A Dover New Jersey man has been found not guilty of vehicular homicide for a fatal car crash in Parsippany, NJ.

A Morris County Superior Court jury issued the not guilty verdict after deliberating for three hours. The acquittal means that the 61-year-old suspect will avoid the most severe penalties for the deadly accident.

According to officials, the deadly car accident happened on Route 10 in Parsippany in December 2012. A 64-year-old pedestrian was killed while he attempted to cross Route 10 near the Pelican Ski shop.

The victim, who resided at the Mountain Club condominium complex in Morris Plains NJ, died due to “multiple, massive injuries” to his leg, arm, back, hip, and pelvis.

Police later gave the suspect a blood test, which allegedly indicated that he had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .073 percent. The legal limit for BAC in New Jersey is .08 percent, so the suspect was not initially charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI).

However, Morris County NJ prosecutors later argued that the suspect was intoxicated when the car crash occurred because the blood test was not administered until at least two hours after the accident.

Although the suspect continued to drive after the fatal crash, he later turned around and returned to the scene of the accident.

Morris County NJ authorities investigated the accident and initially decided not to file criminal charges against the suspect. In August 2013, however, a grand jury returned an indictment against the suspect.

During trial, the suspect’s defense lawyer argued that the suspect was not responsible for the collision because it was dark and snowing outside at the time. Prosecutors responded that the suspect took an “unjustifiable risk” by drinking and driving in the first place.

The jury ultimately found the suspect not guilty of the most serious charges of vehicular homicide. Meanwhile, the superior court judge handed down a punishment on a lesser charge of driving under the influence (DUI) and suspended the suspect’s driving privileges in NJ for a period of three months.

To learn more about this case, see the NJ.com article entitled “Man Acquitted of Vehicular Homicide in 2012 Death of Pedestrian.”