Shantel Witt manslaughter case goes to the judge

After a week of often emotional testimony, the manslaughter and DUII trial of Shantel Witt in the Dec. 30, 2017, crash that killed cyclist Marika Stone east of Bend concluded Wednesday with closing arguments before a packed courtroom.

Deschutes County Circuit Judge Michael Adler heard the case after Witt waived her right to a jury trial early last week. He said he will issue a verdict Friday morning.

Defense attorneys are not seeking an acquittal of Witt, only asking that she be convicted of second-degree manslaughter, and thus a lighter sentence, not the charge of first-degree manslaughter, defined as exhibiting “extreme indifference to human life.”

With the courtroom packed and standing room only, Deputy District Attorney Kari Hathorn called the fatal crash a crime that should never have occurred, as the pickup driven by Witt crossed the center line of Dodds Road on a curve and struck the third of three cyclists riding single-file.

A urine sample found 11 substances in her system, five she had prescriptions for, to treat lower back pain, anxiety and depression, and four she did not — one, Xanax, that was actually prescribed to her dog and not to her.

During several witnesses’ testimony, including the other two cyclists and residents who rushed to the crash scene, Hathorn said Witt complained after the crash that “f*****g cyclists are always in the road” and acted “inconvenienced … only concerned with what was going to happen to her.” Several witnesses thought she was drunk, as opposed to drugged, the prosecutor said.

While Witt denied being affected by the drugs, Hathorn said law enforcement noted her slurred speech and that at one point she said “I don’t think I hit a person,” also falling against her truck, staggering and at one point stopping her walking to stare at a crow.

The prosecutor said Witt should be convicted of all six counts against her, noting Witt’s prior DUII-alcohol conviction and attendance at a victims’ impact panel, as well as the “cocktail of medications” she was on, after being warned by doctors not to combine medication. An audio recording of Witt sitting in the back of a patrol car was played again.

Defense attorney Bryan Donahue told Adler he did not intend to diminish the “traumatic” impact on the other two riders, but noted that Witt’s speed, above 60 mph, was “down to 50 mph a second before the accident.”

He disputed prosecutors’ claim that Witt did not try to render aid, saying “she did offer to bring a blanket” to the crash scene.

“It’s a horrible tragedy, but not as sinister as the state is saying,” Donahute said. He acknowledged that her statement about “f*****g cyclists was inappropriate, but she was in shock,” as some witnesses testified.

“As cold as it sounds,” he said, the case is “not about the details of what the death was or how gruesome it was. … This is about the conduct of Witt, before, during and after” the crash.

The attorney noted that Witt had been “driving around for hours before” the crash, but authorities received no calls of reports of her driving being impaired.

As for a doctor’s testimony of what he told Witt the previous month — about how the combination of prescription drugs could even be fatal — Donahue said she had been on many of the medications “for a long time” and was surprised to be told they could be harmful when mixed together, “because she had never been told that before.”

Donahue said Witt was not driving erratically or swerving, but that the crash resulted from “a gradual drift with a very gradual arc.” And he said the pickup was not accelerating when the crash occurred: “She’s not rampaging towards these people. She’s starting to brake as she gets closer.”

Afterward, he said, Witt backed her truck up to the crash site and didn’t leave or try to leave the scene.

The comment about cyclists was “inexcusable,” Donahue said, but “she’s trying to process that she killed someone.”

During the sobriety test, Donahue claimed that Witt was “trying to do too many things at once with everything going on around behind her. … She’s got back pain, hence the medication, so it’s going to be difficult for her to do the test. She’s distracted.”

The defense attorney said Witt can be heard crying on the deputy’s recording. When told Stone was dead, she asked, “I’m a murderer?”

“What happened is awful and a tragedy,” he said. “This was reckless, but not ‘extreme indifference.’ The defense is asking to give Witt a chance to own up to her actions. No one is saying she should take responsibility.”

Deputy District Attorney Andrew Steiner offered rebuttal of the defense lawyer’s statements before Adler concluded the trial and set Friday’s announcement of a verdict.