Posted on 08/10/2022 2:33:44 PM PDT by algore
The drugged-out truck driver who crossed the center line of a northern New Hampshire road, killing seven people on motorcycles, was found not guilty by a jury - a verdict that sparked 'shock' 'outrage' and 'anger' by the state's governor.
Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 26, a Ukrainian national who now faces deportation, was acquitted on Tuesday by a jury of seven counts of negligent homicide and reckless conduct after less than three hours of deliberation following a two-week trial.
The grateful and relieved truck driver wiped away tears, kissed his finger and pointed to the sky after he was cleared.
He's been in jail since the June 21, 2019, crash in Randolph, New Hampshire, that killed seven members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club, including six who were former Marine Corps soldiers.
The verdict prompted outrage by the survivors of the crash, the families of the dead bikers and New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu.
'The Fallen Seven did not receive justice today, and that is an absolute tragedy,' the Republican governor tweeted. 'I share the shock, outrage, and anger that so many have expressed in the three years since the seven members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club were taken from us.'
The father of the Albert 'Woody' Mazza Jr, 49, who was first in the convoy of bikers on the day of the crash, said he was in disbelief over the jury's decision.
Prosecutors argued that Zhukovskyy - who had taken heroin, fentanyl and cocaine earlier on the day of the crash - repeatedly swerved back and forth before the collision and told police he caused it.
Federal crash investigators found that the truck driver was impaired by drugs and had swerved into the oncoming motorcycle convoy.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
In the article, it looks like the defense said one of the Marine Bikers was in the other lane, and highlighted inconsistencies in the survivors accounts to make a gullible jury think there was enough to let him off.
Never. Never should have happened. Witness accounts from people involved in traumatic events are usually all over the place.
This is a travesty.
He’d have been safer in prison.
L
I’ll bet it wasn’t. I will bet money there was some kind of legal trick because it would be “Prejudicial” or something like that.
Shameful.
“Judge Peter Bornstein dismissed drug charges before the trial”
Another one who needs to be removed from the Bench.
Dear Lord. 🙁
I was called for jury duty yesterday, but they let me know the night before I wouldn’t be needed.
I wonder what went on in that jury room.
“I bet every one of those silly people have a Ukraine flag icon on their social media pages”
Would go a long way to explaining the outcome. Either the jury was a bunch of liberal scum, gay and lesbian freak types, or they got death threats.
Someone needs to see if any large deposits have been made into their bank accounts.
Makes perfect sense to me. < /s>
A lot of people hate motorcycles and the riders.
Did the prosecution not prove their case ???
Jury’s thinking is probably so warped by the media, they gave the perp a pass because he’s Ukrainian.
The defense claim is that the lead biker was drunk and veered into the trucker’s path. I did not see what the autopsy found his blood level be.
It’s funny, people who don’t know anything about the trial getting all worked up about the outcome. Even the state troopers doing the crime reconstruction said it was an unavoidable accident. The driver of the bikes were 2x over the limit.
And, the drugs in the truck drivers system could not be determined to be impairing. In fact, the judge dismissed those charges last week.
There was a lot wrong on both sides of the accident. The morale of the story is that it appears everyone on the road in NH is shitfaced.
Ukraine needs all able bodied men. Deport him so he can join the Ukranian Army.
Bidung threatened to withhold a billion dollars if the prosecutor didn’t drop the case
Judge tossed the drug charges. Yahoo has an article that thinks that’s why they acquitted him.
The defense argued that just because Zhukovskyy admitted to using drugs hours prior to the crash, that did not prove he was impaired. And, maybe more significantly, they placed the sole blame for the fatal collision on the lead driver in the pack of bikes.
“Albert ‘Woody’ Mazza was drunk, was not looking where he was going, lost control of his motorcycle,” Mirkin said.
William Howerton, a crash reconstruction expert, backed up the defense’s case, saying a serving bike could have set off the deadly chain of events.
“Principally focused on the first impact and then I also did a little work with the second impact,” Howerton said.
Lemme guess. He told the judge he was a Democrat.
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