Trial ordered in deadly crash case
SANDPOINT - A Washington state man accused of causing a head-on crash which killed one woman and seriously injured another was ordered Wednesday to stand trial in 1st District Court.
Judge Justin Julian found there was sufficient cause to try William David Deardorff based solely on the testimony of three Idaho State Police troopers and the results of a blood draw which indicated Deardorff was legally drunk at the time of the Dec. 3, 2008, crash on U.S. Highway 95 in Careywood.
Neither Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Roger Hanlon nor Chief Deputy Public Defender Janet Whitney offered any argument after the testimony concluded. Deardorff did not testify at the preliminary hearing.
Deardorff, 53, of Spokane, Wash., was charged with felony vehicular manslaughter and aggravated drunken driving after his pickup truck allegedly drifted into oncoming traffic and plowed head-on into a Jeep Cherokee containing three people.
Kimberlee R. Dingman, 44, of Sandpoint, died from injuries she received in the collision. Crystal Bertolucci, 31, also of Sandpoint, suffered severe injuries. Dingman was a front-seat passenger and Bertolucci was the driving the Jeep sport utility vehicle.
Bertolucci's 1-year-old daughter was strapped into a child safety seat and was not seriously injured, according to ISP.
Passersby rescued the occupants of the SUV, which had burst into flames after the crash. An injured Deardorff was pinned in the cab of his truck and also had to be rescued.
"It was a very violent crash," said Trooper Jeff Jayne.
Jayne testified that Dingman was responsive and able to answer a few questions before she appeared to trail off into unconsciousness. Bertolucci had traumatic facial injuries and was in agony, Jayne told the court.
Jayne said he smelled the odor of alcohol in the cab of Deardorff's truck and noted the presence of a couple beer bottles. Trooper Chris Donahue testified that he smelled alcohol on Deardorff's breath when he went to Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d'Alene to obtain a blood sample.
The only exhibit entered into evidence on Wednesday was a ISP forensic lab report which detected 0.12 grams of ethyl alcohol per 100 cubic centimeters of Deardorff's blood. The legal limit is 0.08.
Trooper Kevin Bennett, the lead investigator in the crash, testified that Bertolucci was headed northbound and Deardorff was southbound when their vehicles collided on a level bend in the road. He said some of the most telling physical evidence at the scene was a series gouge marks left in the roadway from the vehicles' undercarriages.
"They were all in the northbound lane of travel," he said.
Julian found there was sufficient evidence to bind Deardorff over to stand trial and set an arraignment date for next month. The defense planned to move to reduce Deardorff's $500,000 bail, but Julian suggested having the matter taken up in district court.
"Based on the evidence I just heard, I would not be reducing bond," Julian said.