Lawyer Says Driving Drunk Doesn't Make Officer
Guilty — By NICHOLE M.
CHRISTIAN
An off-duty
police officer was clearly driving drunk last August when his minivan
struck a pregnant woman and her family in Brooklyn, but he was not
responsible for their deaths, his lawyer told jurors yesterday during
closing statements in his manslaughter trial.
Seeming to
contradict his own client, Harold Levy, the lawyer for Joseph Gray, told
the jury that Mr. Gray was guilty of only one crime: "He is guilty of
driving while intoxicated." But driving drunk, he said, does not make
Mr. Gray a killer or even responsible for the Aug. 4 crash that took the
lives of Maria Herrera, who was 8 1/2 months pregnant; her son; her
sister; and the baby boy who was delivered and who died after the
accident. The jurors deliberated yesterday for about two hours before
recessing for the night. They will resume this morning.
Throughout
the two-week trial, the defense has contended that Mrs. Herrera and her
family ran out in front of Mr. Gray's minivan, leaving him with no way
to avoid slamming into them as they tried to cross Third Avenue at 46th
Street in Sunset Park.
"It's
terrible to say to the Herrera and Peña families," he said, "but your
family, in part, were responsible for what happened."
But the
prosecution laid out a different scene, one in which they cast Mr. Gray,
who left the force after his arrest in the accident, as an arrogant
police officer who on Aug. 4 chose to drink beer all day and then drive
down the very streets he had spent 14 years promising to protect.
In graphic
detail, Maureen McCormick, an assistant district attorney, laid out how
a family's ordinary Saturday out shopping suddenly turned fatal, 188
feet from home.
"Maria's
baby was stirring in her womb, waiting to take its first breath," Ms.
McCormick said as she approached the jury box, her hands filled with
five shoes collected at the scene of the crash. "Everything was ahead of
this family, including their mom's door. But they never made it because
this man was out of control."
Ms.
McCormick attacked Mr. Levy's claim that his client could tolerate large
amounts of alcohol and was fully capable of driving and judging the
road. "This iron man told you he could drink 13 beers and could hold his
liquor," Ms. McCormick said. "He wants you to believe he's that one in a
million who defies the odds and the science."
On Tuesday,
Mr. Gray testified that even though he had been drinking all day, his
driving and judgment had not been impaired at the time his minivan
struck the family.
Despite the
emotions stirred by the deaths, Justice Anne G. Feldman of State Supreme
Court in Brooklyn urged the jury to focus on the evidence that had been
presented. That included testimony from one witness who said she had
seen Mr. Gray drive through a red light, another who said he had seen
the victims run into traffic, and the words of experts who had
calculated that Mr. Gray drank as many as 18 beers that day and was
driving 45 to 50 miles an hour. The speed limit was 30 m.p.h.
Mr. Gray,
who is free on $250,000 bail and has pleaded not guilty to four counts
of manslaughter in the second degree, could spend 15 years in prison if
convicted.
Under New
York law, Justice Feldman reminded jurors, the fact that a person
operated a vehicle under the influence of alcohol "is not in and of
itself sufficient to be convicted of manslaughter."
If the jury
is unable to find Mr. Gray guilty of manslaughter, he could be found
guilty of lesser crimes: vehicular manslaughter, which carries a
sentence of seven years, or criminal negligence, with a sentence of four
years.
For the
manslaughter charge, however, Justice Feldman said the prosecution must
prove that Mr. Gray was reckless behind the wheel and ignored a
potential risk to others, for example, by speeding or running a red
light.
Ms.
McCormick contended that the evidence had proved all these points.
"Joseph Gray was reckless," she said. "He took the lives of four
innocent people. Find him guilty."