Defense: Man killed in deadly Boone County crash was fiance of woman charged
UPDATE: During day 1 of the trial, we learned the man who was killed in the deadly crash was the defendant’s fiance.
Weddington showed little to no emotion during the trial Tuesday, although she did repeatedly rub her eyes when her fiance was mentioned.
Because Weddington is charged with involuntary manslaughter, the prosecution has to prove criminal negligence.
During opening statements, the defense said there is no evidence of criminal negligence and called Weddington’s behavior “garden variety negligence.” Her attorney added “this is a driving error with a really bad conclusion” and said his client should not pay the price.
The defense also said there was no evidence that Weddington was impaired. However, court documents previously obtained by ABC 17 News said Weddington had cocaine and marijuana in her system at the time of the crash. There was no mention of this in court Tuesday.
Day 1 in court also saw the prosecution call one witness, who said she drives Route B every day and was driving by when the crash happened. She said the crash looked like one of those “crash dummy commercials” because of how hard Weddington slammed into the back of the semi.
The witness was also asked a lot of specific questions about the crash, and, at one point, she told the prosecuting attorney, “I’m sorry, it was almost two years ago.”
ABC 17 News will have a camera in the courtroom when the trial resumes tomorrow.
ORIGINAL STORY: Jury selection is underway in the case of a woman charged for her role in a deadly crash in Boone County.
Nicole Weddington is charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection to the March 2015 crash that killed 24-year-old John Severtsen.
Weddington kept her head down and looked visible distraught during jury selection. Potential jurors were asked questions about their experiences with car crashes that might make it difficult for them to be fair and impartial.
The crash happened in the 5300 block of Route B. Police say Severtsen, a passenger in Weddington’s car, was killed after Weddington slammed into the back of a semi that had slowed to make a right turn.
Court documents later said Weddington had cocaine and marijuana in her system at the time of the crash.
ABC 17 News will have more in our evening newscast.
