Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger Credit: Glenn Russell The Vermont Supreme Court heard competing arguments Thursday over whether Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos should lose her law license while awaiting disciplinary proceedings stemmi ng from her drunken driving conviction late last year. The five justices did not make a ruling Thursday or indicate when they might. The hearing, which took place over video, comes amid multiple controversies surrounding Vekos’ tenure as Addison County’s top prosecutor. Vekos, a Democrat, was elected to a four-year term in November 2022. READ MORE Vekos’ troubles have stemmed not only from her DUI arrest in January 2024, when she was accused of driving impaired to a death scene investigation in Bridport. She also faces complaints from some crime victims about her treatment of them and her handling of their cases.  Jon Alexander, the disciplinary counsel for the Vermont Professional Responsibility Board, the panel that oversees the conduct of lawyers, filed a petition with the high court this month seeking the immediate suspension of Vekos’ law license.  Alexander focused his filing on Vekos’ drunken driving conviction in December 2025 as well as her actions during the arrest, including his claims that she tried to interfere with the investigating officers. Alexander told the justices Thursday that the drunken driving charge was a serious matter. He cited several aggravating factors, alleging that Vekos tried to use her position as prosecutor to sway an officer to let a friend drive her home from the scene rather than further investigate.  In addition, Alexander said, Vekos told another officer about the “discretion” police have in such matters and that if she were arrested, it would damage her office’s relationship with law enforcement. “She wasn’t charged with a felony, right?” Chief Justice Paul Reiber then asked Alexander. Alexander responded that Vekos’ conviction was on a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving, first offense, but that her actions surrounding it were concerning.  “The aggravating circumstances of its commission and the aftermath,” Alexander said, “indicate that State’s Attorney Vekos is indifferent to her legal obligations and lacks the characteristics needed for law practice, specifically as a criminal prosecutor.” Justice Christina Nolan asked Alexander if he was aware of any cases of an attorney convicted of a single misdemeanor drunken driving charge having their law license suspended pending further disciplinary proceedings. Alexander replied that he wasn’t aware of one, but added, “The case presented here is, in certain respects, unique.” Nolan followed up and inquired what “characteristic” Alexander believed Vekos lacked to continue to practice law. “Her conduct,” Alexander responded, “indicates that she lacks perhaps the most important characteristic for a lawyer, which is a willingness to abide by the law, uphold the law and refrain from criminal conduct.” Attorney David Sleigh, representing Vekos, contended in his filing to the high court and in his argument Thursday that the move to suspend his client’s law license was not timely. “If there had been concerns that the conduct was such that the public’s confidence and the court’s confidence in Ms. Vekos’ ability to practice was implicated by her conduct two years ago,” Sleigh said Thursday in court, “the request to suspend her license should have been brought closer in time.”  Sleigh also disputed that Vekos’ interaction with law enforcement represented an abuse of power or an attempt to evade justice. Instead, he said, that should be decided following any disciplinary hearings where evidence can be presented and challenged. Sleigh told the justices that Vekos is unlikely to face any disciplinary penalty more severe than a public reprimand and that suspending her law license now would be too harsh a punishment. Still, Sleigh added, he contested whether the drunken driving offense even constituted a violation under the rules governing a lawyer’s conduct. “Nowhere has this court found the conviction of a single DWI to constitute a violation of the code,” Sleigh said. He added: “Those of us who have been around for a little while probably know a few lawyers who’ve been convicted of DWI and have never had a conduct complaint filed against them.” That drew a response from Justice Michael Drescher. “In those instances,” Drescher said to Sleigh, “the attorney’s crime presumably did not happen while she was actually performing professional duties as an attorney, and she probably wasn’t a member of the law enforcement community, and they probably didn’t create a record that can be construed as trying to exert the influence of her position to try and affect the proceeding.” The drunken driving charge stemmed from the night of Jan. 25, 2024, when Vekos, according to charging documents, told investigators she had consumed one gin and tonic drink earlier that evening. She pleaded no contest in December 2025 to the misdemeanor charge, receiving a six-month deferred sentence. That means if she stays out of legal trouble for six months, the conviction can be cleared from her record. Vekos has faced political pressure as well. Republican Gov. Phil Scott and leaders of the Vermont Democratic and Progressive parties urged Vekos in December to resign, after a VTDigger report about crime victims’ complaints regarding her conduct toward them. Vekos has defended her actions in those cases. The hearing Thursday came after the Vermont Attorney General’s Office this week started taking over the prosecution of new homicide and sex crimes cases in Addison County. Those cases, according to the attorney general’s office, “involve the most vulnerable of victims.”  The Vermont State Police had been sending its major cases investigated in Addison County to the attorney general’s office for prosecution ever since Vekos’ arrest on the drunken driving charge in January 2024. State police, in making that move, cited the need to avoid conflicts of interest since that law enforcement agency was involved in her DUI arrest.  Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont’s high court weighs pulling law license of Addison County State’s Attorney. ...read more read less