6-19-2001 - Road Rage Testimony Contradicts

The Press Democrat - by Lori A. Carter

Witness accounts of who caused deadly crash in Petaluma differ

Eyewitnesses to a fetal collision the CHP says was caused by road rage blamed different drivers for the crash Monday as the vehicular manslaughter trial continued in Sonoma County Superior Court.

Andrea Cuccaro of Santa Rosa and Robert Williams of Windsor each face possible four year prison sentences if convicted for causing the August 1, 1999, crash.  Cuccaro also faces a felony child endangerment charge for injuries her 4 year old daughter received in the crash.

Ron and Margaret Fertitta of Cloverday, who were driving north on Highway 101 north of Lakeville Highway, said Cuccaro's white Volkswagon Jetta caused the collision in front of them when she tried to pass Williams by squeezing between his Ford Escort station wagon and a pickup.  Their testimony, however, contradicted their original statements to the CHP shortly after the crash.  Both had said Williams was the one trying to split lanes.

"I was pretty shook up when I was finished pulling people out of the car and everything," Ron Fertitta said in cross-examination by Cuccaro's attorney, Andrew Martinez.  "It could have been opposite."

The Fertittas each said both Cuccaro and Williams were cutting each other off in traffic and stopping short in front of one another. 

The defendants, who blame each other, have pleaded not guilty and remain free on their promise to appear in court.  They are being tried together with different juries, which thus far have heard identical evidence.

The CHP said the incident began when Cuccaro cut off Williams on Highway 37 near Mare Island in Vallejo and escalated into aggressive driving by both motorists all the way to Petaluma.  After the two cars got onto Highway 101 at Lakeville Highway, the aggressive driving continued until the two cars collided.

The crash killed a passenger in Cuccaro's car, Lena Marie Guillett, 20, of Petaluma, and seriously injured Heather Fahy of Sebastopol, who was in a coma for two weeks before she recovered.  Cuccaro's daughter also recovered.

Contrasting the Fertittas' testimony, Jill Bush, who drove the pickup the drivers passed right before the collision, said Williams caused the crash.

As Cuccaro's Jetta went by her in the fast lane, Bush said she noticed Williams station wagon behind her, swerving between lanes trying to keep up with Cuccaro.  "I couldn't believe somebody would drive like that," she said.  "I pulled over to the side of the road..I wanted no part of it."

Moments later, she testified, Williams cut in front of Cuccaro and slammed on his brakes, forcing Cuccaro to swerve to the right.  She said she saw Cuccaro's tires smoke as her car skidded to the right, then careen nose first into Williams car.  Cuccaro's car went out of control and ran off the east side of the road, into a tree.  Williams car veered left, into the median guard rail.

Bush's account has remained constant since the collision.  But Williams attorney, Charlie Cochran, questioned her about her friendship with Guillett's mother, Coleen Alberigi.  Bush said although she peered into the crushed Jetta after the crash, she didn't know until the next morning that the women killed was her good friend's daughter.

Fahy testified last week but said she remembered nothing about the crash.

Williams passenger, his wife, Anne, testified last week that Cuccaro's abrupt lane change into the side of their car caused the collision.

In Williams tape-recorded interview with the CHP after the crash, played last week in court, he acknowledged that anger may have gotten the best of him during the confrontation but said he was trying to defend himself when the cars collided.

Jurors also are expected to hear from three accident reconstruction experts, who also have differing interpretations of what caused the crash.

6-20-2001 - First Expert Called In Road Rage Trial

The Press Democrat - by Clark Mason

Both defendents to call own accident reconstruction experts in fatal crash case.

The first of three experts testified Tuesday about a Highway 101 collision that prosecutors call a fatal case of road rage.

Robert W. Williams of Windsor and Andrea Cuccaro of Santa Rosa are charged with vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving.  Each has pleaded not guilty and blamed the other driver for the crash on northbound Highway 101 in Petaluma.

Michael Morrissey, a former CHP officer who analyzed the crash for the prosecution, testified Tuesday that the cars collided after Williams got in front and put on his brakes.  Cuccaro wasn't able to avoid hitting his car, according to Morrissey, who examined both cars and other evidence gathered by investigators.

After they collided, Williams went off the road into the median and Cuccaro hit a redwood tree, killing her passenger and injuring two other people.

Other motorists who witnessed the August 1, 1999 crash had varying accounts of which driver cut off the other and both defendants intend to call accident reconstruction experts with different accounts than Morrissey.

In the minutes prior to the crash, prosecutors say both drivers displayed aggressive and violent behavior.  According to investigators, they entered Highway 101 from Lakevill Highway and made unsafe lane changes around each other, putting on their brakes when they got in front of each other.

In the crash, Morrissey said the rear of each vehicle collided.  That sent Cuccaro's car spinning and the vehicles collided a second time before going off the road, he said.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Andy Martinez, Morrissey said there were errors in some of the measurements CHP officers included in the accident investigation and omissions of some skid marks in the diagrams.

He also said it would have helped pinpoint the exact point of the collision if officers had noted the location of some of the vehicle debris.

But Morrissey said he was confident in his conclusions, which he said were based also on examining the two cars and matching up points of impact on their bodies.

Williams has an accident reconstruction expert who is expected to testify that the two vehicles first made impact at the front, bolsterling Williams' claim that Cuccaro suddenly turned into him.

Morrissey disagreed with that analysis, saying a rear fender on Cuccaro's car became dislodged in the initial collision, and that is the only thing that could have caused a long scratch down the side of Williams' car.

Under cross-examination by Williams attorney, Charlie Cochran, Morrissey said he would disregard the testimony of some eyewitnesses that Cuccaro tried to pass between Williams and another car, then turned into him.

"I can't reconcile their statement with the damage," he said, adding that in almost every collision he has investigated there are witnesses who see things differently.

The prosecution is expected to rest its case today and both defendants will have an opportunity to present their experts and other witnesses.

Separate juries are hearing the case.

6-20-2001 - Defense Opens In Road Rage Trial

The Press Democrat - by Clark Mason

Witnesses dispute prosecution's account of cat and mouse chase among friends at more than 100 mph

The defense in a road rage trial got under way Wednesday with Witnesses disputing claims about how fast one of the drivers was going before th fatal crash on Highway 101 in Petaluma.

Friends of Andrea Cuccaro testified they saw nothing out of the ordinary as they drove in caravan with the 24 year old Santa Rosa woman just before authorities say she became involved in a confrontation with Robert W. Williams, 48, of Windsor.

Cuccaro and Williams collided on Highway 101, killing one passenger and injuring two others in her car.  Both drivers are charged with vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving.

Some eyewitnesses have changed their minds since the August 1, 1999, collision, contradicting their initial accounts of which car cut in front of the other right before the fatal crash.  But witnesses at the trial have agreed the two cars were cutting each other off in traffic and braking in front of one another.

Testimony on Wednesday focused on friends of Cuccaro, who traveled with her to Benicia and back in separate cars on the day of the crash.

None of her friends saw the accident, but they denied reports the two cars were traveling at speeds of more than 100 mph beforehand.

Prosecutors say Cuccaro was in a high speed game of cat and mouse with her friends and Williams got caught in between, setting off a confrontation that ended in the fatal crash.

One prosecution witness testified Cuccaro's Volkswagen and a Volvo driven by her friend Ryan Johnson reached speeds of 100 mph on Highway 101 as they drove to Benicia.  On the way back to Santa Rosa, prosecutors say Cuccaro was trying to catch up to her friends in the Volvo when she got stuck behind Williams.

But two of the occupants in the Volvo testified Wednesday there was no high speed passing back and forth between Cuccaro and them.  Johnson said he got going about 75 mph at one point on the way to Benicia before one of his passengers, Shannon Trent - Cuccaro's boyfriend and the father of her two children - told him to slow down.  "Shannon said, "Be careful with your driving cause my daughter's in the other car," Johnson said.  "We were doing about 75 mph and slowed down."

A passenger in the car, Andrew White, testified for the prosecution last week that the Volvo reached speeds of 100 mph on the way to Benicia and as much as 120 mph near the Petaluma outlet mall on Highway 101 on the way back.

Johnson denied he went that fast in the Petaluma area but admitted driving about 100 mph near Todd Road in Santa Rosa as he headed for home.

Around that time, he and the other young men began using their cell phones to try to call their girlfriends in the Volkswagen but got no response and found out later that they had been in a accident.

Under cross-examination by Williams attorney, Charlie Cochran, Johnson said he knew Cuccaro was behind them on Lakeville Highway before they got  onto 101 but doesn't know how far behind or recall seeing her in the rear view mirror.  He said he was traveling at normal speeds at that point.

Cochran noted Johnson had read all the police reports and got the witness to concede he didn't go to authorities earlier to rebut the allegation that he was going 120 mph.

Trent, the father of cuccaror's children, also testified.  he said he was the only one drinking alcohol during the trip to the boat races in Benicia. "We were hanging out as a group all day," he said.  "Had Andrea had anything to drink?" asked her attorney, Andy Martinez.  "No," Trent replied.

Trent said Cuccaro, a customer service representative for Pacific Bell, still suffers short term memory loss as a result of a head injury in the crash and is now on disability leave from her job.  "She's very forgetful," he said.  "She forgets what she did yesterday."

When she was interviewed by a CHP officer, Cuccaro denied speeding that day or cutting anyone else off in traffic.  She said she only recalls being bumped by another vehicle a couple of times from behind before being pushed off the road.

That differs slightly from her own traffic accident  reconstruction expert.  Her expert generally agrees with a prosecution expert, who said Williams braked in front of Cuccaro and she could not avoid hitting him.

Williams also has an expert witness, who is expected to say the cars collided in a different fashion, bolstering Williams claim that Cuccaro was alongside him when she suddenly turned into his car.