Man found not guilty in car accident death of principal

[RockaFowler]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/02/28/Mejia.html

Was the death of a popular middle school principal an accident or was it vehicular homicide?

An accident, a jury has now decided.

Jurors returned not-guilty verdicts this afternoon in the case against Cesar Mejia, a 32-year-old driver who prosecutors say blew through a red light striking the vehicle of Western Pines Middle School principal Margaret Campbell, killing her.

SNIP

Lawrence had acknowledged to jurors that Mejia, an undocumented alien from Mexico, had no valid drivers license in the United States. Mejia also was charged with driving without a valid license causing death.

Jurors acquitted him of both charges.



How did they aquit him of driving without a valid license causing death?? He should have at least gotten a guilty verdict on that charge.

[lonestarnot]

1. Beats me, I wasn't there.

[napi21]

2. iI don't know, and I didn't hear all the evidence in the trial, but

from what you posted, I feel the jury was wrong. I certainly would expect to be convicted of vehicular homicide if I blew off a red light and killed someone, whether I had a license or not! I have to believe there's more to this story.

[trotsky]

3. From the article

At Mejia's two-day trial, traffic homicide prosecutor Ellen Roberts argued that he was more than 400 feet away from the light at Bee Line Highway and Seminole Pratt Whitney Road — a football field and a third —when it changed to yellow.

It was the prosecutors' job to prove this, and apparently they failed. A tragic accident, and maybe the defendant was at fault. But unless the prosecution can prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, he goes free. I'd much rather have a system that works that way than the other way around.

[enlightenment]

4. I suspect it had something to do with the way the charge

was phrased - "driving without a valid license causing death."

That's a bit different than driving without a valid license . . . it's actually a very bizarre phrase. If you remove the clause "without a valid license" it becomes "driving causing death." In essence, it looks like they were charging him with the death, rather than driving without a valid license.

Very odd.