express instructions,” and without the consent of his client.
Julian Pellegrino also wants thrown out of the case any “fruits” resulting from the blood work, including any statements he “allegedly made by him regarding his refusal to consent to the blood draw and the subsequent analysis of the blood sample by State Police.”
He argues police got a warrant 10 days after the blood draw to get the blood from the hospital.
Pellegrino’s case is scheduled for trial July 14. He has been free on his own recognizance.
In November he was arraigned in Springfield District Court for a new charge of driving while under the influence of liquor.
He still faces that charge in District Court.
When he was arrested on the District Court charge he was held without right to bail for about a month because the new charge violated his conditions of pre-trial release on the Superior Court case.
But Pellegrino successfully challenged that District Court decision in Hampden Superior Court and was released on his own recognizance.
Motion to Suppress Evidence
