Prosecutors say Elias Webb drank a beer and then had some wine within two hours of when his vehicle struck and killed a bicyclist last summer in Richmond’s West End, court records show.
Craig S. Cooley, an attorney for Webb, asked Judge Margaret P. Spencer to limit prosecutors from discussing Webb’s alcohol consumption during his jury trial, which starts next week. Cooley argued that such evidence was irrelevant in the case against Webb, who faces a hit-and-run charge in the death of Lanie Kruszewski, 24.
Spencer ruled after hearing arguments that the prosecution may not bring up Webb’s alcohol consumption at the trial unless Webb testifies, according to a transcript of last week’s hearing in Richmond Circuit Court.
Webb is not required to testify, but if he does take the witness stand, prosecutors can use the alcohol-consumption evidence in an attempt to impeach his credibility, the judge ruled.
The court has imposed a gag order in the case, and Webb’s attorneys declined to comment Wednesday. The prosecution also declined to comment.
Steven Benjamin, a Richmond attorney who is not involved in the case, said Spencer’s ruling complicates the decision of whether the defense should put Webb on the stand. Benjamin said defendants rarely testify in trials.
“This makes a difficult decision even harder,” said Benjamin, who serves as president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “If he testifies, incriminating evidence could be admitted.”
Webb’s jury trial is scheduled to start Monday in Richmond Circuit Court and to last for three days.
His attorneys argued last year that Webb cannot receive a fair trial in Richmond because of widespread news coverage, and they asked Spencer for a change of venue. But Spencer ruled that she would try to seat a Richmond jury that can listen to the evidence and rule without bias.
Webb, 31, is charged with leaving the scene of an accident that caused injury or death, a felony charge that carries a punishment of one year in jail to 10 years in prison.
Under the law, a driver involved in a crash that kills or injures someone must stop as close to the scene as possible and report the incident to police.
Kruszewski was struck and killed the night of July 29 while riding her bike on River Road near the Henrico County line. Webb came forward to authorities in the days after the incident, gave investigators access to his damaged Dodge Durango and admitted he was the driver in the crash. He told the authorities he thought he had struck a deer.
At last week’s hearing, Richmond Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin told Spencer that Webb had drunk wine at a restaurant “within an hour or two of the accident,” the court transcript shows. McEachin added that Webb also drank a beer “at his companion’s house” before he went to the restaurant.
McEachin did not say during the hearing how the prosecution knows Webb had been drinking.
McEachin argued that the jury should hear the evidence and weigh whether the drinking “had something to do with the reason that he did not do what was required under the statute.”
Cooley told the judge there was no evidence that Webb was intoxicated before Kruszewski was killed, and he pointed out that Webb is not charged with manslaughter — only hit-and-run.
Under Virginia law, anyone who is legally drunk and unintentionally causes the death of another person is guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
“The evidence is that there was no impairment as viewed by folks who were in a position to see that,” Cooley said. “There is no suggestion that he was, in fact, impaired or inebriated or in any way affected by alcohol.”
The issue, Cooley said, is whether Webb reported the incident to the authorities in a timely fashion.
Jury selection is scheduled to start Monday at 9:30 a.m.
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