Embattled Staten Island Congressman Vito Fossella was convicted yesterday of driving under the influence after a Virginia cop said the politician couldn’t recite the alphabet or even stand on one leg after he was pulled over.

After the verdict was announced, Fossella hugged teary-eyed friends in the courtroom and told them, “Don’t worry, it’ll be OK.”

A hearing was set for Dec. 8 to decide if the congressman’s blood-alcohol content was high enough to mandate a five-day jail sentence.

Fossella was also convicted of running a red light and will have to pay a $100 fine for the traffic violation.

The congressman quickly left the courthouse without speaking to reporters.

But he later released a statement saying the trial gave “an honest and straightforward account” of what happened.

“I made a serious mistake and I want to again apologize for setting the wrong example,” he said.

Officer Jamie Gernatt testified that when he approached Fossella’s car on May 1 in Alexandria, he smelled wine and concluded that the Republican lawmaker had been hitting the juice.

“There was a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from the car and his lips were stained red,” Gernatt testified in Alexandria General District Court.

When Fossella was asked to recite the alphabet beginning with the letter “D,” he struggled, skipping “G” and “K,” Gernatt said.

Fossella’s lawyers tried unsuccessfully to have the alphabet sobriety test tossed, arguing the cop should have started with the letter “A.”

Fossella’s arrest led to revelations the married 43-year-old congressman had fathered a child with retired Air Force colonel Laura Fay, of Virginia.

Fossella was at one point asked to stand on one leg for 30 seconds as part of another field sobriety test.

Gernatt said Fossella had to use his arms to maintain his balance. His lawyers countered that the congressman was nervous.

After Fossella was given the field sobriety tests, he blew a blood-alcohol level of 0.133 on a handheld Breathalyzer – above the state limit of 0.08.

He was arrested and taken to the Alexandria police station, but there the blood-alcohol machine, the Intoxylizer 5000, wasn’t working.

Fossella was then taken to the Mount Vernon, Va., police station where the first test there was inconclusive, but the second registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.17.

The mandatory jail sentence kicks in for anyone convicted with a blood-alcohol level of at least 0.15. If not, the penalty is left up to the judge’s discretion.

Fossella, who was not wearing his wedding ring yesterday, vehemently defended himself – testifying that he had “no more than a glass and a half of wine during dinner” – plus a few more sips at a bar hours before he was busted for blowing a red light. His parents were in the courtroom. Fay and his wife were not.

Thomas Workman, a defense witness and electrical engineer who specializes in Breathalyzer tests, said the machine was faulty the night Fossella was arrested.

Source: NY Post