Hung jury in old manslaughter case

Originally convicted of the felony charge by a jury in 2008, Tom’s conviction was overturned for the second time by a state appeals court in 2015. In charging him with felony vehicular manslaughter some two years ago, prosecutors were hoping to convict him of the charge he has so far eluded.

Because Tom has already served the sentence for the charge prosecutors are hoping to convict him of, Wagstaffe said they pursued the case because they felt he committed a crime and should be held accountable. He said prosecutors will meet next week to decide whether to continue pursuing a conviction.

Prosecutors said Tom, who had been drinking with a friend at home before leaving for his son’s house, broadsided the Ng family’s Nissan Maxima with his Mercedes-Benz as it made its way across Woodside Road Feb. 19, 2007.

In 2008, Tom was sentenced to seven years in prison and was about halfway through serving his sentence when his conviction was overturned by the state appeals court in 2012. The conviction was restored in 2014 when the state Supreme Court ruled Tom’s rights were not violated when a prosecutor told jurors in his vehicular manslaughter trial that he proved himself guilty by not asking about the welfare of the other car’s occupants.

Hours after the crash, Tom’s alcohol level measured .04 percent. Using scientific rates of alcohol processing, the prosecution contended Tom was actually at 0.98 at the time of the crash. However, jurors acquitted Tom, now 56, of alcohol-related charges.

Tom’s attorney Geoff Carr commended the jury for taking two days to deliberate on a difficult case, one in which he believed reasonable minds would likely differ. He applauded Ng’s mother for admitting her statement to police the night of the accident in which she said she was talking on her cellphone and looking the wrong way as she made a turn was likely true, despite other recollections she included in her initial testimony that she was not talking on her cellphone at the time of the incident.

Carr acknowledged the challenges recalling the steps leading up to and following a traumatic event, especially so many years after it happened, and described her admission of her statement to police as true as “stunning.”

“It’s a difficult case because an 8-year-old girl died,” he said. “That complicates the intellectual and emotional puzzle.”

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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