In a courtroom filled with friends and family of those involved, the vehicular homicide trial of a local woman began this week in the Athens County Court of Common Pleas.
Farah Holter, 26, of 4835 U.S. Route 33, is charged with vehicular homicide and possession of cocaine. The charges stem from a Nov. 20 car crash that killed 48-year-old Ricky Smith at about 4:30 p.m. on U.S. Route 33, about 50 yards outside the city limits.
The crash took place near the top of Morrison-Brown Hill. Holter, driving a Dodge Durango toward Athens, went left of center and hit Smith in his Ford Ranger, which he was driving away from Athens. The impact sent Smith's car on its side into a driveway.
After arriving on the scene, rescue workers performed cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and tried to use a defibrillator but could not get a pulse or heartbeat from Smith. Athens County Coroner Scott Jenkinson testified that Smith died of blunt trauma to his chest.
Holter, who had to be rescued from her car, was taken to O'Bleness Memorial Hospital and treated for a broken leg and a collapsed lung. Her 3-year-old son was in the car but was uninjured.
Neither Chief Assistant Athens County Prosecuting Attorney Richard Ross nor Holter's attorney William Grim dispute state troopers' account of the accident. Grim said the case was not about who was at fault, but whether or not drugs caused the accident. Holter had cocaine and Diazepam, often referred to as Valium, in her system at the time of the accident.
"Because of the drugs in her system and because she went left of center, she killed Ricky Smith," Ross said. "She was not in control of herself and she was not in control of her vehicle."
Grim said the drugs did not impair her driving. While Holter's blood tests showed trace elements of both Valium and cocaine, Steven Clay, a witness called by the prosecution to display his expertise on drugs and their effect on driving, said there was no active agent of either drug in her system at the time.
Clay also said there was no study that clearly could link the metabolite of Valium or the metabolized element of cocaine, benzoylecgonine, the elements in Holter's blood at the time of the accident, to impaired driving.
Holter also is being charged with possession of cocaine because troopers found drug paraphernalia in her car, including a metal pipe and a white powder that was cocaine. Brandon Werry, a State Highway Patrol analyzer, tested the cocaine but could not lift fingerprints from any of the items in the car. He also tested a green, leafy substance from Smith's car that was marijuana.
Both drivers had illegal drugs in their system at the time of the accident. Clay said Smith tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active agent in marijuana.
Grim said that fact probably had nothing to do with the accident. He said the defense will offer its own expert witness.
The trial continues today at 9 a.m. Judge Michael Ward told the jury deliberations could begin by the end of the day.
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