The defendant, Ashley Bryan (26) of Highland, was driving northbound on the 57 freeway at Katella Ave. when her vehicle collided with a stopped Camaro on the freeway shoulder. The front end of the Camaro was partially in the slow lane. The collision pushed 18 year old Cameron Cook, who was standing outside of the Camaro, over the guardrail causing him to fall 50 to 60 feet to the concrete adjacent the freeway.
Cook, died at the hospital five hours later. It was later determined that Bryan’s blood alcohol content was 0.17 percent two and a half hours after the collision.
Bryan was found guilty of driving under the influence causing bodily injury and driving with a BAC of 0.08 percent or more causing bodily injury.
After three days of deliberation, the judge declared a mistrial when the jurors could not decide whether to convict Bryan of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated with gross negligence. Apparently, the jury deadlocked at 11-1 in favor of convicting Bryan of the more serious of the charges.
The result has caused some to condemn the decision of the solo, non-convicting juror.
I don’t condone drunk driving in this case or in any case, but I do applaud a juror who follows the law, not their emotions. Whether it was case here, I do not know. But I would like to remind my readers that our system requires the jurors to presume that the defendant is innocent until the prosecutor proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. If the victim’s vehicle was partially in the slow lane, there may be a reasonable doubt that the Bryan’s actions were the cause of the accident. If that is the case, the juror should be applauded for following the law and not their emotion.
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