Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
When Ernie Zane Allen, 46, got behind the wheel of the car that killed 17-year-old John “Nick” Larsen last year, he did it with a “heightened awareness” of just how deadly drunken driving could be; but he drove anyway, according to prosecutor Ani Yardumian.
In a three-day trial ending Wednesday, Judge John A. McCormick found Allen guilty of first-degree manslaughter; driving under the influence of intoxicants, including alcohol and controlled substances; and driving while suspended. Allen waived a jury trial.
Allen was driving toward Sweet Home on Highway 228, near Valley View Road and milepost 19.5, when his car hit the shoulder then careened across the oncoming lane into a power pole.
“Seventeen-year-old Nick Larsen was seated in the front passenger seat of that vehicle, and he died within seconds or minutes of that crash,” Yardumian said.
Yardumian built a case that, with Allen’s history of drunken driving convictions and subsequent court-ordered treatment, the accused was well aware of the dangers of driving drunk.
“The things that led up to Aug. 8, 2005 date all the way back to 1993,” Yardumian said. Numerous events led up to just three weeks prior to the crash.
Allen was convicted of two 1993 drunken driving incidents in 1993 in Linn County Circuit Court and Lebanon. In both cases, he was ordered to complete substance abuse treatment programs, Yardumian said, and he completed them.
“Ten years later, in April of 2003, Mr. Allen, while driving a vehicle, was involved in a crash,” Yardumian said. “That crash caused damage to another person’s property and damage to his vehicle as well.”
He was convicted on a drunken driving charge in Sweet Home in September 2003 and ordered to attend a victims impact panel, a process where police officers, trauma nurses and victims of drunken driving crashes or their relatives share the impact of drunken driving with offenders.
Allen completed that requirement in January 2004, Yardumian said.
“One year later, and only a couple of weeks prior to Nick Larsen’s death, in June of 2005, the defendant was arrested once again for a charge of driving under the influence of intoxicants.”
He was advised his license was suspended, and he appeared in Linn County Circuit Court on the charge on July 13, approximately three weeks before the fatal August crash, Yardumian said. He said Allen was specifically told that he would be released only on the strict condition that he would not use or possess intoxicants, and he told authorities that he wouldn’t drive.
“Neverthless, Aug. 8, 2005 still happened,” Yardumian said. “Nevertheless, he got behind that wheel on Aug. 8, 2005.”
Witnesses testified that he was intoxicated before driving, Yardumian said. Approximately 10 minutes, about 7:30 p.m., before the wreck, one witness told him not to drive.
“Despite that very specific warning, Mr. Allen still got into that car and still drove,” Yardumian said. Inside the car, most of the impact was directed at Larsen. “Mr. Larsen was crushed by both Mr. Allen and that pole.”
An autopsy showed Larsen died from a fractured skull, Yardumian said.
After Allen arrived at the hospital, Yardumian said, his blood alcohol content was tested at .20. State police tested a blood sample at 10 p.m. and found a blood alcohol content of .15. At 2 a.m., Allen’s blood alcohol content was .06.
He tested positive in a blood test for methamphetamines, Yardumian said. That positive result showing up in a blood sample is consistent with recent usage.
Yardumian said that Allen had given one witness three different stories about what happened.
First, he told the witness that Larsen fell out of an open door, and the crash happened while they were rushing to the hospital, Yardumian told the court.
Second, he said something was wrong with the vehicle, causing the accident, Yardumian said.
Third, he claimed Larsen jerked the steering wheel, Yardumian said.
The state had evidence contrary to all three claims, Yardumian said.
Allen’s attorney, Paul H. Kuebrich, was brief in response to Yardumian’s opening argument.
“We don’t have a dispute as to the cause or mechanism of death,” Kuebrich said.
He said his case would would focus on the degree of Allen’s responsibility rather than disputing witnesses’ testimony.
Yardumian initially called members of law enforcement as witnesses, establishing Allen’s history of drunken driving and the results of conviction.
They described the various types of treatment that Allen had undergone, including treatment programs and the victims impact panel, and the level of education Allen had received in court-ordered programs.
During cross examination, Kuebrich noted to Bonnie Timberlake, a probation officer with the state parole and probation office, that when talking to people on supervised probation, often “you say something, and it goes in one ear and out the other.”
He asked Oregon State Police Sgt. Eric Judah if he had investigated hundreds of DUII cases. Judah told him he had investigated many. Judah provides presentations for the victims impact panel and is a board member.
“The vast majority of those do not involve fatal accidents?” Kuebrich asked.
Judah told him no.
Larsen’s mother, Patty Calvery, was present and testified. She was joined by Larsen’s friends and family, including Larsen’s girlfriend, Courtney Allen, the defendant’s daughter, who also testified.