Canon, CO : Jury to visit scene of fatal Rockvale accident on Thursday, March 29th 2017
A jury is expected to return in May to the scene of a fatal Rockvale car accident, where just more than one year earlier, one person was killed and three others sustained serious injuries.
Jerome Blasingime, 21, who appeared in court Thursday for a pre-trial readiness conference, was arrested, in connection with the accident, which took the life of Florence resident Rodley Cornell, 22.
Blasingime, whose trial is set to begin May 8 and last for two weeks, is facing charges of vehicular homicide-DUI, vehicular homicide-reckless, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs or both, reckless driving and three counts of vehicular assault-DUI.
The accident also injured two other people in the car — Penrose resident Ashley Drake, 19, and Pueblo West resident Summer Middleton, 18 — and a pedestrian — James McKissack, 58, of Rockvale. All three victims were transported to the hospital via Flight for Life after the accident.
In court Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Thom LeDoux emphasized the jury visit won't be a full recreation of the accident but said investigators will help move the car — a Ford Taurus — back to the scene for jurors to see.
"It makes sense to do both things at the same time," LeDoux said.
To get the vehicle there, LeDoux told District Judge Lynette Wenner that he has been coordinating with the Fremont County Sheriff's Office, which also is expected to help close a portion of Churchill Avenue in Rockvale, where the accident happened.
Additionally, LeDoux said, "we have booked with the Fremont County Transportation Company to take them (the jurors) out there."
When it comes to getting Blasingime to the scene for the visit, the court plans to follow the lead of the court trying the case of Devlin Palaza, who is accused of attempted murder of law enforcement after allegedly evading and shooting at officers in December 2015.
On the fourth day of Palaza's two-week trial Thursday, jurors were escorted to the courthouse's parking lot to view the vehicle Palaza allegedly was driving. During that trial, jurors were not allowed to talk or touch the vehicle.
In Blasingime's conference Thursday, LeDoux and defense attorney Kelly Page both said they don't expect a record of the site visit to be taken.
When the accident happened in April 2016, responders were called at about 9:25 p.m. after getting a report that the Taurus, traveling southbound, collided with a parked 1999 Dodge truck. In the probable cause statement, Blasingime told investigators he had been drinking alcohol before the accident.
Page, Blasingime's attorney, has argued that Blasingime wasn't really driving that night. Instead, the defense previously said, Drake was driving. In previous court appearances, including a preliminary trial, attorneys spent time showing photos of the accident and establishing where people likely were sitting in the car before the accident.
Source :
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/news/canoncity-local-news/ci_30891004/jury-visit-scene-fatal-accident