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BAY CITY, Mich. — A federal judge in Michigan pleaded no contest Wednesday to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge stemming from his October arrest, an incident captured on widely circulated police body camera footage.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Ludington, 72, entered the plea to operating a vehicle while intoxicated during a hearing in 90th District Court in Emmet County. A second charge for driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.17 or higher was dismissed, according to the court docket. He is set to be sentenced May 13 by Judge Angela Lasher.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan announced in February that Ludington was taking a leave of absence while the DUI case was pending. The matter became public after the Detroit News began reporting on it in January and state police released body cam footage of the arrest in response to public records requests.

In a statement, Ludington’s attorney, Jonathan Steffy, said the judge wanted to resolve the case and move forward, calling the incident “at most…an isolated event.”

“Judge Ludington looks forward to continuing to serve the Federal Court at the highest level and focus on his work, along with his wife and family,” Steffy said.

Michigan State Police reported that on October 3, a trooper responded to a call that a Cadillac had struck two road signs in Gaylord, Michigan, and continued driving. The trooper found Ludington in the vehicle, which had significant passenger-side damage. Ludington reportedly said he was “not exactly sure why” the airbags deployed.

The judge denied consuming alcohol, but he failed multiple field sobriety tests. In one, he recited “A, B, C, D, F, U” when asked to recite the alphabet. A blood test later revealed a 0.27 blood-alcohol level, more than three times the legal limit of 0.08, according to the police report.

Steffy noted in his statement that “there are still multiple questions about what happened to him.” He pointed out that no alcohol was found in the vehicle, nor was there a record of it being purchased or consumed along Ludington’s route.

Steffy also said a Luger bullet casing was discovered on the vehicle’s floor, though Ludington does not own a firearm. “The source is unknown to the U.S. Marshals Service,” Steffy said, noting that Ludington has presided over cases involving defendants who were recently executed.