Witness testifies he had to pull over for Russell in trial for WSU students’ crash deaths
KELSO - Frederick Russell’s defense lawyer tried Thursday to shake a key witness’s account of the moments leading up to a 2001 Eastern Washington car crash that killed three Washington State University students.
The witness, Robert Hart, told jurors in Russell’s vehicular homicide trial that he pulled over to let Russell pass just seconds before the fatal collision occurred on June 4, 2001.
Defense attorney Francisco Duarte suggested that Hart immediately veered back onto the road after pulling over to let Russell pass - a suggestion Hart quickly denied.
Hart testified he was commuting to his graveyard shift job in Moscow, Idaho, when he noticed a large vehicle speeding at about 90 mph and driving erratically behind him. The vehicle came within 10 feet of Hart’s compact Subaru Brat and flashed its high beams, prompting Hart to pull onto the gravel shoulder.
Hart said he saw what he later learned was Russell’s Blazer zigzag between the center line and the opposite shoulder of the two-lane highway, sideswipe an oncoming car near the crest of a hill and smash into a second car. “Glass, shards and metal pieces just flew everywhere,” he said.
Duarte asked Hart about alleged inconsistencies between a police statement Hart made six years ago and what he told lawyers in an interview last week. The lawyer grilled him about exactly when he noticed Russell’s vehicle and why, if Russell was just 10 feet behind him, it took so long - perhaps seven seconds - for Russell to pass.
“I’m not a good judge of distance,” Hart said. “I’m trying to answer your question.”
Russell, 28, is on trial on both vehicular homicide and vehicular assault charges. He’s accused of being drunk, speeding and trying to pass in a no-passing zone when his vehicle slammed head-on into another car on Highway 270, the highway between the two college towns of Pullman, Wash., and Moscow.
Killed were Brandon Clements, 22, of Wapato, a WSU senior; and fellow WSU students Stacy Morrow, 21, of Milton, and Ryan Sorensen, 21, of Westport. Three others were badly injured.
Duarte noted that Hart left the collision scene without providing his contact information and waited as long as two hours to let police know he was a witness.
The lawyer also asserted that Hart left out critical details in the first statement he made to police.
“My mind was spinning, and I described the scene as best I could,” Hart replied. “I was not asked any specific questions about what happened before the collision.”
Jurors have been told that Russell’s medical blood test taken the night of the crash showed a blood-alcohol level of .128. The legal intoxication threshold in Washington is .08.
Russell fled to Ireland following his arrest and release in 2001. He was found in 2005 and later extradited to the United States.
The trial was moved to Cowlitz County from Whitman County because of extensive news coverage.