6-23-2001 - Road Rage Defendant Denies Aggressive Retaliation

The Press Democrat - by Clark Mason

Victim's relative exits courtroom in tears as one of two drivers charged in Highway 101 case testifies.

One of two defendants in a road rage trial testified Friday that the other driver kept cutting in front of him and denied a ting aggressively in return.  Robert W. Williams said he was trying to get away from co-defendant Andrea Cuccaro and disputed witnesses who said he also was cutting her off.

"I was concentrated on clear space in front of me and just trying to get away from her," Williams said.  "I was scared to death.  I thought someone was trying to kill me."

Williams, 48, formerly of Windsor, and Cuccaro, 24, of Santa Rosa, are charged with vehicular manslaughter and grossly negligent driving as a result of the Highway 101 crash that killed one passenger and injured two others in Cuccaro's car.

The drivers blame each other and have traffic reconstruction experts with opposing viewpoints as to which driver caused the crash and the death of Lena Marie Guillett, 20, of Petaluma.

Experts for both the prosecution and Cuccaro say Williams cut in front of her in the fast land and either slammed on his brakes or slowed quickly, causing her to swerve and clip the right rear of his vehicle with the left rear of her car.

Those two experts say the cars hit a second time before Cuccaro's 1995 Volkswagen Jetta went off the highway north of the Washington Street overpass in Petaluma and slammed into a redwood tree.  Yet an accident reconstruction expert hired by Williams has a different opinion, saying the initial impact occurred when the two cars were side by side and Cuccaro suddenly turned into Williams' 1996 Ford Escort station wagon.

The defendants have separate juries that have listened to hours of testimony, including opinions from esperts with diagrams and photographs who have tried to explain which skid mark on the highway belonged to which tire on the cars and what the likely collision sequence was.

Jurors have heard testimony about centrifugal scuff marks, paint transfers between the cars, and challenging phrases like "coefficient of friction to lateral forces."

A tape recorded interview with Williams was aired last week in court, but Friday was the first time both jury panels have heard from him.

Williams said he and his wife were returning August 1, 1999 from Sonora, where they had been shopping for a house, when they encountered Cuccaro, who passed them on Highway 37.  "There was a horn honk and a white blur," Williams said, adding that Cuccaro passed him after the two lanes on the Mare Island bridge had merged into one.

Near Sears Point, Williams said he passed Cuccaro after the road widened to two lanes and traffic in her lane slowed down.  She also was behind him on Lakeville Highway.

"The Volkswagen seemed to be stuck behind other traffic, darting in and out looking for a place to get around." he said under direct examination by his attorney, Charlie Cochran.

After he pulled onto northbound Highway 101 and moved into the fast lane, Williams said, she passed him again.  "The next thing I know, there's a flash of white on my right and I'm being cut off.  I braked.  I saw the brake lights on the Volkswagen," he said.  "I made an evasive move to the right.  Thankfully, no one was there, or I woul have rear-ended her."

Because Cuccaro's car slowed, Williams said, he moved ahead of her and got back in the fast land.  Then she overtook him on the right.  "Before she passed you, did you pump your brakes?" Cochran asked.  "Yes, I did," Williams replied, adding that he kept his foot on the gas and tapped the brake with his other foot to "get her off my tail"

Instead, he said, "she pulled in front of me again and hit her brakes.  In an evasive move, I went to the right."  Rebutting another witness, Williams denied that he ever tried to pass between Cuccaro and another vehicle.

At one point during Williams testimony, one of Guillett's relatives, her great aunt Melba Newman, left the courtroom in tears.  She said she was bothered that Williams "pretended to be so innocent, I feel in my heart of hearts, they're equally guilty.  It just got to me," she said.

Williams said he didn't pull over because everything happened too quickly and traffic was backed up on the right to get off the freeway at the East Washington Street exit.  "There was nowhere to go.  The choice was the center divider.  There was nowhere to go on the right.  Andrea Cuccaro was beside me on the right."

As far as his statement to a CHP officer several days later that he got "caught up in something," Williams said Friday he meant he didn't know if he got caught up in a case of mistaken identity and whether Cuccaro thought he was someone else.

Testimony in the trial is expected to wrap up Monday after Williams is cross-examined by Cuccaro's attorney and the prosecution.

Cuccaro isn't expected to testify.

6-26-2001 - Witness Road Rage Death "Avoidable"

The Press Democrat - by Clark Mason

"Very violent" driving detailed in fatal Petaluma crash; final arguments start today

Jurors in a road rage trial heard from a new witness Monday who testified she was terrified driving behind the two drivers just before their involvement in a fatal crash on Highway 101 in Petaluma.

"I could see if someone didn't give way, there would be a collision," Delinke Freed of Rohnert Park said of the "very violent" driving she witnessed just before the August 1, 1999, crash that killed a passenger in one of the cars.

"These cars were battling over the road," she said.  "It was an avoidable death."

The drivers - Robert W. Williamd, 48, a former Windsor resident who now lives in Sonora, and Andrea Cuccaro, 24, of Santa Rosa, are charged with vehicular manslaughter and face potential six year prison terms in connection with the death of Cuccaro's passenger, Lena Marie Guillett, 20, of Petaluma.

Testimony wrapped up Monday and final arguments are scheduled to begin today for the two defendants, each of whom has separate juries who have heard the almost identical testimony.

Freed testified as a rebuttal witness for the prosecution, contradicting Willims' story that he was not driving aggressively moments before the crash that sent Cuccaro's Volkswagen careening off the freeway into a redwood tree.

Freed said she was headed north when ahead of her she saw Williams's dark Ford Escort trying to get around Cuccaro's white Volkswagen Jetta and another vehicle that was side by side with the Jetta.  Freed said she watched as Williams repeatedly tried to "wedge" his way between Cuccaro and the other vehicle.

"He was dashing forward, trying to drive a wedge repeatedly, two, three, four times, so fast, it just kept h happening." Freed said.

Jurors have heard from Williams, a retired iron worker, both in a taped interview with a CHP officer and on the witness stand Monday and last week.

Cuccaro's attorney, Andy Martinez, said his client, who worked as a customer service representative for Pacific Bell, is unable to testify because of residual memory problems she suffered from her head injury in the accident.

Also testifying Monday was an off duty San Francisco police officer who came upon the accident just after it happened.  The officer, Thomas A. Price, described looking into Cuccaro's car and seeing everyon unconscious, including Cuccaro's 4 year old daughter.  He said she was in a fetal position, on the center console, and she soon began to cry as others in teh car began to moan.

"I was amazed, she had no significant injuries," Price said of the child.

Cuccaro, who also is charged with child endangerment, began to cry and dabbed her eyes as Price testified about the fatal injuries to Guillett and severe injuries to the other occupants, including Cuccaro and passenger Heather Fahy of Sebastopol.

Prosecutor Jim Shine asked Williams  if it was true that while at the crash scene, he never inquired about the well being of those in the other car. "I did something anyone in the courtoom would do," he replied.  "I was concerned with my wife and myself, but more with my wife."

Williams explained how his wife, Anne, had been stunned in the collision when the airbag inflated and she complained of being unable to breathe.  He said it was more than two hours after the crash that he was told by a tow truck operator of the fatality in the other car.

On Monday, Williams was cross-examined for the first time and denied he felt "pure anger" toward the other driver.  he said his statement was taken out of context by a CHP officer.

He said that when he told the officer that he was angry, it referred to "being involved in the accident."  "I felt pure anger because someone had turned into me," Williams said, denying that before the crash that Cuccaro caused him to lose his temper or that he tried to cut her off.

But jurors also heard Williams, in a taped CHP interview days after the accident, acknowledge that he may have let his anger get the best of him after Cuccaro cut him off the first time.  "I felt like she was trying to kill me," he said on the tape.

Two accident reconstruction experts essentially agree that Williams braked his Escort in the fast lane, in front of Cuccaro's Volkswagen, causing her to swerve and clip the rear of his car.  But Williams expert describes a different scenario, with Cuccaro driving up next to Williams and suddenly turning into him.

Both Williams and his wife have testified how they first became aware of Cuccaro when she narrowly passed them after the Mare Island Bridge on Highway 37, passing on the shoulder as two lanes funnel into one.

The Williamses described how they got ahead of Cuccaro on Lakeville Highway and how she suddenly began cutting in front of them and braking after they got onto Highway 101.

Witnesses to the accident had differing versions of who cut off whom just before the crash.  But some described how the two cars cut in front of each other at least once in what appeared to be some form of road rage.

Williams denied Monday that before the crash he was driving in a "serpentine" way, back and forth between vehicles, to get to Cuccaro.  Under questioning by his attorney, Charlie Cochran, Williams said he was unable to get away from Cuccaro because traffic was backing up in the slow lane to exit onto East Washington Street.  But witnesses who testified Monday did not notice any backup.

6-27-2001 - Road Rage Case Goes to Jury

The Press Democrat - by Clark Mason

Deliberations scheduled to start today; deputy D.A., defense attorneys wrap up closing arguments

A honk of the horn inadvertently became a trumpet call to battle between two drivers in a fatal road rage case, a Sonoma County prosecutor said Tuesday.

Deputy District Attorney Jim Shine said the horn that sounded when one driver narrowly passed the other marked the beginning of a chain of events that ended with the death of a passenger in one of the cars.  "It wasn't a call for them to rise to battle," Shine said of the horn.  but he said it heralded the start of "an ongoing, escalating duel," as one driver got caught up in the bad driving of the other and they both crashed on Highway 101 in Petaluma.

Shine's comments came during the closing arguments of a trial for Robert W. Williams, 48, formerly of Windsor, and Andrea Cuccaro, 24, of Santa Rosa, who are accused of vehicular manslaughter and grossly negligent driving.

The separate juries for each defendant recieved legal instructions from Judge Raima Ballinger late Tuesday afternoon and were scheduled to begin deliberations this morning.

Shine described how a narrow pass by Cuccaro as she came off the Mare Island Bridge set off a sequence of events miles later on Highway 101, in which both she and Williams took turns cutting in front of each other and braking.

According to two traffic reconstruction experts, Williams cut in front of Cuccaro in the fast land of Highway 101 and braked, causing her to swerve and hit the rear of his car before going off the road into a redwood tree.  The impact killed one of Cuccaro's passengers, Lena Marie Guillett, 20, of Petaluma, seriously injured Cuccaro and a second passenger, and caused relatively minor injuries to Cuccaro's four year old daughter.

Although the Highway Patrol said a contributing cause of Guillett's fatal injuries may have been improper seatbelt usage, Shine told jurors that was not a defense for either driver, as long as they contributed to the cause of the accident.  The prosecutor argued that both drivers were at fault, even though he acknowledged there was some confusion in the evidence and among eyewitnesses about which driver actually caused the crash.

Williams attorney, Charlie Cochran, argued that the case should not be a criminal prosecution, but a civil lawsuit.  "How are we going to convict either of these two people, if we don't even know how this accident happened?" he told jurors.  He said Cuccaro in her Volkswagen Jetta became irritated because she was unable to catch up to her boyfriend and other friends in a Volvo as they returned to Santa Rosa from the boat races in Benicia.

"We know he got caught up in something -- a chase game between the Volvo and Andrea Cuccaro." he said.  He acknowledged that Williams tapped his brakes to get Cuccaro off his tail on Highway 101, but said that was not a criminal act.

"Get off my butt" is not illegal," Cochran said.

The defense attorney argued the physical evidence was more persuasive that Cuccaro's VW slammed into the side of Williams Ford Escort station wagon as they drove side by side on the freeway near the Washington Street overpass at Petaluma.  He said Cuccaro probably didn not deliberately try to slam into the other car, but may have misjudged the distance as she tried to intimidate the other driver and pass him.

Shine said jurors should use their common sense and reject Williams testimony that he was not angry or upset, not trying to teach Cuccaro a lesson.

Shine said witnesses described Williams weaving and trying to split lanes to get in front of Cuccaro at all costs on Highway 101.  The prosecutor noted that when Williams was first interviewed by police days after the accident, he acknowledged being angry about the manner in which cuccaro first passed him near Mare Island and then noticed her tailgating on Highway 37 and Lakeville Highway.

And the second time she cut him off, on Highway 101, Shine noted Williams admitted feeling "pure anger.'  Williams later maintained he was only describing his emotion at being involved in an accident and not what he felt behind the wheel prior to the wreck.

Cuccaro's attorney, Andy Martinez, said if his client had cut off Williams On Highway 101 as many times as Williams claimed, there would have been more witnesses who saw it.

Martinez noted that a preliminary investigation into the accident by a CHP officer found no driving violations by Cuccaro, but two by Williams, including unsafe lane changes and stopping on the freeway.