March 31, 2022 at 12:07 p.m.
Jury convicts Rhinelander woman in vehicular homicide case
Sentencing set for May 3
Jury convicts Rhinelander woman in vehicular homicide case
The panel also found Lori L. Lewis guilty of a misdemeanor charge of operating with a restricted controlled substance (2nd offense) following a one-day trial before Oneida County circuit judge Michael Bloom.
Lewis was driving a small pickup truck on Pine Lake Road on the evening of June 16, 2020 when she lost control on a curve, causing the vehicle to strike a large tree and roll over. Her passenger, a 69-year-old male, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Blood test results later showed her blood alcohol concentration was 0.054 g/100mL. Her blood also showed the presence of Delta-9 THC in the amount of 2.1 ng/mL.
In her opening statement, assistant district attorney Jillian Pfeifer described what former Minocqua Police Sgt. Matt Tate saw when he arrived at the crash scene, and what Lewis said to him.
"I was driving because he (the victim) was drinking, and I haven't,'" Pfeifer said, quoting Tate's report. "He then goes over to (victim), who is lying there motionless. He is deceased. At first glace, it looked like an accident. However, not everything is as it seems."
She cited the results of the blood tests as the first piece of evidence that Lewis was "under the influence" at the time of the accident. She also said she would show through testimony of an investigator that there was nothing wrong with the brakes.
"After the crash, a mechanical inspection was done on the truck which showed there was no pre-existing defects or damage to the brakes prior to or at the time of the accident," Pfeifer told the jury.
She also said that the crash scene reconstructionist would testify that "sway oversteering along with speed were likely factors in this crash."
Defense attorney Breanna Magallones told the jury Lewis has steadfastly maintained that the brakes of the truck felt "mushy" and that she was only driving at 45 m.p.h. when she left the road. She has also repeatedly denied smoking any marijuana the day of the crash or consuming any alcohol that day.
"As the court has indicated, the state has the burden of proof in this case," Magallones said in her opening statement. "Therefore it must convince you, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Lori meets all the elements of the offense. The state has the sole burden. The defense doesn't have to prove anything, even if we don't present any evidence."
She told the jury that her client would most likely testify as to what happened on the evening of the crash.
"Ms. Lewis was the only one who was there, she's the only one who knows," Magallones noted.
Tate was the first witness called by the state. He testified as to what he saw when he arrived on the scene of the accident. When he checked Lewis, he said he could smell "the odor of intoxicants" coming from her. He also testified that he made sure a blood draw was performed at Howard Young Medical Center before she was airlifted to another hospital for treatment of injuries.
Pfeifer then walked Tate through the first page of the accident report form he filed, which included a diagram he drew of the crash scene. An enlarged copy of the form was provided so the jury could follow along.
The assistant district attorney asked the office, who now who works for the Sauk County sheriff's office, to explain the diagram.
"Based on the evidence that I could see at the scene, the vehicle was traveling northbound on Pine Lake Road. It veers to the right, enters the ditch and strikes a tree and then the vehicle begins to what is called fish-tail, rolls over what I believe was one time and then comes to rest on its tires," Tate replied.
He testified the vehicle was towed to the MPD impound yard.
Under cross examination by Magallones, Tate conceded that footage from his body camera shows four vehicles were allowed to pass through the crash scene following the accident.
As to the odor of intoxicants he testified he smelled on Lewis, Tate said it was alcohol, not THC. He said there were beer cans in and around the truck and some had become open in the crash.
Wisconsin State Patrol trooper Trent Betley, who did the crash scene reconstruction, estimated the car was traveling at 80 m.p.h. due to the skid marks the truck left on the road. He said he arrived at that speed based on detailed measurements of tire marks and other physical evidence at the scene.
"The primary objective or responsibility on scene is the documentation and preservation of the evidence on scene," Betley testified. "For example, tire marks, vehicle location, and observable things in the environment, whether it be the weather or anything else that could have an effect on the calculation of cause of the crash."
This evidence included extensive photographs of the vehicle from all sides, along with the approach into and out of the curve, etc. He stressed the importance of the tire marks at the scene, which show, in his calculation, where Lewis lost control of the vehicle. He testified that oversteering and/or over-corrective driving combined with speed going into the curve were significant factors in the crash.
The next witness Pfeifer called was Dr. Adam Covach, Fond du Lac medical examiner. He testified as to the injuries he found when he conducted the autopsy of the victim.
"I eventually signed out his cause of death as multiple injuries," Covach said, noting that he found skull and neck fractures, broken ribs and internal organ damage.
He said some of the injuries would have been instantly fatal, and "under a minute for the majority of the injuries" that weren't.
The fourth witness Pfeifer called was William Johnson, a forensic scientist supervisor with the state crime lab. He testified that he performed a peer review of the test done on the blood drawn from Lewis. The proper procedures for testing for alcohol and illegal drugs were followed, he added.
Under cross examination by Magallones, Johnson explained that the length of time alcohol and THC remain in the blood after consumption varies by individual and there are other factors that could slow down or speed up the process. He insisted that all procedures were followed in the test, as shown by a second peer review done by another supervisor.
It response to a defense claim that the results were a "false positive," he was asked how certain he was that this wasn't such an instance.
"As close to 100 percent as I can get," Johnson replied.
Also testifying for the state was the WSP Inspector Ryan Schultz who inspected the vehicle about a month and a half after the crash. He testified that there were no problems with the three brakes he could inspect, the last being two badly damaged to be tested. He also produced photographs showing there were no leaks from the brake system that could not be explained by the crash.
After Schultz's testimony, the state rested its case.
Lewis was the only witness called by Magallones.
She testified that she and the victim had worked on the brakes of the truck about a month earlier and the day of the crash was the first time she had driven the vehicle since then. She told her attorney that after driving about a mile from the house she and the victim shared, the brakes started feeling "squishy." The two were driving 10 miles to a nearby store, and decided to finish the trip and fix the brakes when they got back.
"He said we would bleed the brakes when we get back because there is probably air in them," Lewis testified.
She insisted that she was driving 45 m.p.h.
"There was one curve and another coming up and I wanted to slow down because I saw the curve coming and didn't want to run into anyone," Lewis told the jury. "I didn't have my brakes anymore. I just kept pumping them and pumping them and I didn't have any brakes at all."
She said she the vehicle went into the ditch, hit the tree and then the truck rolled, as Tate described.
Under cross examination, Lewis admitted the crash occurred before they arrived at the store. She said the beer found in and around the truck belonged to the victim, including an open one that he spilled on her during the crash. She steadfastly denied smoking marijuana or drinking alcohol.
In her closing statement, Pfeifer said that the physical evidence she presented through witness testimony proves that Lewis was speeding when she approached the crash scene, and that the results of the blood test show she had THC in her system in violation of state law.
Schultz's testimony demonstrated that the braking system worked after the accident, she added.
"Even if there had been air in the brakes, there would have been braking power to some extent," Pfeifer said.
As there was THC found in the defendant's blood, the jury had to find her guilty, she added.
Magallones said that while the testimony of the experts may seem "infallible," there is room for reasonable doubt in everything they said on the witness stand.
"You heard from Det. Tate that no one had gone through the accident scene," Magallones said. "But we showed that video and four different people drove through the scene of that accident."
Magallones also argued that because the brake failure would have caused the accident regardless of whether Lewis had THC or alcohol in her system at the time of the crash, the jury should acquit her client.
"This is not a case of someone getting drunk and driving a vehicle," Magallones said. "This is not a case of someone shooting up methamphetamine and driving a vehicle and killing someone. She did not consume alcohol, she did not consume THC."
After the quick deliberation and return of the verdict, Bloom ordered that Lewis be taken into custody and scheduled a sentencing hearing for May 3.
Magallones said a pre-sentence investigation would be prepared.
Lewis faces up to 40 years in prison on the felony, with a presumptive mandatory minimum of five years, although Bloom can deviate from that with good cause.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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