Lawyers closed on the vehicular murder case of Charlene Casey in Suffolk Superior Court Tuesday, leaving the jury to resolve if the South Boston girl was at fault the day her automobile fatally crashed a van into 2-year-old Colin McGrath.
The tragic case has stretched over 4 years — and now not less than yet another day, because the jury was unable to succeed in a verdict for over two hours Tuesday.
The court docket heard extra testimony, together with the motive force who admittedly waved Casey, 67, out into the intersection the place the vehicles collided, and the jury visited the positioning of the crash earlier than either side rested their circumstances.
The high-profile, multi-car crash occurred on July 25, 2018, on the intersection of East Sixth and L streets in South Boston when Casey’s Prius pulled out into a big inexperienced van.
The van, which had the right-of-way on the intersection, careened into the sidewalk the place Colin, his 4-year-old sister and their nanny have been strolling. Responders have been unable to avoid wasting Colin. The sister and nanny each survived.
“A tragic, freak accident,” protection lawyer Steven Boozang argued in his closing Tuesday, however not one brought on by his shopper.
Casey got here to a cease on the cease signal, Boozang stated. The proof reveals she paused. A witness stated she appeared each methods. She was waved ahead by a fellow driver. And then she pulled out.
“She did every single thing a reasonable, prudent person under similar circumstances would have done,” Boozang stated. “The government has to prove negligence beyond a reasonable doubt. They have to prove it. And it’s not there. What else was she supposed to do?”
All the protection’s factors concerning the different driver’s function and Casey’s actions and expertise, Assistant District Attorney David McGowan contended, distracted from a easy, logical conclusion.
“If Charlene Casey does not press down on the gas pedal and accelerate into the intersection when a van was passing through,” stated McGowan, “that van continues to drive past Colin McGrath, Sloan McGrath and Tracey Lewis.”
The proof reveals a large, clear street that day and “no excuse for Charlene Casey not to see that van,” McGowan stated.
The decide once more warned jurors towards specializing in the heartbreaking emotion of the case.
The protection went a step additional, accusing prosecutors of utilizing photos of the crash and hysteria and the mom and nanny’s painful testimony strategically to garner sympathy.
“They have to pour it on because their case is weak,” Boozang informed jurors. “They don’t have the evidence. So they have to appeal to your emotions.”
Another driver, Kevin Bui, took the stand Tuesday and testified he waved Casey into the intersection that July day.
“With the amount of traffic behind me, I knew that if I didn’t let her across she wasn’t going to be able to get out for a while,” Bui stated. “So I stopped, and we made eye contact. And I waved her in.”
She began to “nudge out,” Bui recalled. And a second later, “very clearly,” the sound of an previous engine revving rumbles shut. And occasions took a horrible flip.
If discovered responsible, Casey may serve a sentence of as much as 5 years and/or be made to pay a $3,000 high-quality.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”