Sean C. Morgan
A jury found Bobby Ray Hancock of Sweet Home not guilty of first-degree manslaughter and tampering with physical evidence last week in Linn County Circuit Court.
Jurors found Hancock guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol.
The charges stemmed from a fatal motorcycle accident in the early a.m. hours on Foster Dam Road on Sept. 24, 2011, on the Foster Dam Road in Sweet Home, resulting in the death of Victoria Sophia Richards, 40, and serious injuries to Hancock, who was flown by air ambulance to Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis.
First-degree manslaughter is a Measure 11 charge that would have resulted in a minimum of seven years, six months in prison if he were convicted.
Hancock was represented by Mike Arnold and Lissa Landau of Arnold Law in Eugene. The state was represented by Michael Wynhausen. Thomas McHill presided over the trial.
“Bobby Hancock loved Vikki Richards and has deep regret for this tragic night,” Arnold said in a statement released on behalf of Hancock. “He is upset over how the family of Ms. Richards was misled these past two years by the prosecutor and police. He is now considering lawsuits against Wynhausen and the Sweet Home Police Department.”
Sweet Home Police Chief Jeff Lynn noted that each side presents a case, and the jury decides.
“We are disappointed with the verdict and we disagree with it, but we respect the process,” he said.
“The defense is there to create that shadow of a doubt, and they were obviously successful at that.We will move forward. The district attorney presented the case, and that’s what the jury of peers determined. They were just able to create that shadow.”
Arnold said that during the 10-day trial, which ended Aug. 23, 20 witnesses were called, Arnold said. Testimony focused on who was operating the motorcycle at the time of the fatal motorcycle accident.
The state claimed in its opening statement that Richards had no interest in operating motorcycles, but cross-examination of the state’s witnesses indicated that Richards had actually expressed interest in owning her own bike and learning to ride. Other witnesses later testified that the bike was purchased by Hancock for Richards as an “engagement ring.”
Lynn said other witnesses at the trial – friends and family members of the victim, testified that she had
“no desire to ride a motorcycle.”
He said witnesses inidicated to police that Hancock was operating the motorcycle as he and Richards left the Waterhole.
“We believed evidence had supported that he was the operator of the motorcycle,” Lynn said.
Arnold recounted Sweet Home Police Department video that, he said, showed a vacant roadway with a motorcycle leaning against the east guardrail, pointing to the north, but a debris field spreading to the south towards a pool of blood. The video showed an officer calling out into the darkness after hearing moaning sounds coming from the dry west side of the dam.
Officers pointed flashlights down the steep and rocky hill and saw a body. They rushed down the hill to render aid and discovered the body of Richards on top of Hancock. Hancock is heard on the video moaning the words, “Help her. Help her.”
The video, shot by a lapel camera worn by former Sweet Home Officer Justin McCubbins, showed CPR being administered to Richards, who was later pronounced dead at the scene, Arnold said. Throughout the video, Hancock is heard saying that she just wanted to ride and statements that she was driving when the accident occurred.
However, Arnold said, an officer is heard later in the video “erroneously” telling other first responders that Hancock admitted to driving.
Linn said Hancock initially indicated he was operator, “then later backed down on that” in interviews with investigators.
“The evidence at the scene, we believe, pointed to Hancock as the actual operator at the time of the crash,” he said.
Other testimony indicated that Hancock had suffered a head injury, face fractures, and had the lower part of his face split open from his lip to his chin, exposing his teeth and gums. He underwent emergency surgery later that morning at the hospital.
Another video of Hancock at the hospital showed him explaining to an officer that after Hancock and Richards had lost track of friends, they stopped on the north side of the dam, Arnold said. At that point, Richards said she wanted to operate the motorcycle.
Hancock said he gave in to her persistence and switched places for the short ride back home, and crossing the dam, she accidentally engaged the cruise control on the Harley Davidson Soft Tail, and then the accident occurred.
A post-mortem blood draw of Richards showed her blood alcohol content at .21 percent, over two-and-a-half times the legal limit, Arnold said.
Hancock was launched from the motorcycle, which was moving at about 49 mph, and landed on his face, Arnold said. Injured and bleeding, he picked up the bike and leaned it against the guardrail. He saw Richards and then checked her vitals.
He didn’t know what to do, Arnold said. He had no cell phone. He just knew he had a friend who lived on the lower dam road. He didn’t know where he was along the roadway, and he took Richards over the guardrail and down the steep, rocky embankment.
While trying to get her to his friend’s house, he collapsed and laid Richards on the rocks, Arnold said, describing Hancock’s effort to save his fiancé.
Multiple days of testimony focused on mistakes by the Sweet Home Police Department collecting, processing and keeping track of evidence, Arnold said. “Cross-examination of the Sweet Home evidence custodian and other officers clearly showed that evidence was mishandled, mislabeled and possibly confused with evidence from another case.”
Lynn denied that. “That’s inaccurate,” he said. “We followed all of our policies and procedures in evidence handling and processing.”
He emphasized that Sweet Home police called in the Major Accident Investigation Team “that all agencies use” to investigate the scene. MAIT is composed of members of several area agencies, including Linn County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon State Police and Albany Police Department.
Arnold said the state’s accident reconstruction expert testified that he had only done three previous accident reconstructions, and this case was his first involving a motorcycle, while Hancock’s expert had conducted more than 300, including more than 30 involving motorcycles.
The defense’s expert testified that the accident described by the state, with Hancock operating the motorcycle, defied the laws of physics, Arnold said, and he provided a computer animation supporting his opinion that Richards was operating the motorcycle.
Lynn said police utilized the Major Accident Investigation Team “that all agencies use.” It is composed of members of several area agencies, including Linn County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon State Police and Albany Police Department.
The jury deliberated for 45-minutes and returned with a verdict, Arnold said.
Hancock’s next appearance in Circuit Court will be Sept. 16.
Arnold requested that a DUII diversion petition request be set for a hearing. He had been ineligible due to the manslaughter charge, Arnold said.
Hancock still faces a contempt of court charge and a charge of tampering with a witness.
Bail for the tampering charge was refunded when the judge found insufficient evidence to support it, Arnold said, but somehow the felony charge survived.
He said late last week he didn’t want to specu about what will happen with those charges. The Sept. 16 court appearance is to figure out what happens next, and he said he may seek a settlement conference to “put this terrible saga to rest.”