Man found guilty in fatal crash

A Baltimore man was found guilty in county court yesterday of negligent vehicular homicide while impaired and causing a life-threatening injury in a crash last summer near the Bay Bridge.

Gary Joseph Williams, 28, faces five years in prison and up to an $8,000 fine when he is sentenced in January for his part in the crash, which killed one of his friends and paralyzed another.

Circuit Court Judge Philip T. Caroom also said that until the sentencing, Williams will be asked to wear a special ankle bracelet that will monitor his alcohol use.

Assistant State's Attorney Crighton Chase said in court this week that Williams and three friends and neighbors went crabbing on June 28, 2008, in Kent Narrows. They were drinking beer during the trip, and afterward they headed home with the boat in tow. The trip ended tragically in a wreck at about 9:30 p.m.

At issue yesterday was Williams' blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash and whether he had taken all safety precautions available.

Medical workers at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore tested Williams' blood shortly after he arrived there, between 11:09 and 11:30 p.m. on June 28. At that time, his blood-alcohol level was 0.063 percent, expert witnesses testified.

Barry Levine, chief toxicologist for the state Medical Examiner's Office, estimated that someone with Williams' height and weight would have had a blood-alcohol level that was between 0.075 and 0.093 percent at the time of the crash depending on when his last drink was and what time the blood was drawn.

The legal limit for driving under the influence is 0.08, and any level above 0.07 percent is considered driving while impaired.

While Williams was driving his 2007 Jeep Wrangler near the Cape St. Claire exit about 9:30 p.m., he lost control of the vehicle, according to police. The Jeep went off the highway and flipped over a guardrail, landing on eastbound Route 50. The trailer and the boat broke off the Jeep and came to a rest on westbound Route 50.

Two back-seat passengers, Jonathan Brindle, 45, and Parker William Benson, 25, were thrown from the Jeep. Brindle later died as a result of his injuries and Benson suffered life-threatening injuries and is paralyzed.

The front-seat passenger, Bruce Goodwin, suffered injuries to his head, collarbone and ankle.

Chase said that the crash happened as a result of negligence, that Williams had been drinking before getting behind the wheel of his Jeep.

Defense attorney Richard Patton called the crash "tragic" but argued that his client was not negligent, or drunk, at the time of the crash. The Jeep was towing a boat on a trailer, which somehow came off-kilter, forcing Williams to lose control, he said.

Caroom found that Williams was impaired at the time of the crash, rather than the more serious charge of being under the influence.

He also found that Williams was negligent for a number of reasons, including speed, since one witness testified that he was driving at least 60 to 65 mph. If it was raining and Williams was towing a boat, he should have lowered his speed, Caroom said.

A witness also testified that Williams was making unsafe and unnecessary lane changes prior to the crash. Failing to attach the safety chains, while it did not cause the accident, also contributed, Caroom ruled. All the factors together, in his opinion, added up to negligence.

While no one could definitely determine what caused the crash, by process of elimination, the only explanation was bad driving on the part of Williams, Caroom said.

Likely he had a small fishtailing problem with the trailer and then overreacted due to his impairment, he said. "It was, in fact, a poorly coordinated response to what otherwise might have been a normal fishtailing problem," he said.

After Caroom rendered his verdict, Chase asked that he modify Williams' bond agreement to include the SCRAM, or Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor bracelet.

The state had received information that Williams had been drinking heavily, and Chase said he was concerned that he would drink and drive. The ankle bracelet samples the wearer's perspiration for alcohol levels every 30 minutes and transmits the data to authorities via a radio frequency.

Patton said he didn't think the monitoring was necessary, since Williams has been out of jail on bond and hasn't had any arrests since the crash, but Caroom agreed that Williams should be part of the statewide monitoring program. He will be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 4 in Circuit Court in Annapolis.