NJ Drunk Driver Case Closes

In Salem County, New Jersey, a jury is deliberating a potentially landmark case of alleged reckless manslaughter. Kenneth Powell allegedly let his friend drive drunk, leading to an accident that killed two people, including a U.S. Navy Officer.

A landmark drunken driving accountability trial wrapped up Tuesday, with a prosecutor urging jurors to convict a man for causing a fatal accident by letting his drunken friend get back behind the wheel.

The jury deliberated briefly in the afternoon, meeting for 40 minutes before going home for the night. Jury deliberations were to resume Wednesday morning.

Kenneth Powell, 40, of Pennsville, is charged with manslaughter, vehicular homicide and aggravated assault by auto in a July 22, 2000 crash that killed two people and injured a third. He faces 15 years in prison if convicted.

The wreck was caused by Michael Pangle, 37, of Woodstown, who had been charged with drunken driving three hours earlier.

Powell, his best friend, was summoned to a state police barracks to pick Pangle up after his arrest. Instead of driving him home, however, Powell took him back to the site of his roadside arrest, where his SUV had been left.

Pangle later crossed the center line on U.S. 40 and collided head-on with a car driven by U.S. Navy Ensign John R. Elliott, 22, of Egg Harbor Township. Both Elliott and Pangle were killed; Elliott's girlfriend, Kristen Hohenwarter, was critically injured.

Pangle, who had been drinking in go-go bars, blew .21 percent – twice the legal limit – on a blood alcohol test and had a .26 percent blood alcohol content at the time of his death, according to an autopsy.

Powell's attorneys say he can't be held responsible for the crash because he didn't own or operate the vehicle and because state police released Pangle and returned his car keys to him before giving the two directions to get back to it from the police station.

Experts say the prosecution of Powell is a potentially precedent-setting move that could open other third parties to prosecution for failing to stop drunks from driving.

"What you are about to decide will ring the bell across this nation on how the government should react to people who are DWI," said Powell defense attorney Christopher Manganello.

The case has already broken ground. As a result of Elliott's death, the state enacted a law that gives police the power to seize the vehicles of drunken drivers for up to 12 hours.

In a 70-minute closing argument to jurors Tuesday, Manganello said Powell was targeted because Pangle was dead and couldn't be held accountable.

"What it boils down to, ladies and gentlemen, is that the state wants their pound of flesh," Manganello said. "Two people are dead and Kristen Hohenwarter is seriously injured. Do we have any doubt who would be sitting in that defendant's chair if Michael Pangle were still here?"

Assistant Salem County Prosecutor Michael Ostrowski told jurors that Powell made a series of conscious decisions that led to the deaths of Pangle and Elliott.

Calling Pangle "a boisterous, obnoxious loudmouth with his stinking breath," he said any reasonable person would have known not to return him to his vehicle in that condition.

He compared Powell's actions to Russian roulette.

"Kenneth Powell put that bullet into the chamber, spun it, cocked the hammer and gave it to Michael Pangle, pointing him down the road," Ostrowski said.

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Author: 6 ABC-AP