Manslaughter Charge Filed in Hudson River Crash

The driver of a speedboat that slammed into a construction barge on the Hudson River — hurling a bride-to-be and her fiance’s best man into the water — has been charged with vehicular manslaughter, authorities said Saturday.

Jojo John, 35, of Nyack was also charged with three counts of vehicular assault at his hospital bedside as he recovers from Friday night’s crash, Rockland County Sheriff’s Department Chief William Barbera said.

John’s bail was set at $ 250,000 and he will be transported to the Rockland County Jail after he is released from the hospital, Barbera said. John is suspected of operating the boat while intoxicated, according to Barbera.

Earlier Saturday, authorities pulled a woman’s body from the water that matches the description of 30-year-old Lindsey Stewart. The bride-to-be was hurled into the water after the accident near the Tappan Zee Bridge, about a half-hour’s drive north of New York City.

Stewart, of Piermont, worked for an insurance company. She was set to be married Aug. 10. Her fiance, art teacher Brian Bond, was among four others injured in the crash.

Rescuers are still trying to locate one other passenger, her fiance’s best man, 30-year-old Mark Lennon.

“The search has been suspended this evening and the tides have a lot to do with that,” Barbera said. “We’ll start again first thing in the morning.”

Officials were working to confirm that it was the body found earlier Saturday was Stewart’s.

The crash happened shortly after the boat, a 21-foot Stingray, left the village of Piermont for a short trip across the river to Tarrytown on Friday night, authorities said.

Authorities did not have further updates Saturday evening on the conditions of the four injured or the nature of their injuries.

Stewart’s mother, Carol, said earlier Saturday that she was praying for a miracle.

Bond, 35, was knocked unconscious in the crash but later woke and was able to call 911, Carol Stewart said.

Lindsey Stewart’s stepfather, Walter Kosik, said the couple have known each other since they were young children and used to go to church together.

“They have been friends the whole time, and they fell in love about 3 1/2 years ago,” Kosik said.

They were to be married at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Pearl River, with a reception at a vineyard in Hillburn, he said.

Barbera declined to identify the other people aboard the boat. He said the barge, one of several loaded with construction material for an upcoming replacement of the bridge, was equipped with lights, but it was still difficult to see on the water late at night.

The New York State Thruway Authority, which is overseeing the bridge project, said it was reviewing safety procedures.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families during this difficult time,” the authority said in a statement. It added that the lighting on the barges appeared to be functioning normally.

Stewart’s former English teacher at Pearl River High School, who remained in contact with her through Facebook, called the accident “heartbreaking.”

“She was one of my students and a bright, sweet girl loved by everyone,” she said. “I knew that she was getting married, and to Brian. To happen to two such special kids – it just shouldn’t happen.”

© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Newsmax – America

Manslaughter Charge Filed in Hudson River Crash

Judge: Jury Can Consider Manslaughter Charge in Zimmerman Trial

In an unmistakable setback for George Zimmerman, the jury at the neighborhood watch captain’s second-degree murder trial was given the option Thursday of convicting him on the lesser charge of manslaughter in the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Judge Debra Nelson issued her ruling over the objections of Zimmerman’s lawyers shortly before a prosecutor delivered a closing argument in which he portrayed the defendant as an aspiring police officer who assumed Martin was up to no good and took the law into his own hands.

“A teenager is dead. He is dead through no fault of his own,” prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda told the jurors. “He is dead because a man made assumptions. … Unfortunately because his assumptions were wrong, Trayvon Benjamin Martin no longer walks this Earth.”

Because of the judge’s ruling, the six jurors will have three options when they start deliberations as early as Friday: guilty of second-degree murder, guilty of manslaughter and not guilty.

Defense attorney Don West had argued for an all-or-nothing strategy, saying the jury’s only options should be guilty of second-degree murder or not guilty altogether.

“The state has charged him with second-degree murder. They should be required to prove it,” West said. “If they had wanted to charge him with manslaughter … they could do that.”

To win a second-degree murder conviction, prosecutors must prove Zimmerman showed ill will, hatred or spite — a burden the defense has argued the state failed to meet. To get a manslaughter conviction, prosecutors must show only that Zimmerman killed without lawful justification.

Allowing the jurors to consider manslaughter could give those who aren’t convinced the shooting amounted to murder a way to hold Zimmerman responsible for the death of the unarmed teen, said David Hill, an Orlando defense attorney with no connection to the case.

“From the jury’s point of view, if they don’t like the second-degree murder — and I can see why they don’t like it — he doesn’t want to give them any options to convict on lesser charges,” Hill said of West.

Because of the way Florida law imposes longer sentences for crimes committed with a gun, manslaughter could end up carrying a penalty as heavy as the one for second-degree murder: life in prison.

It is standard for prosecutors in Florida murder cases to ask that the jury be allowed to consider lesser charges that were not actually brought against the defendant. And it is not unusual for judges to grant such requests.

Prosecutor Richard Mantei also asked that the jury be allowed to consider third-degree murder, on the premise that Zimmerman committed child abuse when he shot the underage Martin. Zimmerman’s lawyer called that “bizarre” and “outrageous,” and the judge sided with the defense.

Zimmerman, 29, got into a scuffle with Martin after spotting the teen while driving through his gated townhouse complex on a rainy night in February 2012. Zimmerman has claimed he fired in self-defense after Martin sucker-punched him and began slamming his head into the pavement. Prosecutors have disputed his account and have portrayed him as the aggressor.

During closing arguments, de la Rionda argued that Zimmerman showed ill will and hatred when he whispered profanities to a police dispatcher over his cellphone while following Martin through the neighborhood. He said Zimmerman “profiled” the teenager as a criminal.

“He assumed Trayvon Martin was a criminal,” de la Rionda said. “That is why we are here.”

The prosecutor told the jury that Zimmerman wanted to be a police officer and that’s why he followed Martin. But “the law doesn’t allow people to take the law into their own hands,” de la Rionda said.

Zimmerman’s lawyers are expected to deliver their closing arguments Friday morning.

© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Newsmax – America

Judge: Jury Can Consider Manslaughter Charge in Zimmerman Trial

Judge: Jury Can Consider Manslaughter Charge in Zimmerman Trial

In an unmistakable setback for George Zimmerman, the jury at the neighborhood watch captain’s second-degree murder trial was given the option Thursday of convicting him on the lesser charge of manslaughter in the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Judge Debra Nelson issued her ruling over the objections of Zimmerman’s lawyers shortly before a prosecutor delivered a closing argument in which he portrayed the defendant as an aspiring police officer who assumed Martin was up to no good and took the law into his own hands.

“A teenager is dead. He is dead through no fault of his own,” prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda told the jurors. “He is dead because a man made assumptions. … Unfortunately because his assumptions were wrong, Trayvon Benjamin Martin no longer walks this Earth.”

Because of the judge’s ruling, the six jurors will have three options when they start deliberations as early as Friday: guilty of second-degree murder, guilty of manslaughter and not guilty.

Defense attorney Don West had argued for an all-or-nothing strategy, saying the jury’s only options should be guilty of second-degree murder or not guilty altogether.

“The state has charged him with second-degree murder. They should be required to prove it,” West said. “If they had wanted to charge him with manslaughter … they could do that.”

To win a second-degree murder conviction, prosecutors must prove Zimmerman showed ill will, hatred or spite — a burden the defense has argued the state failed to meet. To get a manslaughter conviction, prosecutors must show only that Zimmerman killed without lawful justification.

Allowing the jurors to consider manslaughter could give those who aren’t convinced the shooting amounted to murder a way to hold Zimmerman responsible for the death of the unarmed teen, said David Hill, an Orlando defense attorney with no connection to the case.

“From the jury’s point of view, if they don’t like the second-degree murder — and I can see why they don’t like it — he doesn’t want to give them any options to convict on lesser charges,” Hill said of West.

Because of the way Florida law imposes longer sentences for crimes committed with a gun, manslaughter could end up carrying a penalty as heavy as the one for second-degree murder: life in prison.

It is standard for prosecutors in Florida murder cases to ask that the jury be allowed to consider lesser charges that were not actually brought against the defendant. And it is not unusual for judges to grant such requests.

Prosecutor Richard Mantei also asked that the jury be allowed to consider third-degree murder, on the premise that Zimmerman committed child abuse when he shot the underage Martin. Zimmerman’s lawyer called that “bizarre” and “outrageous,” and the judge sided with the defense.

Zimmerman, 29, got into a scuffle with Martin after spotting the teen while driving through his gated townhouse complex on a rainy night in February 2012. Zimmerman has claimed he fired in self-defense after Martin sucker-punched him and began slamming his head into the pavement. Prosecutors have disputed his account and have portrayed him as the aggressor.

During closing arguments, de la Rionda argued that Zimmerman showed ill will and hatred when he whispered profanities to a police dispatcher over his cellphone while following Martin through the neighborhood. He said Zimmerman “profiled” the teenager as a criminal.

“He assumed Trayvon Martin was a criminal,” de la Rionda said. “That is why we are here.”

The prosecutor told the jury that Zimmerman wanted to be a police officer and that’s why he followed Martin. But “the law doesn’t allow people to take the law into their own hands,” de la Rionda said.

Zimmerman’s lawyers are expected to deliver their closing arguments Friday morning.

© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Newsmax – America

Judge: Jury Can Consider Manslaughter Charge in Zimmerman Trial