Trial
continued from A1
By Tiffany Y. Latta
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD — James A. Berry drank a beer, a martini and a sip of wine hours before a violent hit-skip crash that resulted in the death of 37-year-old James E. Pierce, according to trial testimony Monday.
An intoxicated Pierce was trying to get up from the southbound lane of Springfield-Xenia Road on May 4 when a four-door Honda Accord, alleged to be Berry’s, hit him with such force that the vehicle raised off the ground and sparks shot out underneath the car when it came down.
Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Keith McGrath showed surveillance video of the crash and graphic images of Pierce’s body in Clark County Common Pleas Court on Monday, the first day of Berry’s bench trial.
Berry, 81, a former Clark County prosecutor, is charged with failure to stop after an accident.
“It was violent and it was gruesome,” Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Leslie Arnold testified. “When we took the sheet off, obviously it was a broken body, but it didn’t look too bad. But when we rolled him over, I was shocked at the damage to the back of his body.”
The crash scene stretched about 65 feet and significantly damaged the front and passenger side of the vehicle.
If convicted of the third-degree felony, Berry could get probation or up to five years in prison.
Among the five witnesses who testified Monday was Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper James Boysel, who described video of the crash frame by frame to visiting Judge John W. Kessler, who will decide the case.
“No brake lights were applied. The vehicle continues to travel out of view of the video. Did it stop?” McGrath asked.
“No,” Boysel testified.
The crash occurred about 10 p.m. after Pierce left the Wayside Tavern, 2288 S. Yellow Springs St.
Pierce, who had cocaine in his urine and a blood-alcohol level of 0.31, lay beside the front door of the bar for about 45 minutes, stumbled in the parking lot, holding himself up on a white van at one point and then stumbled across the northbound and southbound lanes of Springfield-Xenia Road before he was struck.
Hours before, Berry consumed alcohol at a party in Columbus along with several area attorneys, including City Prosecutor Michael Shiels and Springfield attorney Richard Mayhall, who served as Berry’s attorney before removing himself from the case in October.
The “cocktail hour,” hosted at Mayhall’s home, began at 5:30 p.m. Berry had a beer and a martini mixed with vermouth and two ounces of gin, said Springfield lawyer Paul Valente, who drove Berry to Columbus after Berry arrived at his office on Spring Street.
Berry also consumed a “sip” of wine at a restaurant after leaving the party at 7 p.m., but Valente, 70, contended Berry was not intoxicated when he drove himself home.
Valente told defense attorneys Berry did not exhibit the behavior of someone who was intoxicated.
Defense attorneys Darnell E. Carter and David E. Smith did not provide opening statements Monday but are expected to call at least three witnesses, one of whom could be Mayhall.
Victoria Mundy, 64, and her husband discovered Pierce’s body seconds later as they drove northbound on Springfield-Xenia Road.
“I saw a hand. I told my husband to stop, there’s somebody in the road,” said Mundy, who called 911 after her husband turned around and put their headlights on the body. Afterward, one vehicle drove around the body. The vehicle allegedly involved was not recovered until the next day after Mayhall reported the incident to Clark County Prosecutor Andy Wilson.
Portions of the front bumper of the vehicle were dented and ripped from the fender and grill, according to authorities.
Highway patrol crash investigators said Pierce’s blood streaked the road, along with tire marks and scrapes from a collision.
Susan Allen, a forensic pathologist with the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office, determined Pierce died of blunt force trauma and suffered from a number of severe injuries, including lacerated lungs and liver; broken hip and ribs; and a skull that was fractured from one side to the other. “He suffered injuries that alone could have caused his death, but he had all of the injuries,” Allen said explaining Pierce’s cause of death.
Berry pleaded not guilty Sept. 2 and later told the Springfield News-Sun that he never saw Pierce in the road. “I thought I hit a pothole. That’s exactly what it felt like. I’m not callous enough to do anything like this — to leave somebody lying out there,” Berry said after he was arraigned.
But McGrath told the News-Sun outside of the courtroom that Berry was required by law to stop. “If he was aware of a collision, the law says you need to call the police, whether it’s a person or property.”