By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
The trial of Jessica Hood, which was expected to begin Monday in a Boone County Courtroom, has been delayed until December 4.
Jessica Hood (dark hair) leaves the courtroom Monday, moments after her trial was delayed until December. Hood is charged with three counts of Manslaughter – 2nd Degree in the deaths of twin toddlers and their grandfather in an accident on Weaver Road in March 2015 (photo by Mark Hansel).
Hood is charged with three counts of Manslaughter-2nd Degree, in the deaths of Charles Napier of Florence and his twin 13-month-old grandchildren in an accident on Weaver Road in March 2015.
New evidence was introduced Monday, as jury selection was set to begin, which resulted in the postponement.
Dan Dickerson, Hood’s attorney, said he just learned of the evidence and added that the prosecution’s position is that they also just became aware of it.
“The trial is continued because some new documentation – evidence – came out this morning,” Dickerson. “I moved to exclude it and was not successful. The judge has granted us some time to review this additional information.”
Dickerson said Circuit Judge James R. Schrand issued what amounts to a gag order, which prevents him from revealing the evidence in question.
“The volume of information and the seriousness of the charges I think require if it’s not going to be suppressed, we get a continuance,” Dickerson said.
Hood was involved in an accident on Weaver Road in March, 2015, that killed two toddlers and their grandfather and injured two other people. She has pleaded not guilty and rejected a plea offer Thursday.
“She’s been very adamant she’s not going to plead in this case,” Dickerson said. “Some pleas are pretty reasonable, and this one was, but I don’t think she would plead to anything regardless of what the offer was.”
Charles Napier and Susan Elam were pulling three small children in wagons on Weaver Road after returning from lunch at Gramma’s Pizza on US 42 on the day of the accident. They were headed southbound in the northbound lane when police say a Chevrolet Malibu driven by Hood, then 22, left the road, went onto the shoulder and struck the family.
An explanation of the charges against Jessica Hood and sentencing options, if she is convicted (click to enlarge).
Napier, 54, and his twin 13-month-old grandchildren, Samantha and Sean May, died from injuries sustained in the incident. Another grandchild, Ethan May, and Elam, the children’s aunt, suffered non-life threatening injuries.
Hood is also charged with two counts of Assault – 4th degree, stemming from injuries sustained by the other two other family members at the scene.
Schrand made sure Thursday that Hood was aware of the potential penalties associated with the charges and the amount of time she could be facing if convicted.
She could be looking at up to 20 years in jail if she is convicted and sentenced to the maximum on all counts (See insert).
Under Kentucky law sentencing for Class C and D felonies cannot exceed 20 years, no matter how many counts there are.
There has been speculation that Hood was using her phone at the time of the accident, but Dickerson said she was not impaired, texting, or distracted in any way.
Dickerson (file photo)
He filed a motion to limit or exclude evidence pertaining to cell phone usage, which Schrand denied.
Monday, Dickerson explained why he wanted the evidence excluded and gave some insight into why the Commonwealth wanted it admitted.
“It’s going to be a question of proof and whether or not the Commonwealth can show she was on the phone,” Dickerson said. “They are calling it distracted driving, but people use their phone, (and) they may not be in the car, they may not be driving. Just showing that this phone was used just prior to this accident, in some cases 10 or 15 minutes prior to that, when she may not have been operating the vehicle, doesn’t mean that she was texting and driving.”
A cell phone expert from Sprint is scheduled to testify at the trial.
If the trial gets underway as scheduled in December, it will begin two years after Hood was originally indicted by a grand jury and just a few months shy of three years from the time of the incident.
Dickerson said cases such as this usually come to trial in about a year, but there have been a number of delays and continuances in this case.
“I don’t know that the defense has asked for any of them,” Dickerson said. “It’s not really complex, for whatever reason, this case has taken on a life of its own.”
There is a pretrial conference scheduled for September 20 and the plea offer will remain on the table until November 29.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
