Posted on 05/21/2005 5:01:38 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Man guilty in fatal crash
By Juliette Rule rep9@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE - There always was the hope jurors would have doubts, that they would acquit her father, Mandy Holland said Thursday.
But the Weld County, Colo., woman's father, Ron Holland, now faces as many as 30 years in prison for the death of Janna Klussmann and the serious injuries suffered by her husband, Andrew Klussmann, a former Colorado State University volleyball coach.
It took jurors fewer than three hours to find Holland, 45, guilty of being a reckless, drunken driver on Father's Day 2004 as he speeded south on Interstate 180.
That was the afternoon everything changed for the Klussmanns. A trip to Cheyenne marked not only Father's Day with Janna Klussmann's parents, Ken and Joyce Berg, but also the first birthday of her youngest son, Jackson.
A portrait taken that day in the backyard of the Klussmanns' Fort Collins, Colo., home displays the four-member family's smiles. Over the coming months that image would be printed on cards and sent to those who are "making a difference in our lives," signed by the Klussmann and Berg families.
It took just seconds to forever alter their lives. It took three days of trial testimony for jurors to agree with the prosecutor.
"We would not be here today if the only thing that happened that day was Mr. Holland speeding just a little bit at 46 mph," Laramie County chief deputy district attorney Mary Beth Wolff told jurors in her rebuttal closing argument Thursday.
Defense attorney Dan Blythe had presented evidence that Holland was traveling at 46 mph. That is 6 mph over the posted limit but a far cry from the state expert's estimate of 55-62 mph.
There was no proof the light was red for Holland and therefore green for Janna Klussmann - unless jurors relied on witness testimony that didn't agree exactly, Blythe added.
But witnesses did agree on one thing: The light was red for Holland and green for Klussmann.
The 41-year-old mother of four moved into the intersection gaining a speed of about 11 mph when Holland's Dodge pickup crashed into the driver's side door, forcing the vehicles together then spinning them apart. The minivan moved 80 feet, and it felt like a ride in a blender, Andrew Klussman's mother, Helen, testified Tuesday.
"Look at these pictures," Wolff said to jurors. "There is no way Janna would have survived. Mr. Holland's conduct is the only cause of (her) death."
Holland's blood alcohol content was measured at 0.21 percent, nearly triple the legal limit for drivers in Wyoming.
Had Janna Klussmann just looked left instead of proceeding blindly on a green light, she would have seen the pickup barreling toward her, and she could have stopped. That was the position promoted by the defense.
She was in a better position to interrupt that collision because her speed was much lower than Holland's, a defense expert testified. Even if he was moving at a prudent 40 mph, there still wasn't time for him to stop, he added.
A prosecution witness cited a battery of complicated calculations to the contrary. There was time to stop, Jubil Hamernik said.
The notion that Janna Klussmann's inattention was partly to blame for the crash didn't just offend Helen Klussmann.
"Internally, I was infuriated," she said after the verdict was read, dabbing tears from her eyes and shaking her head. "That it was two people's responsibility. Janna's family meant more to her than anything."
The man whose actions took a life appears to mean much to his family as well.
"I just want people to know he is a good man," said Ron Holland's wife, Risa. "He's been a great dad. We've raised three girls together. I married my best friend.
"It's not just their family. He has a family too. It was a terrible accident."
As the jurors filed into District Judge Peter Arnold's courtroom, Risa Holland was shaking, gripping Mandy Holland's hand.
With one side of the room filled with Klussmann and Berg family supporters each day, the Hollands said they felt outnumbered.
They tried to keep it together, maintaining a calm fa‡ade each day, Risa and Mandy Holland said. On Thursday, the dam broke when the verdict was read. Mandy Holland's pain burst to the surface in sobs and gasps.
"I was hoping," the willowy young woman said outside the courthouse. "All the witnesses' stories were different."
There is much healing yet to be done for Andy Klussmann. He is scheduled for another surgery, and he predicts many more "missing mommy talks" with 3-year-old son Drew.
He has moved his wedding ring - a gold band wrapped around a diamond - to his right hand. He said it's his way of keeping the memory of Janna, he said.
He said he is not angry, but he is relieved to know that with Holland in jail he won't be able to hurt another family.
Holland's sentencing is a month or more away, but Arnold remanded him to jail. Holland is officially charged with aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated assault. They carry maximums of 20 and 10 years, respectively.
Said Mandy Holland, "No matter how much punishment he gets, he'll punish himself for this for the rest of his life. People don't understand that."
Outside, Helen Klussmann approached Mandy Holland, her arms wide open for an embrace. They hugged.
"Nobody wins, and my heart goes out to his family," Helen Klussmann said earlier. "His daughter is so full of emotion."
But is a conviction and prison term justice?
"Justice has been done for all the mothers and babies," Helen Klussmann said. "This can't keep happening.
"We need to keep our roads safe. We just can't tolerate drunk drivers. But it's not going to get any easier for Andy."
"But is a conviction and prison term justice? "
Who wrote this? A paid flack for the drunken driver?
What nonsense, here's a news flash for the Holland family: Your dad/husband/best friend may have been a saint for every other day of his living life, but that day he was sh*t-faced drunk and driving and he killed somebody. And if the best defense that he can mount is the vicitm should have seen me coming and prevented the accident, you are a fool to even go to trial. If your name aint' OJ Simpson or Robert Blake there ain't a jury in the world that would fail to convict you based on that theory.
I'm also amazed to learn there are interstates with 40 mph speed limits, in Colorado!
Necesary disclaimer:
I was T-boned by a drunk in a similar situation. A drunk speeding to make a yellow light that turned red hit me as I was proceeding on a green light on a foggy night. I didn't see him and he hit me so hard my car was spun 180 degrees and set on fire when the gas tank ruptured. I had to climb out a window to get away.
As you might guess I have little sympathy for drunk-driver
AND traffic lights.
"Friends don't let friends drive with cellular phones." That's one way of interpreting a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine."
Shiite happens. I am sorry you were involved in an ACCIDENT. I am sure he was intending to t-bone you... .sarcsm
PS- I don't drink enough to ever reach even the ridiculously low .08 that MADD has shoved down our throats.
Click it or pay...
"AND traffic lights."
Yeah! Even here in NJ, the most densely populated state in the country, roads like that have speed limits of 50 mph. I actually hate driving on those kinds of roads.
We have an employee who was in about the same situation. Drunk, and driving home from a club. She hit a man walking along the highway who was also drunk. He was in the middle of the road just over the crest of a hill. According to the accident reconstruction investigator, anyone sober or drunk would probably have hit him. She plead guilty to vehicular homicide and a reduced jail term as the victim was also drunk. She served her time (3 years) and is now back at work for us. As terms for release she is helping lead an AA group. The victim's family wanted her to go to jail for life. Would that have been a fair sentence? I think considering the victim was drunk and in the middle of the highway, this was fair. She was drunk, got more of a sentence than she would have had she been convicted of simply DUI.
The two situations don't seem that similar. In your employee's case it seems that it is agreed that 1. the victim really was at least partly at fault, unlike the posted story and 2. even a sober person might have hit the guy, that certainly doesn't seem to be the case in the original story here.
And you haven't told us what her BAC was, so that is an important detail. .20 is pretty stewed. And your friend also had the sense to cop a plea.
Must be a construction zone. No stop lights anywhere there otherwise. Or speed zones
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