Update on Freehold Township Vehicular Homicide Trial
The vehicular homicide trial based on a drunk driving crash continues at the Monmouth County Superior Court in Freehold, New Jersey before the Honorable Ira E. Kreizman, J.S.C. As I previously discussed last week, this case is based on a drunk driver who led the police on a high speed chase and crashed into a man on a motorcycle, killing the other driver. However, the other driver was also intoxicated and defense witnesses testified this week that the motorcyclist was following the car in front of him too closely and the accident could have been avoided if he was following three (3) seconds behind the car in front of him rather than the 1.5 seconds which led to the crash. Further, the defense argued that the other driver's intoxication levels (which were over the legal limit in New Jersey) led to the accident which could have been avoided if the other driver wasn't drunk. For additional information, see the Asbury Park Press article entitled, "Freehold Township crash defense witness says biker who was killed was intoxicated".
This is an interesting defense strategy and it just may work. The defense is trying to get the jury to conclude that the accident could have been avoided because the other driver (not the Defendant) was drunk. However, it is still difficult to get around the facts which show that the Defendant was running from the police at a high rate of speed, the Defendant was also drunk, and the Defendant crashed into the other driver on a motorcycle which led to his death. We'll see which way the jury goes on this one.
