Trial set for manslaughter suspect

SANDPOINT — A two-day jury trial is set in case a plea agreement cannot be reached in a vehicular manslaughter case pending against a Texas man.

Zachary Brandon Henager’s trial in Bonner County Magistrate Court is set to start on Nov. 7, but his defense counsel, Michael G. Palmer, did not rule out the possibility of an agreement, court records from a status conference on Friday show.

The charge against Henager arose from a chain-reaction crash on U.S. Highway 95 in Cocolalla in January 2012. James Mady, a 49-year-old truck driver from Creswell, Ore., was fatally injured.

Idaho State Police said Henager was southbound when he lost control of the Mazda coupe he was driving and crossed over into the northbound lane. Henager crashed head-on into a tractor trailer, which then slammed into a tractor-trailer that Mady was driving, state police said.

Henager, 24, of Moody, Texas, was seriously injured in the collision.

Henager is being charged at the misdemeanor level because intoxication or reckless driving were not factors in the collision, according to court documents. Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Roger Hanlon alleges in court documents that Henager was driving imprudently on the snow-covered highway, either by traveling too fast for conditions, driving inattentively or having dangerously worn tires.

Henager pleaded not guilty and is free on his own recognizance while the case is pending.

There have been repeated pretrial and status conferences in the case and two prior trial dates in Henager’s case have been vacated, according to the Idaho Supreme Court Data Repository. Henager’s trial date this fall is being given a priority setting, according to court documents.