Truck driver not guilty in crash
Staff reporter
Michael Hardwick, 53, Lamesa, Texas, was found not guilty Sept. 27 in Marion County District Court. He had been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide.
The jury of three men and three women deliberated less than 90 minutes before coming back to court with the decision.
Hardwick was on trial as a result of a collision that occurred June 28, 2004, in a construction zone on U.S.-50.
Hardwick was the driver of a tractor-trailer which hit two vehicles stopped for road construction and resulted in the deaths of Cornelius Wall, 51, Leamington, Canada, and Cornillus Sawatzky, 65, Chihuahua, Mexico.
After the trial, jury foreman John Wiebe of Hillsboro said both the defense and the prosecution caused doubts in the minds of the jurors.
"In the end, there was reasonable doubt of guilt," Wiebe said.
Eighth Judicial Chief Judge Michael Powers had instructed the jury to find Hardwick not guilty if there was any reasonable doubt of his guilt.
"We're disappointed," said Marion County Attorney Susan Robson. She and assistant county attorney Keith Collett had prosecuted the case and spent the past two years preparing for the 2 1/2-day trial.
Robson said she and Collett had studied the highway patrol report and interviewed officers which led to charges being filed.
"I didn't feel comfortable in deciding whether he (Hardwick) should continue to drive," Robson said. "I wanted a jury of his peers to decide because this event affected the community. So I wanted the community to decide."
For Hardwick, a career truck driver, this decision brought tremendous relief because if he had been found guilty, he could have lost driving privileges and it would have been difficult for him to be insured.
The professional truck driver had driven more than a million miles and was traveling from Des Moines, Iowa, to Sedgwick that fateful day.
"I had never even seen an accident like this one before," Hardwick said, "nonetheless been involved in one."
He suffered minor injuries to his hand but didn't drive for two months following the accident because of the mental anguish. He now drives shorter distances from Texas and Louisiana.
Hardwick never took the witness stand throughout the trial but his attorney, Craig Shultz, contended that Wall was driving the Dodge pickup erratically and had passed Hardwick just before the collision. No witnesses testified to that account.
In closing argument, Collett said he wasn't sure if it was possible for the pickup to have passed Hardwick and another vehicle just before the collision because there wouldn't have been enough time.
Testimony from other drivers and flagman Theodore Carson did not include the pickup passing other vehicles prior to the collision.
From testimony during the trial, the Hardwick rig first hit the Dodge pickup truck driven by Wall, then a 2003 Ford Taurus driven by Craig M. Smith, 56, Olathe. The Taurus came to rest away from the roadway but the pickup returned to the road and slammed into the rear of a trailer.
The trailer and pickup caught fire, trapping the men inside the pickup. Efforts were made to save the men but the fire was too intense.
Vernon Fast, 53, Hutchinson, the driver of the tractor-trailer which was on fire, tried to dislodge the burning pickup from the trailer by moving the vehicle forward. When that was unsuccessful, Fast unhooked the tractor from the trailer and moved it away from the fire.
During the trial, the standards set by Kansas Department of Transportation and followed by Uretek USA, Inc. of Houston, Texas were questioned at length by the defense. Urektek USA was the prime contractor for the U.S.-50 road repairs in the summer of 2004.
It was pointed out by both sides of the table that each construction company does road construction signage differently. Some use stop lights and others use flagmen. Comparisons were made with other construction companies about the way traffic is diverted in work zones.
In this instance, traffic was not slowed down prior to the construction area. Signs did indicate road construction and the possibility of stopping on the roadway by a flagman.
Hardwick's tractor had the cruise control set on 64 mph prior to making contact with the stopped vehicles.
Following the trial, Schultz indicated that the "smoking gun" in this case was the testimony of Kip Ballinger, a Kansas Highway Patrol CHART member.
"Ballinger admitted he hadn't noticed some things during the investigation," Schultz said, and some calculations were not accurate.
The tractor-trailer's black box recorder indicated the vehicle was moved prior to the KHP investigation's completion but was not noted as such by investigators.
Schultz also indicated that some electronic evidence had been destroyed.
This collision was the second of three deadly crashes which involved tractor-trailers in construction zones on U.S.-50 in the summer of 2004.
The first crash occurred May 10, when J.B. Miser of Emporia failed to stop in a construction zone and hit a van driven by Brandi Billbe, 40, of Marion. Billbe and passenger Lori Leeders, 43, also of Marion, were killed. Billbe's daughter Ashley Billbe, 16, was critically injured.
Miser was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide in Marion County but just before the trial was to begin, it was determined the accident actually occurred in Harvey County.
Harvey County then filed charges of two counts of vehicular homicide, aggravated battery, reckless driving, and failure to comply with traffic regulations in a construction zone.
A preliminary hearing will be held at 1 p.m. Nov. 3 at Harvey County District Court.
The third accident occurred June 29 when five people died as a result of tractor-trailer driver failing to stop in a construction zone.
In that crash, Richard Duncan Jr. of Granite City, Ill., was charged with five counts of vehicular homicide. He has been extradited to Marion County jail and is awaiting trial.
For Hardwick, a career truck driver, this decision brought tremendous relief because if he had been found guilty, he could have lost driving privileges and it would have been difficult for him to be insured.
The professional truck driver had driven more than a million miles and was traveling from Des Moines, Iowa, to Sedgwick that fateful day.
"I had never even seen an accident like this one before," Hardwick said, "nonetheless been involved in one."
He suffered minor injuries to his hand but didn't drive for two months following the accident because of the mental anguish. He now drives shorter distances from Texas and Louisiana.
Hardwick never took the witness stand throughout the trial but his attorney, Craig Shultz, contended that Wall was driving the Dodge pickup erratically and had passed Hardwick just before the collision. No witnesses testified to that account.
In closing argument, Collett said he wasn't sure if it was possible for the pickup to have passed Hardwick and another vehicle just before the collision because there wouldn't have been enough time.
Testimony from other drivers and flagman Theodore Carson did not include the pickup passing other vehicles prior to the collision.
From testimony during the trial, the Hardwick rig first hit the Dodge pickup truck driven by Wall, then a 2003 Ford Taurus driven by Craig M. Smith, 56, Olathe. The Taurus came to rest away from the roadway but the pickup returned to the road and slammed into the rear of a trailer.
The trailer and pickup caught fire, trapping the men inside the pickup. Efforts were made to save the men but the fire was too intense.
Vernon Fast, 53, Hutchinson, the driver of the tractor-trailer which was on fire, tried to dislodge the burning pickup from the trailer by moving the vehicle forward. When that was unsuccessful, Fast unhooked the tractor from the trailer and moved it away from the fire.
During the trial, the standards set by Kansas Department of Transportation and followed by Uretek USA, Inc. of Houston, Texas were questioned at length by the defense. Urektek USA was the prime contractor for the U.S.-50 road repairs in the summer of 2004.
It was pointed out by both sides of the table that each construction company does road construction signage differently. Some use stop lights and others use flagmen. Comparisons were made with other construction companies about the way traffic is diverted in work zones.
In this instance, traffic was not slowed down prior to the construction area. Signs did indicate road construction and the possibility of stopping on the roadway by a flagman.
Hardwick's tractor had the cruise control set on 64 mph prior to making contact with the stopped vehicles.
Following the trial, Schultz indicated that the "smoking gun" in this case was the testimony of Kip Ballinger, a Kansas Highway Patrol CHART member.
"Ballinger admitted he hadn't noticed some things during the investigation," Schultz said, and some calculations were not accurate.
The tractor-trailer's black box recorder indicated the vehicle was moved prior to the KHP investigation's completion but was not noted as such by investigators.
Schultz also indicated that some electronic evidence had been destroyed.
This collision was the second of three deadly crashes which involved tractor-trailers in construction zones on U.S.-50 in the summer of 2004.
The first crash occurred May 10, when J.B. Miser of Emporia failed to stop in a construction zone and hit a van driven by Brandi Billbe, 40, of Marion. Billbe and passenger Lori Leeders, 43, also of Marion, were killed. Billbe's daughter Ashley Billbe, 16, was critically injured.
Miser was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide in Marion County but just before the trial was to begin, it was determined the accident actually occurred in Harvey County.
Harvey County then filed charges of two counts of vehicular homicide, aggravated battery, reckless driving, and failure to comply with traffic regulations in a construction zone.
A preliminary hearing will be held at 1 p.m. Nov. 3 at Harvey County District Court.
The third accident occurred June 29 when five people died as a result of tractor-trailer driver failing to stop in a construction zone.
In that crash, Richard Duncan Jr. of Granite City, Ill., was charged with five counts of vehicular homicide. He has been extradited to Marion County jail and is awaiting trial.
