Newport
Stephen Benanti, a retired Massachusetts state trooper who specializes in accident reconstruction, testified on the second day of Kristin Lake’s Superior Court trial that the “gouge” marks left in the pavement in Lake’s travel lane, the damage to the two vehicles and the lack of skid-type marks on the roadway suggest the crash didn’t happen the way prosecutors said.
Police alleged that Lake was drunk and drowsy when she crossed over into the southbound lane on the night of Sept. 22, 2017, and collided with Michelle Fenimore’s vehicle, killing Fenimore and her 18-year-old passenger, Nicholas Carpenter.
Lake has pleaded not guilty to two counts of negligent homicide — DUI.
At the time of the crash, Lake was driving a 2006 Hyundai Sonata and Fenimore was operating a 2001 Volvo S80, both sedans that weigh similar amounts. They both were traveling approximately 40 mph.
Benanti told the jury of 11 women and four men that the “gouge” marks — indentations made in the pavement by the vehicles when they collided — show the impact occurred in Lake’s northbound travel lane. He said he saw no marks in the southbound lane, adding that the majority of the debris from the crash, including glass and fluids, also was in the northbound lane.
“The gouge marks, the fluid, the glass, debris … everything indicates the northbound lane,” he said in response to direct questioning from Lake’s lead attorney, James Valente.
The gouge marks would have been created within milliseconds of the cars colliding, Benanti said.
In addition, the damage to both vehicles, which was across the front of both sedans but more pronounced on Lake’s driver’s side and Fenimore’s passenger side, is not consistent with Fenimore and Lake both swerving at the last minute, something Lake told police she believed happened, Benanti said. If that had happened, the “damage profile” on the vehicles would have been different, he maintained.
Benanti said that only one driver crossed the centerline, and that was Fenimore. He said that Fenimore was found with a cellphone in her hand.
Benanti also took issue with what he said were flaws in the accident-reconstruction animation that was put together by state police.
On cross-examination, Sullivan County Attorney Marc Hathaway, the lead prosecutor in the case, challenged Benanti, saying he left out crucial details, including statements Lake made to police, when coming to his conclusion of what happened.
After the crash, Lake told police she fell asleep at the wheel and that when she woke up, she was on the wrong side of the road. She tried to swerve back, but couldn’t do so in time to avoid the crash, according to a report written by the case’s lead investigator, state police Trooper Michael McLaughlin, and read aloud in court on Tuesday.
“Are you suggesting that there is no way that the Lake vehicle could have been going north in the southbound lane?” Hathaway asked Benanti at one point on Tuesday.
“Yes, I don’t believe that to be the case,” Benanti replied. “ … The impact location and the damage to the vehicles indicate (Lake) was traveling straight in the northbound lane when (she) was struck by the Fenimore vehicle.”
Lake’s statement about where she was in the roadway that night “has to be incorrect,” Benanti said, offering a theory that maybe Lake thought she was in the wrong lane because she saw Fenimore’s headlights coming at her, but perhaps Fenimore already was in Lake’s lane.
Benanti said he didn’t factor those statements Lake made to police, nor that police say Lake had a blood alcohol content of .114 after the crash, into his analysis because he “didn’t think they were critical.”
“It didn’t cause the accident,” he said of Lake’s alleged impairment.
The prosecution has yet to rest its case, but Benanti — who is a defense witness — took the stand out of order because of a scheduling problem, prosecutors said.
The state continued with its witnesses on Tuesday afternoon, putting New Hampshire State Police Trooper Dan Quartulli on the stand.
Quartulli, who is a member of the state police’s Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Unit, arrested Lake in the hospital after the crash and performed sobriety tests on her. He concluded that she “showed signs of impairment,” he told jurors.
Quartulli’s testimony will resume this morning in the Newport courthouse. Also this morning, jurors will head to the scene where the crash took place for a site visit.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.