Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Local

A former prosecutor is acquitted of leaving the scene of a crash that killed a man even though he did run over and kill a man without stopping in Springfield after driving home from a party in Columbus. He claimed he thought he hit a pothole. Note that the defense intelligently tried this before the judge, not a jury.
"Kessler said the state didn’t prove Berry knew he struck Pierce."
How well do think that defense would work for you or me? This is another example proving the law does not apply to our rulers.
"“This was a horrible ordeal for a man who has done a lot for this community ... The outcome was a just verdict,” Carter said."
Of course. Government employees do a lot for our communities so the law should be different for them.
"The attorneys Berry called, John Butz and Mayhall, were at the party in Columbus and represented Berry for months before quitting the case because they were potential witnesses.
Mayhall, who hosted the party, testified that Berry cooperated with authorities and turned over his vehicle, only removing law books before the car was confiscated by authorities."
Right. Do you think the cops would allow you to remove items from the car before confiscating it?
"The bumper of Berry’s vehicle was heavily damaged, the wheel well liner above the right tire had been ripped off and was recovered at the scene, and blood and human tissue was found on his car.
A Wayside Tavern surveillance camera recorded the crash, which was played in court.
The video showed Pierce, who had cocaine in his urine and a blood-alcohol level of 0.31, stumble into Springfield-Xenia Road and Berry’s vehicle slam into him as Pierce tried to get up.
The vehicle raised up and then crashed to the ground, creating sparks and leaving tire marks and scratches on the asphalt.
Berry testified he was trying to time the traffic light in front of him when the collision occurred. He never applied his brakes, the video shows.
“Mr. Berry’s testimony is that he didn’t see him and you have to believe him,” Smith said in closing arguments."
No he didn't have to believe him because his story defies credibility.
"An unidentified relative of Pierce said as she left the courtroom enraged:
“I knew it. We all knew he was going to get away with it. We have two sets of laws around here. One for them and one for us. He knew what he did.”"
It sounds that way to me too. There's another interesting twist to this article. The original story I read claimed the former prosecutor was drunk. That's not even mentioned in the full article on the story. It seems more likely the drunk former prosecutor ran over the man then, knowing exactly how to game the system, raced home to sober up so he wouldn't be charged with vehicle manslaughter.

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