Whether Jerod Green caused the crash that killed Monongalia County Sheriff 's Department Sgt. Todd May was debated by attorneys Monday in the first day of Green's murder trial.
Green, 36, a repeat DUI offender from Oklahoma who relocated to Morgantown, is charged with murder of a law enforcement officer, homicide by vehicle while DUI, and criminal homicide, among a litany of offenses, for the Feb. 18 crash on Interstate 79, just over the Pennsylvania border.
In her opening statement in Greene County (Pa.) Court of Common Pleas, District Attorney Marjorie Fox told a mostly male jury that Green committed the "deliberate act of murder" the morning May died.
She said Green intentionally drove his pickup truck into May's parked patrol vehicle as Green fled police trying to pull him over for driving drunk and fleeing a crash on Easton Hill. May's vehicle, she said, was parked in the median of I-79 south, with its lights activated.
"He didn't aim a gun at Sgt. May. He didn't put on a dynamite vest and jump on Sgt. May, but, in the early morning hours of Feb. 18, his Silverado was a deadly weapon," Fox said.
Green's attorney, John Bongivengo, said Green had no intent or desire to kill May. Instead, Bongivengo said May's vehicle pulled out into the path of Green's. He said a crash reconstruction will support his claim.
Green, dressed in a suit and tie and wire-rimmed glasses, sat quietly in a chair throughout the proceedings.
The commonwealth called about 17 witnesses Monday, some whom testified briefly about items in evidence and other procedural matters. Their case will resume this morning.
May was represented by family, friends and up to a dozen members of the Monongalia County Sheriff 's Department. May's parents, and his brother and his sister-in-law sat closely together in the front of the courtroom and May's father often kept an arm around his Todd's mother. Sobbing and sniffling could occasionally be heard, particularly during times when witnesses testified about the crash and the last moments of May's life, a 10-year veteran of the department.
Sheriff's Department Sgt. J.E. Burks told jurors about how another officer pulled Green over on W.Va. 100 as a suspected drunk driver. Burks responded to the scene because the description of the truck matched that of the hit-and-run he was investigating on Easton Hill.
Burks said Green smelled strongly of alcohol and slurred his speech. He first lied about being at the scene of the hit-and-run, but then said the other driver caused it and he fled because of four previous DUI convictions, Burks said. Another deputy testified that Green told him he had taken some prescription medications that morning -- one of which was to treat his bipolar disorder -- and said he hadn't been drinking.
All of a sudden, Burks said he heard that deputy, Dave Wilfong, yelling for Green to stop and then saw Green driving off. A pursuit began, which eventually led to I-79.
Burks said he was directly behind Green as he entered the interstate. Burks said he saw Green speed up, heard his engine roar, and watched as he drove across both lanes of traffic and directly into May's patrol vehicle, which he said was parked in the median.
"In my mind, I'm telling him, 'Sgt. May, get out of the way,'" said Burks, who sometimes struggled with his words through tears.
May's vehicle spun violently, he said. There were debris and smoke.
Star City Police Department Lt. T h o m a s Varndell said he also saw the impact as he followed behind in the chase. He called for EMS and ran to the deputy's vehicle, not knowing who was inside.
Varndell said May was lying across the back seat. He couldn't reach a pulse point. A fire erupted in the hood and a passing tractor trailer driver rushed over with an extinguisher.
Varndell returned to May and noticed he was breathing. A nurse, traveling on I-79, stopped to help. They moved May onto the ground and EMS arrived, he said.
Frank May, Sgt. May's brother, was woken up in the early morning hours of Feb. 18 by two police officers at his front door there to tell him that his brother had been in a crash.
He and his wife rushed to Ruby Memorial Hospital.
"When I got there, there were several officers and emergency personnel standing around and I saw Sheriff Kisner and I asked him what had happened, and he told me there was a DUI suspect that had fled and he rammed Todd's cruiser," Frank May said with an emotional, wavering voice. "I asked him how bad is it and he didn't answer me. I asked again and he said ... he didn't make it."
He called his parents, who were vacationing in Florida. His mother sensed something horrible had happened before he told her.
"I just said, 'You guys need to come home,' and she said, 'Tell me what happened to Todd. Just tell me,' " Frank May said. "It could've been me. It could've been my kids and she said, 'What happened to Todd?' "
Other testimony
In other testimony:
Green's ex-girlfriend, Holly Brotherton, said she and Green texted back and forth and spoke briefly while he was at a Ruby Tuesday restaurant the night May was killed. She said Green told her via text that she was right to leave him because he was "the devil" and a bad person who would've ruined her life.
She said she urged him to stop talking like that and told him to call her if he needed her. The next morning, she found a text that she hadn't received earlier because her cellphone had no service.
The text was from Green and said he lost the best thing that had ever happened to him and said he didn't deserve to "live this life with everyone else," Brotherton said.
A bartender at Ruby Tuesday testified that Green was a regular, well-liked customer, but hadn't been in for six weeks prior to Feb. 17 because he had quit drinking. He ate steak and lobster and drank a Patron margarita and a Jameson on the rocks and left at about 10:30 p.m., she said.
Rachel Hutchinson testified that she saw Green at Bugsy's, a bar on Point Marion Road, later in the night. He was slurring his speech, laying against the table and not making much sense, she said.
A United Bank employee said Green used his debit card to make a $30.73 purchase at Ruby Tuesday, a $42.50 ATM withdrawal on Point Marion Road, and a $104 purchase at Bugsy's from Feb. 17 to the early morning hours of Feb. 18.
Skylar Johnson testified that a large pickup truck struck her car as she traveled down Easton Hill in the early morning hours of Feb. 18. She said the truck drove off. Police later charged Green with the crash. Johnson said her car was destroyed, but she declined treatment from paramedics.
A forensic scientist with the Pennsylvania State Police said Green's blood alcohol content was .189. The legal limit for driving in both Pennsylvania and West Virginia is .08.
Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Joseph Popielarcheck said he arrested Green at the crash scene and said he smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech and swayed as he stood up.
Copyright 2012 - The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
