Driver with DVD on dashboard on trial for murder

[JayS]

Well, this is interesting...

If the site gives you a registration screen, just enter random stuff and then click news to get back to the story.


July 27, 2004, 8:01AM
Driver with DVD on dashboard on trial for murder
Associated Press
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2704101



ANCHORAGE, Alaska - When a pickup truck crossed the double yellow line along Seward Highway and killed two occupants of a Jeep Grand Cherokee, police initially thought the accident was another tragic mistake by a momentarily distracted driver.

Then they spotted the dashboard DVD player.

In what may be the first trial of its kind in the nation, prosecutors have accused the pickup truck's driver of second-degree murder for watching a movie instead of the road when he crashed head-on into the Jeep.

The pickup's driver, Erwin J. Petterson Jr., denies using the DVD player as he drove north on Oct. 12, 2002 and contends he was only listening to music from a compact disc, said his attorney, Chuck Robinson.

*SNIP*

While no Alaska law prohibits operating a DVD player in view of a driver, prosecutor June Stein said the facts warranted charging Petterson under one of two theories: that he knew his conduct was substantially certain to cause death, or that he knowingly engaged in conduct showing extreme indifference to human life.

Initial Alaska State Trooper reports said Petterson was at fault when he took his eyes off the road to reach for a soda. Stein, though, will try to prove that the DVD player was on, apparently playing the movie "Road Trip."

*SNIP*

[Dookus]

1. this needs to be outlawed

ASAP. Along with using a cellphone.

[frylock]

2. good..

these rolling multimedia menaces need to be outlawed. Kids shouldn't need a fucking DVD player in the car to keep them entertained.

[mbnd45]

10. It should be illegal

to drive while watching a dvd or reading a newspaper while driving, but to ban posession of portable dvd players in cars is going too far. I sometimes play game boy games in my car while waiting for work to start. There's nothing unreasonable about this. I have considered getting a portable dvd player for my car, too. This doesn't mean that I would watch it while driving!

[Bowline]

13. Whew! I'm glad you're hear to tell me what my kids need.

What would I ever do without your expert parental advice.

[MrSandman]

3. Sounds like negligience to me...

Even if acquitted, the civil suit will likely prevail.

There is a difference in possessing something for enjoyment and negligiently causing harm to others.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

4. DVDs don't kill people. People kill people. n/t

[Jack_DeLeon]

5. If true...

the person should go to jail for a while.

That being said I think the prosecution will have a difficult case.

They will have to prove that the DVD player was on and playing at the time, do they have evidence of this, I didnt see anything in the article.

They will also have to prove that the driver was watching the movie. IMO its entirely possible to have a DVD on and not be distracted by it if you are just listening to it. Most of the time I'm online I have the TV on and listen to it while I'm doing other things.

[JayS]

6. The last that I heard on this was that the button for the screen...

...was in the "on" position and a DVD was in the player. Not the best evidence, of course. The call he made to his ex-wife about him being into the movie is going to come back to haunt him..but it will still be a difficult case to prosecute him for murder, in my opinion. It is definitely an interesting case though.

[CO Liberal]

8. They May Prosecute for Murder....

...and wind up with an "involuntary manslaughter" plea-bargain.

[mbnd45]

11. Just because the dvd player was

found in the "on" position doesn't prove that the driver was watching the dvd at the time of the accident. Unless the driver admits to being distracted by the dvd, I don't see how they can prosecute.

[CO Liberal]

7. Here In Colorado....

...a similar case is unfolding.

A 19-year-old man is appearing in Colorado Springs court today to face charges related to an accident on the Interstate a few weeks ago. He was heading south on I-25 and apparently reaching for a CD when his car crossed the center median and collided with a northbound car carrying three men from Arkansas heading to Colorado Springs for a wedding. They were all killed.

Here's a link to the accident story from Jul 16th:

http://www.gazette.com/display.php?sid=1095289

[JayS]

9. I do wish that people would treat automobiles as a means of...

...conveyance and not as a mobile entertainment system. We had a student, with an elaborate auto stereo system, pull right out in front of a vehicle and cause it to flip on its side. The vehicle was an ambulance responding to an emergency call. The student never saw or heard the ambulance.

[gatlingforme]

12. This sounds like an election glitch to me. ??? What a

great demonstration of prosecutorial BS. I am wondering how they will show intent here. By a DVD player being in the on position means absolutely nothing.

[Bowline]

14. Sounds like a case of negligent homicide.

But only if they can prove that he was watching a DVD when he should have been watching the road.