By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
The long-anticipated trial of Jessica Hood gets underway today in Boone County.
Hood was involved in an accident on Weaver Road in March, 2015, that killed two toddlers and their grandfather and injured two other people. She has pleaded not guilty.
Hood is charged with three counts of Manslaughter-2nd Degree and two counts of Assault- 4th Degree, minor injury.
On the day of the crash, investigators say Charles Napier and Susan Elam were pulling three small children in wagons on Weaver Road after returning from lunch at Gramma’s Pizza on US 42. They were headed southbound in the northbound lane when police say a Chevrolet Malibu driven by Hood, then 22, left the road, went onto the shoulder and struck the family.
Pedestrian traffic has steadily increased in recent years on Weaver Road, which has 8-foot shoulders and no sidewalks.
Napier, 54, and his twin 13-month-old grandchildren, Samantha and Sean May, died from injuries sustained in the incident. Another grandchild, Ethan May, and Elam, the children’s aunt, suffered non-life threatening injuries.
A grand jury indicted Hood in December 2015 and she pleaded not guilty in January, 2016. Since that time a steady stream of motions, continuances and pretrial conferences preceded the start of the trial.
At the time of the incident, Florence police officers confiscated Hood’s phone, which is routine, to determine if she was distracted at the time of the crash.
Hood’s attorney, Daniel Dickerson, has previously said that the crash was a tragic accident and that there is nothing to indicate his client was under the influence, texting, or distracted in any way.
Hood’s defense team, however, filed a motion in limine to limit or exclude evidence pertaining to cell phone usage. Schrand denied the motion and a cell phone expert from Sprint is scheduled to testify at the trial.
Other evidence that could be critical to the case is the testimony of the coroner that performed the autopsies, who now lives in Philadelphia, and photos from the scene of the incident.
At a pretrial conference Thursday, Circuit Judge James R. Schrand instructed Dickerson to explain the terms of a plea deal that was on the table and the potential jail time associated with a guilty verdict to Hood.
Upon returning to the courtroom, Dickerson said Hood understands the charges against her and the possible sentence if found guilty and indicated she wants to go forward with the trial.
“I have gone over the Commonwealth’s proffer in detail with Jessica Hood, she’s aware of all the terms, she doesn’t have any questions about the offer and she has rejected it,” Dickerson said.
Manslaughter in the second degree, often referred to as involuntary manslaughter in other states, is a Class C felony, punishable by between five to 10 years in prison. Assault 4th degree is a misdemeanor and carries a punishment of up to one year in jail.
Reckless homicide, an offense closely related to manslaughter-second degree, is a Class D felony that carries a penalty of between one and five years in prison upon conviction.
Both manslaughter-second degree and reckless homicide are defined as unintentionally causing the death of another person. It is not clear if the lesser offense was part of the Commonwealth’s plea offer, because terms were not revealed.
Schrand said he wanted to be sure that Hood was aware of all of the potential consequences of the rejection of the plea offer.
“The defendant as well is noticed of concurrent versus consecutive recommendations that may or may not come from this case?” Schrand asked.
If convicted and sentenced concurrently, a defendant serves all the sentences at the same time. When sentences run consecutively, convicted defendants have to finish serving the sentence for one offense before serving the sentence for any other offense.
Dickerson confirmed that Hood rejected the offer with complete knowledge of the potential ramifications, including the possibility that it could be withdrawn at any time.
If convicted on all counts, Hood could be sentenced to as few as five years, or up to 20 years, depending on which recommendation is chosen and whether she is given the maximum for each offense.
Under Kentucky law sentencing for Class C and D felonies cannot exceed 20 years, no matter how many counts there are.
Dickerson said he did not think it was unusual that Schrand asked him to again explain the details and potential consequences of rejecting the plea offer, which has been on the table for quite a while, before the trial started.
“Jessica has been adamant all along that she’s not guilty of this,” Dickerson said. “The concern was simply that we didn’t have any extended discussions regarding the plea agreement because she said ‘I didn’t do this and I’m not pleading.’ The judge wanted us to go over the plea agreement again, just make sure that she had full knowledge of it and was aware of what the offer was.”
Jury selection is scheduled to begin this morning and the trial is expected to take up to four days.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytribune.com
Boone county, question with the saddle with Talley and detective hiding evedince, why the hell is she even still in court rooms. Leave it up to the finest BOONE COUNTY.