Accused East Hanover drunken driver declines to testify

MORRISTOWN - A lawyer who is defending motorist Vanessa E. Brown against charges of recklessly killing Ralph Politi Jr. in East Hanover by driving drunk rested his case Tuesday after calling a police officer and an EMT who both testified that Brown did not act or appear intoxicated to them.

Brown, 35, of Parsippany, elected not to testify in her own defense.  The jury had heard that she previously was convicted of driving while intoxicated on the Garden State Parkway in Tinton Falls in 2009 and that in connection with the Politi death, her blood-alcohol content was measured at .133 percent, above the 0.08 percent at which a driver is considered legally intoxicated in New Jersey. The BAC was measured two and one-half hours after her crash into Politi on May 5, 2012.

Closing trial arguments in the heavily-challenged case are slated to start at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday before Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto in Morristown. The jury is composed of 11 women and two men and right before deliberations, one juror will be randomly selected to serve as an alternate.

Brown is charged with aggravated manslaughter, a first-degree crime punishable upon conviction by up to 30 years in prison, and with vehicular homicide, a second-degree crime punishable by up to 10 years. The chief difference between the two charges is the level of recklessness allegedly shown by the defendant, who is accused of running into Politi, 49.

Defense lawyer Edward Bilinkas had, in particular, been critical of East Hanover police Sgt. John "Jack" Ambrose, who was the only law enforcement officer who responded to the crash scene at 30 Ridgedale Avenue to say he smelled alcohol on Brown's breath and that she was off-balance, slurred her speech and had bloodshot eyes.  Ambrose acknowledged in his testimony that he was a friend of the victim and personally told the Politi family in 2012 that Brown had been charged with Ralph Politi's death.

Bilinkas called two brief witnesses on Tuesday: Tamara Eick, a Florham Park Rescue Squad member who responded to the crash on May 5, 2012, and East Hanover Police Officer Michael Rohllf, the first officer to interact with Brown at the scene.

Eick last week was a witness for Morris County Assistant Prosecutor John McNamara Jr., who elicited from Eick that she smelled alcohol on Brown's breath while riding with her in an ambulance to Morristown Medical Center. On Tuesday, Eick was a defense witness and she said that Brown did not display any characteristics of intoxication. She was not asked to repeat her assertion that she smelled alcohol on Brown's breath.

"You talked to her at the scene and in the ambulance. Did she have bloodshot eyes?" Bilinkas asked Eick. No, she responded, as she did to his questions on whether Brown had balance problems or slurred speech.

Bilinkas was not permitted by Judge Salem Vincent Ahto to directly ask Eick about a particular comment that Brown allegedly told her at the scene.  The judge said the comment was hearsay and could not go before the jury.  The disallowed comment is that Brown supposedly told Eick that she crashed as she was reaching to the passenger side floor of her Toyota Camry to retrieve her fallen cell phone.

Bilinkas also called Rohllf, the East Hanover officer, who testified he stood about two feet or so away from Brown in the parking lot of 30 Ridgedale Ave. and did not smell any alcohol. Rohllf also said he did not notice slurred speech nor problems with balance in dealing with Brown.

McNamara has contended and called witnesses to try to prove that Brown was displaying signs of intoxication a few hours before the 1:48 p.m. crash that was caught from various angles on surveillance video cameras maintained by businesses on Ridgedale Avenue. Her actions prior to the crash included doing a U-turn on a lawn on Troy Road in East Hanover and drawing attention to herself -- according to one state witness -- by standing against a wall during a First Holy Communion ceremony at St. Rose of Lima Church while others were sitting and kneeling.

A sensitive area of inquiry during the trial was the victim's position when he was struck, but jurors cannot consider that he in any way contributed to his own death. Politi, who was active in recreational softball and on the school board in East Hanover at the time of his death, was standing between the open driver's side door and the rear door of his Chevrolet pickup truck when Brown veered out of the southbound travel lane of Ridgedale Avenue and struck him.

Politi's truck was parked in a legitimate parking space that ran parallel to the shoulder of Ridgedale Avenue.  There was an estimated 12 inches of space between his truck and the curb of the road. A crash reconstruction expert was not able to specify whether Politi was standing in the wedge of parking lot space by his truck or in the shoulder of the road when he was hit.

Politi was conscious at the scene but died shortly afterwards of catastrophic injuries to his pelvis and legs, according to trial testimony.

   Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.