Orchard Park lawyer was drinking before fatal hit-and-run

The Orchard Park lawyer who has been charged in Saturday’s hit-and-run death of a 19-year-old Hilbert College student was drinking before the incident.

Both the police and his attorneys agree to that.

Whether John P. Duffy, 41, was driving while intoxicated, at least for now, is not being charged.

That doesn’t mean, if the allegations are true, he will be treated lightly.

Duffy could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.

This heavy punishment is possible because another lawyer, from Amherst, served less than a year behind bars for striking and killing a 68-year-old car mechanic in 1999.

Under the law at that time, drunken drivers could leave the scene of an accident, turn themselves in when they sobered up and avoid a more serious felony charge. Amherst police had suspected former local lawyer Drew V. Tidwell had been drunk at the time but could never prove it. He was sentenced to one year in jail and served eight months.