http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/sep/15/hernandez-23-didnt-cause-=
fatal-crash-lawyer-says/
Illegal immigrant didn't cause fatal crash, lawyer says
By April M. Wa****ngton
Monday, September 15, 2008
CENTENNIAL =97 The woman driving the pickup in a triple fatality Sept. 4
in Aurora was at fault in the collision, said the attorney
representing the illegal immigrant charged with the deaths.
Criminal defense attorney Kallman Elinoff said Monday he believes
Patricia Guntharp, the driver of the Mazda pickup truck, crossed the
double yellow line and made an illegal left turn near the intersection
of South Havana Street and Mississippi Avenue, causing the crash that
took her life, that of her best friend and a 3-year-old boy.
Francis Hernandez, a Guatamalan native who had been arrested almost 20
times in the last five years, faces multiple felony charges in
connection with the crash.
"This kid (Hernandez) was in the far right lane and he wasn't
expecting this woman to scoot in front of him," Elinoff said.
"If you look at the scene, she crossed four lanes, making an illegal
left turn, to turn into the burger joint's exit, before she got hit.
She never looked to see if anyone was coming."
Bill Serecky, husband of victim Debbie Serecky, Guntharp's passenger
in the truck, said he was outraged at the lawyer's claim.
"Regardless of how fast he was going, it was going to be somebody
else's fault," Serecky said. "He was speeding, weaving in and out of
traffic and ran through a red light."
A spokesman for Aurora police could not be reached Monday to comment
on whether left-hand turns were prohibited at the crash site on
Havana.
Elinoff laid the groundwork for his client's defense as the Arapahoe
County District Attorney Carol Chambers on Monday filed a motion to
add nine more charges in the case against Hernandez, including child
abuse resulting in death and third degree assault.
The 23-year-old is accused of causing the incident, abandoning the
Suburban SUV he was driving and then fleeing the scene on foot.
Hernandez is being held in Arapahoe County Jail on a $350,000 bond on
several charges, including three counts of vehicular homicide, eight
counts of leaving the scene of an accident, two counts of assault and
one count of driving without a legal license.
Chambers said cir***stances warrant the filing of additional charges.
"As in all cases, we are working to seek justice for all the victims,
their families and the community."
Hernandez, who entered the United States illegally in 1991 at age 5,
is accused of broadsiding the truck, killing Guntharp, 49, of
Centennial, and Serecky, 51, of Aurora.
Also killed was Marten Kudlis, 3, who was inside a Baskin-Robbins with
his mother as the two vehicles crashed and sent metal debris into the
ice cream shop.
Elinoff blasted "the piling on" of charges against Hernandez, saying
it feeds into a "lynch-mob mentality."
"Justice is not preordained. Justice is only served when all the facts
come out and jury makes a decision," he said.
The case has become a flashpoint, highlighting problems with state and
federal immigration enforcement efforts and fueling demands for
reform.
In making its case against Hernandez, Chambers' office contended his
recklessness caused the deaths of the three victims and serious bodily
injury to two other bystanders.
"Francis Hernandez unlawfully and feloniously operated or drove the
vehicle in a reckless manner," the DA's motion stated. Elinoff said
that he is not out to impugn the memories of the victims.
But he insists that Guntharp shares equal blame for the collision
because she failed to yield to oncoming traffic.
"What took place at that intersection is a prime example of bad
driving all around."
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What Would the U.S.A.'s Founding Fathers Do?
If the representatives of the people betray their constituents,
there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that
original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive
forms of government ... The citizens must rush tumultuously to
arms, without concert, without system, without resource;
except in their courage and despair ...
The natural strength of the people in a large community, in
pro****tion to the artificial strength of the government, is greater
than in a small ... the people, without exaggeration, may be said
to be entirely the masters of their own fate.
-- Alexander Hamilton
We in America do not have government by the majority.
We have government by the majority who participate.
-- Thomas Jefferson
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good
conscience to remain silent.
-- Thomas Jefferson
Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of
the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe
depositories.
-- Thomas Jefferson
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
-- Thomas Jefferson
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to
keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves
against tyranny in government.
-- Thomas Jefferson
As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now
let us show them we can fight like men also.
-- Thomas Jefferson
Don't talk about what you have done or what you are going
to do.
-- Thomas Jefferson
Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the
Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.
-- Thomas Jefferson
Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will
delineate and define you.
-- Thomas Jefferson
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on
does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which
they draw their gains.
-- Thomas Jefferson
I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied
cor****ations which dare already to challenge our government to
a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
-- Thomas Jefferson
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our
liberties than standing armies.
-- Thomas Jefferson
Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government
those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations,
perverted it into tyranny.
-- Thomas Jefferson
|
