Manslaughter verdict in crash

2012-08-22T09:10:00Z 2012-08-22T13:28:57Z Manslaughter verdict in crashERIC BETZ Sun Staff Reporter azdailysun.com

Roberto Salamanca, a 20-year-old undocumented immigrant raised in Flagstaff, was found guilty of murder Tuesday in the drunk driving collision that killed 20-year-old Kyle Wible last summer.

Prosecutors had charged the defendant with the more serious crime of second-degree murder. The verdict, which carries a presumptive sentence of at least five fewer years than second-degree murder, brought immediate tears to Wible's family and supporters.

Sentencing is set for Sept. 20. After serving his sentence, Salamanca likely will be deported.

Salamanca was drunk and driving without a valid license at 80 mph last August when he attempted to pass two cars on East Route 66 near downtown and lost control. Salamanca's GMC Yukon collided head-on with Wible's Nissan Sentra, crushing the smaller car in front of a local mortuary.

Wible was the oldest of 11 brothers and sisters and his father is a retired Coconino County Sheriff's Office deputy.

"At the heart of this case is a great loss suffered by the Wible family, but also by the community," Deputy Coconino County Attorney Jonathan Mosher said in a statement after the verdict. "Kyle Wible was a fine young man and the innocent victim of (the) defendant's horrific recklessness."

EXTREME INDIFFERENCE

Prosecutors had claimed that Salamanca's conduct showed an extreme indifference to human life and that his behavior created a grave risk of death that ultimately killed Wible.

A juror, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Daily Sun that they couldn't reach a consensus on a second-degree murder conviction.

"It was difficult," the man said. "We struggled with the second-degree murder order and after a lot of discussion we went with murder."

A not-guilty verdict on second-degree murder charges means that no murders were reported in the city of Flagstaff in 2011.

Salamanca's defense attorney, Jon Martinez, did not argue during the trial that his client was innocent, but instead contended he was not a murderer.

Martinez said the state hadn't proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Salamanca showed an extreme indifference for human life.

"If you don't care whether or not you kill someone, you don't try and correct your steering. You don't slam on the brakes," Martinez said. He added that his client was remorseful, despite fleeing the scene, based on an officer describing Salamanca as scared, cooperative and apologetic.

CLOSING ARGUMENTS

Deputy Coconino County Attorney Jonathan Mosher told jurors in closing arguments Tuesday morning that the proof for second-degree murder in this case was not only beyond a reasonable doubt, but beyond a shadow of a doubt. He focused on angry text messages the defendant sent to his girlfriend in the moments before the collision as well as the large amounts of alcohol he drank that night

"Isn't he the type of driver that would send shivers up the spine of anyone sharing the road with him?" Mosher said. The defendant has multiple prior speeding tickets out of Flagstaff courts, as well as citations for failing to stop at a stop sign and driving without insurance, according to the Arizona Supreme Court website. He did not have a driver's license at the time and has five citations dating back to when he was 15 years old for driving without a valid license.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a detainer on Salamanca because he could not provide authorities with evidence that he is in the country legally.

FRIENDS TESTIFY

Salamanca's friends testified last week that they had spent that Friday night drinking a bottle of Jagermeister and wine coolers. After drinking, Salamanca drove several friends to the bowling alley where they continued to drink and then the defendant drove them back to a friend's house. Toward the end of the night, Salamanca got into an argument with his girlfriend via text message and left. His friends said they tried to talk him out of driving.

Phone records show that Salamanca was still fighting with his girlfriend as he drove down Route 66. The last two messages were sent within one minute of the 911 call where a witness reported the crash.

"I hope you die," read one message. "(Expletive) you, stupid (expletive)," another read in broken text language.

"He was texting and driving drunk and angry and that's a critical piece of evidence in this case," Mosher said. "It's not just the 'Fast and the Furious,'" Mosher said, referring to a movie comparison one witness made in their testimony. "It's the 'Fast and the Furious' and drunk."

LESSER CHARGE

Martinez had asked the jury to find Salamanca guilty of the lesser charge of negligent homicide, instead of murder or murder.

"Indifference means not caring one way or another," Martinez told the jurors. He argued that his client had started braking hundreds of feet before the collision, ultimately slowing from 81 mph 5 seconds before the collision, to 41 mph at the time of impact.

Mosher slammed the defense attorney's argument in his rebuttal, saying that Martinez was attempting to substitute his own words for Arizona law. He argued that if someone was speeding through a school zone and braked right before killing a child, the act of braking would not have absolved them of their reckless driving.

Ultimately, the jurors did not completely agree with either lawyer. The murder conviction by itself would bring a sentence of 7 to 21 years in prison, with a presumptive sentence of 10.5 years. Salamanca was also found guilty of DUI, extreme DUI, fleeing the scene of an injury or fatality accident, being under 21 and having alcohol in his system and criminal damage. Prosecutors are now seeking aggravated, or lengthened, sentencing on three of the counts, contending that the offenses brought emotional harm to the victim's family.

"All we can hope is that the jury's verdict, and the sentence the court will impose, moves our community forward in the continued battle against drunken driving," Mosher said.

A man who identified himself as Salamanca's father declined to comment for this story.

Eric Betz can be reached at 556-2250 or ebetz@azdailysun.com.

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