UPDATE: Mistrial declared in Comerzan case
UPDATE 5/26: As of Friday, a mistrial has been declared in the Comerzan case.
ORIGINAL STORY: Both prosecutors and defense attorneys finished showing a jury evidence in the murder trial against Serghei Comerzan.
The 22-year-old Comerzan is accused of resisting arrest when he sped past Trooper James Bava on Highway FF in Audrain County two years ago. Bava died when he lost control of his cruiser and crashed, which led prosecutors to file a second-degree murder charge against Comerzan, as well.
Judge Ted House will give the jury instructions on the definition of the charges, which includes an alternate count of involuntary manslaughter of an officer in performance of duties instead of murder. Closing arguments will start right after that.
Prosecutors Scott Fox and Stephanie Watson closed their case with two Missouri State Highway Patrol investigators: Master Sergeant Marcus Reynolds, who led the investigation, and Sgt. Paul Meyers with the Major Crash Investigation Unit. Both men made the case that Comerzan had an opportunity to look back and see Bava was in pursuit, challenging Comerzan’s story that he did not know a trooper was trying to pull him over.
Defense attorneys Charles and John James attacked the investigation, including the timing Meyers used in his crash reconstruction. No eyewitnesses said Comerzan ever looked behind him in the stretch of Highway FF that Meyers said the two might be able to see each other.
The third day featured GPS and speed data the Highway Patrol collected from Bava’s car. That data helped Sgt. Meyers put together the estimate where Bava would be compared to where Comerzan would have been. The records show Bava was driving at 139 to 144 m.p.h. when he got on the radio to tell dispatch about the speeding motorcycle. The Major Crash Investigation Unit put Comerzan’s speed at 105 m.p.h based on his admission to police and Bava’s estimate over the radio.
Sgt. Meyers said there would have been seven seconds of time between the first and second hills where Comerzan could have seen Bava if he turned around to look. Witnesses claimed earlier in the trial that they noticed Comerzan looking over his shoulder as he sped past.
Charles James attacked that position for nearly an hour with Reynolds. The lead investigator claimed Comerzan knew Bava was in pursuit because of witness testimony that he looked over his shoulder as he sped by them. The cross examination at one point became tense, with James asking Reynolds if he had any training in being evasive in trial testimony. James focused on what evidence the patrol had to know Comerzan looked between those two hills, or if Bava was close enough in his car for the lights and sirens to be seen or heard.
“We have no evidence to know if [the lights or siren] was ever received by Serghei Comerzan,” Reynolds said.
James called three witnesses as part of his evidence. Sgt. Charles Day, a police trainer for the Highway Patrol, said drivers going more than 55 m.p.h. may have a difficult time hearing a patrol cruiser’s siren more than a quarter mile away.
