6-29-2001 - Split Verdicts in Petaluma Road Rage

The Press Democrat - by Clark Mason

"It's been a long two years for everybody involved"

Convicted of vehicular manslaughter, man faces up to 6 years in prison, jurors hug acquitted Santa Rosa woman

One driver in a fatal road rage incident on Highway 101 was acquitted Thursday of all charges while a second driver was convicted of all counts, including vehicular manslaughter.

With two juries sifting through the evidence, Andrea Cuccaro, 24, of Santa Rosa was found not guilty in the Petaluma crash that killed one of her passengers.

The other driver, Robert W. Williams, 48, formerly of Windsor, was convicted of manslaughter and injuring four others.  He faces up to six years in prison for the most serious charge of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

Jurors for Cuccaro cited a lack of evidence and credible witnesses to prove she was driving recklessly before the August 1, 1999, crash that killed Lena Marie Guillett, 20, of Petaluma.  Guillett's relatives expressed mixed emotions at the verdicts.  Her mother, Coleen Alberigi of Petaluma, said she was not surprised, "I felt Williams was more culpable," she said.

But Guillett's great aunt Melba Newman, who also sat through the whole trial, was disappointed by the acquittal.  "I expected guilty on all counts for both people.  It doesn't seem fair," she said.

Prosecutor Jim Shine said after the verdicts that "the jury said the problem was I couldn't prove what precipitated it, what set him off, and I can't disagree."  But he said "it was such an outrageous act on the part of  Williams, someone must have egged him on to get him there.  He was aggravated enough, enraged enough that he lost that kind of control."  o have this fit of insanity, this moment of enraged actions, doesn't fit unless something precipitated it," Shine said.

Jury members said they did not believe the testimony of Williams and his wife, who said that Cuccaro caused the accident and tha she turned into them as they drove side by side near the Washington Street overpass in Petaluma.  The only two independent witnesses who faulted Cuccaro for poor driving before the crash wer not certain enough in their testimony, jurors said.

"There were the changing statements and a lot they didn't remember," juror Susanne Irvine said of the one couple in another car who blamed both Cuccaro and Williams for cutting each other off and stopping short in front of one another.

Unlike Williams and his wife, Cuccaro did not testify during the two week trial because she cannot remember the crash and continues to suffer memory problems, said her attorney, Andy Martinez.

A tearfull Cuccaro, who said she was uncertain what the verdict would be, was hugged by jurors after they acquitted her.  "It's weird.  It's been a long two years for everybody involved," Cuccaro said.  "I don't remember the accident myself.  I had to go off police reports."  Martinez said the acquittal was welcome, but "not much of a victory.  It doesn't bring Lena Guillett back."

He said Cuccaro, a customer service representative with Pacific Bell, continues to have residual effects from the head injury she suffered in the accident.  The stress of the trial also exacerbated her medical problems.  "She'll be able to move on now," he said.

A member of Cuccaro's jury said she obviously had provoked Williams, but it was unclear if it was intentional or unintentional, and there was no solid evidence that she had slammed on the brakes in front of him.

In final arguments, Shine said the focus during the trial was mistakenly put on the last act that caused the fatal crash.  He said both drivers were responsible because it was inevitable that someone would crash because of the way they were driving.  But Martinez said just because Cuccaro may have done something to provoke Williams didn't mean she carried it through to the end.

Jurors said there were two very credible witnesses who said Williams drove his Ford Escort station wagon between two vehicles on the two land road before hitting his brakes in front of Cuccaro's Volkswagen Jetta.

Two traffic reconstruction efforts essentially agreed with that scenario, while a third hired by Williams said it was Cuccaro's Jetta that came up alongside the Ford and turned into Williams.  The resulting collision sent Williams into the center divider and Cuccaro's vehicle off the highway into a redwood tree.

The crash sent four people to the hospital, including Cuccaro, her 4 year old daughter, her passenger Heather Fahy of Sebastopol and Williams wife, Anne.

One juror for Cuccaro said "the accident was totally Mr. Williams fault."

After the verdicts, Fahy, who was in a coma for 12 days after the accident, said "at least someone's going down for it.  I'm glad for that."  Fahy testified she could not remember the accident.  She said she still remains friends with Cuccaro, although "we're not as close as we used to be."

According to testimony at the trial, Cuccaro had gone to the boat races that day in Benicia and had driven over with friends who were in another car.  Attorneys during the trial said that on the return to Santa Rosa, Cuccaro apparently was trying to keep up with the fast moving car in which her boyfriend and other friends were riding.

Williams, a retired ironworker, and his attorney, Charlie Cochran, were unavailable for comment after the verdict, and members of his jury also declined comment.  He is scheduled to return to court for sentencing August 24, 2001. 

Williams and his wife said they were returning to their home in Windsor the day of the accident after shopping for property in Sonora.  They said they were driving on Highway 37, coming off the Mare Island Bridge, when Cuccaro honked her horn and flew past them, almost on the shoulder.  Williams testified he watched Cuccaro tailgate other cars on Highway 37, when she was ahead of him, and on Lakeville Highway when he passed her.  He said she suddenly cut in front of him and braked after getting on Highway 101.

Williams denied he engaged in a highway duel with Cuccaro, taking turns cutting each other off, but said he feared for his life and that's why he kept trying to get ahead of Cuccaro in the fast lane.  But Williams' testimony at trial was different from a taped statement he gabe to CHP days after the collision in which he admitted he felt "pure anger" and may have let it get the best of him.

Guillett's stepfather, Rob Alberigi, expressed disappointment Thursday that Cuccaro was not convicted, saying she was equally at fault.  "There will never be another Lena," he said of his stepdaughter, a Petaluma High School graduate who loved art.  "People's lives have changed forever, I not only lost my step daughter, I lost my wife, my life will never be the same.

Guillett's family said an art scholarship has been set up in her name and contributions may be made at any Westamerica Bank branch.

                                                                    The Verdicts

Andrea Cuccaro                                                                            Robert W. Williams

Acquitted on all counts including:                                                                            Guilty on all counts including:

Vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.                                                        Vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence

Felony child endangerment.                                                                                    Four misdemeanor counts of reckless driving 

Three counts of misdemeanor reckless driving                                                         causing bodily injury.

causing bodily injury.

Also not guilty on misdemeanor charges of vehicular manslaughter

without gross negligence, child endangerment, three counts of reckless driving.

9-29-2001 - Man gets 4 years for 101 Road Rage

The Press Democrat - by Clark Mason

Judge tells Williams fatal crash not out of his control

A man convicted in a road rage incident that left one person dead was sentenced Friday to four years in state prison.

In sentencing Robert W. Williams, Judge Raima Ballinger said she was troubled by his refusal to take responsibility.  "I continue to be bothered with comments like, "This incident was out of my control," she said.  "This was totally within Mr. Williams control from the first."

Williams, a 48 year old Sonora resident, and Andrea Cuccaro, 24, of Santa Rosa, collided on Highway 101 near the Petaluma on August 1, 1999, Lena Marie Guillett, a passenger in Cuccaro's car, was killed.

According to witnesses, Williams was cut off by Cuccaro near Mare Island on Highway 37.  When they reached Highway 101 in Petaluma, a confrontation began on the freeway.  It escalated with each driver cutting in front of the other and then braking.  After traveling less than a mile, they collided and Cuccaro's car went off the road and hit a redwood tree.

Accident reconstruction experts differed on which driver was responsible for the final collision.  Both drivers were charged with vehicular manslaughter.  Williams was convicted and Cuccaro was acquitted after a two week trial in June with separate juries.

At the sentencing hearing, Ballinger rejected Williams request for probation, instead giving him a four year prison term.  The maximum sentence for the offense is six years.

"I don't think this was just a stupid act," she said.  "I think it was a criminal act."  "He used his car as a weapon.  He was trying to make a statement all right.  He had people bailing off that freeway in every direction."

Williams family, his wife, his mother and his children, one of whom is a Sonoma County sheriff's deputy pleaded with the judge to spare him a prison term.

"I want the court to know he's a human being," said Randy Williams, who was off duty and dressed in civilian clothes.  "He's not a monster that everyone wants to make him out to be."  Family members said Williams should not have to bear the brunt of the responsibility for the fatal accident because two drivers were involved.

As  they spoke Friday, Cuccaro watched quietly from the audience.  She declined comment.  Cuccaro is seeking more than $190,000.00 from Williams in restitution for her medical bills from the accident and has filed a lawsuit against him.

Williams told the judge it would do no good to send him to prison.  He expressed his "deepest heartfelt sympathy to the family of the young woman who died," but described the crash as "an incident...

But Melba Newman, Guillett's great aunt, said both drivers had time to stop rather than let the aggressive driving spiral out of control.

Guillett's mother, Coleen Alberigi, said: "I blame them both.  Andrea was very lucky she got off."  She said Williams should be punished because "someone needs to learn not to do this, so another innocent life isn't taken, and when he gets out, he will still have is children and they will have their father, but I will never get Lena back."

Prosecutor Jim Shine said there was no unusual provocation for the highway duel.  "Not a month goes by in which each of us is not confronted by similar, hostile driving," Shine said.

According to trial testimony, the duel was instigated when Cuccaro, who was trying to keep up with her boyfriend in another car, cut off Williams near the Mare Island Bridge.  Williams testified that Cuccaro cut him off again when they got on Highway 101.  He admitted pulling ahead of her and tapping his brakes, but said he was afraid and trying to get away from the other driver.

His testimony differed from a tape recorded statement he gave to CHP officers days after the collision in which he said he felt "pure anger" and may have let it get the best of him.

My Thoughts Regarding The Verdict

Andrea Cuccaro was very lucky, I feel they both should have been convicted.  It takes two to do what they did.  Maybe if the jurors knew that 8 months before this accident Andrea had gotten a ticket for reckless driving and child endangerment for not having her daughter in a car seat, they wouldn't have let her go.  If anything she should not have gotten off with the child endangerment.  She had her second child on the 1 year anniversary date of the accident.  Andrea Cuccaro does not deserve to be a mother.  A mother would never have put her child in that kind of danger.  But she still has not learned anything, and she knows she got away with murder.  She knows what happened but just doesn't want to admit to it.  Andrea or Robert Williams have never showed any remorse for the death of my daughter Lena.

Robert Williams, still didn't show any remorse for the accident at the sentencing.  He believes he is innocent.  I don't think he is a monster, but he was partly responsible for my daughter death.  No matter what his sentence was, it wouldn't bring Lena back to me.  And when he is done he will still have his children and they will still have their father.  Robert Williams will hear "I love you dad" again, but I will not get Lena back or ever hear ":I love you mom" again.

All I really wanted from these two people, was to admit what they did.  I know they did not get up that morning and say "I'm going to kill Lena Guillett today" it was and accident that didn't have to happen.  I listen to all the lies during the trial.  His expert witness lied so much, he never even went out to the accident site, he just looked at pictures of the cars and skid marks, and when he first walked into the court room he slapped Robert Williams on the back and said "How's life in the fast lane." right in front of me.

After the sentence was done, I really felt guilty, and sorry for his family.  But why should I feel guilty, he killed my daughter, and his family still has their father and husband.  Now it's time for me to go get some help and try to put my life back into some kind of order.  My life will never be the same without Lena.  We are not supose to bury our children, but the day I buried Lena, I also buried the biggest part of me.