A Morris County jury recently acquitted a Parsippany woman who had been charged with vehicular manslaughter in connection with a fatal car crash on an East Hanover NJ road.
The tragic auto accident occurred on May 5, 2012.
The 35-year-old suspect was allegedly intoxicated when she slammed her vehicle into the victim. A blood test taken several hours after the car accident reportedly found that the suspect had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .133 percent, higher than the legal limit in NJ of .08 percent.
The victim was a 49-year-old man from East Hanover, New Jersey. He was struck by the suspect’s car while standing next to his pickup truck, which he had parked on Ridgedale Avenue. The suspect reportedly lost control of her car and left the roadway before crashing into the victim’s truck and hitting the victim.
The victim later died due to catastrophic injuries sustained in the car accident.
The suspect faced criminal charges for aggravated manslaughter and vehicular homicide. She was also cited for several traffic violations, including Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), reckless driving, and failure to maintain a lane.
During the recent trial, which was held in Morris County Superior Court in Morristown NJ, the defendant’s attorney criticized the police investigation into the fatal accident. For example, he pointed out that the only police officer who responded to the auto accident scene was friends with the victim.
At the end of the trial, the jury said that the defendant was not responsible for recklessly causing the victim’s death.
After the jury issued its verdict, the victim’s widow left the courtroom and yelled, “You people are all nuts.”
If the defendant had been convicted of aggravated manslaughter, she faced a potential sentence of 30 years in NJ State Prison.
Although the defendant was cleared of the vehicular homicide charges, she remained in custody at the Morris County Correctional Facility in Morristown NJ while authorities processed her for release. She has been held at the Morris County jail for four years on a massive bail amount of $400,000.
For further information about this case, read the DailyRecord.com article, “Not Guilty: Morris Jury Clears Woman in East Hanover Fatal Crash.”