BY SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON -- A Clarksville man was acquitted of vehicular homicide charges Friday after prosecutors failed to prove he drove the car in an accident that killed a passenger in his car.
Michael Richardson was acquitted of one count of aggravated vehicular homicide and one count of aggravated vehicular assault following a two-day jury trial before Warren County Common Pleas Judge Neal B. Bronson.
The charges stem from a fatal car crash in January in Harlan Township that killed Lee Latham, 38, of Blanchester, and injured Michael Kellum of Wilmington.
Mr. Richardson, 34 at the time of the crash, had just left a bar with the two men in his wife's 1993 Pontiac Acclaim when the car went through a stop sign on Morrow-Woodville Road. The car was then struck by a 1983 Pontiac Bonneville going west on Ohio 133.
The Acclaim flipped at least once and landed on its hood. The defense argued that because the men were not wearing their seat belts, they could have been tossed around at the time of impact. "The issue in the case came down to who was driving in the car," defense attorney Donald Oda said.
Mr. Richardson and Mr. Kellum, who suffered head injuries, say they were so drunk they can not remember who was driving.
No one actually witnessed Mr. Richardson driving the Acclaim. But a passerby who was the first on the scene after the accident said it looked as if Mr. Richardson was in the driver's seat with Mr. Latham in the front passenger seat and Mr. Kellum in the back.
Also, Mr. Latham suffered blunt trauma and injuries to the right side of his body, suggesting he was on the passenger's side of the car, said assistant prosecutor James Beaton.
But Mr. Oda said Mr. Latham also suffered chest injuries that suggested he was smashed by the steering wheel. Notes from emergency personnel calling Mr. Kellum the driver were entered into testimony. "I just don't know if anybody knew what happened," Mr. Oda said.
