NEWS

Driver cleared in Parsippany fatal loses license

Peggy Wright
@PeggyWrightDR

A driver who was acquitted of recklessly causing the death of a pedestrian on Route 10 in Parsippany in 2012 was found guilty Tuesday by a judge of the motor vehicle offense of driving while intoxicated at the time of the crash.

Fabio Aristizabal, left, with defense lawyer Walter Laufenberg, after Aristizabal's acquittal in Superior Court, Morristown, on a vehicular homicide charge.

A Morris County jury on Monday found Fabio Aristizabal, 61, of Dover not guilty of  vehicular homicide in the Dec. 22, 2012 death of Richard Oberst, 64, of Parsippany.  Oberst, who had been released a day earlier from a psychiatric facility, was struck as he walked along Route 10 by the Pelican ski shop around  2 a.m. The jury was not told about Oberst's personal background.

Aristizabal had to appear Tuesday in Morristown before the trial judge, state Superior Court Judge William McGovern, to dispose of a motor vehicle ticket that charged drunken driving.

After a lengthy analysis of case law, McGovern found Aristizabal guilty of driving while intoxicated and suspended his driver's license for three months, ordered him to complete 12 hours at an Intoxicated-driver resource center and imposed $614 in fines and penalties.

At the criminal trial, jurors heard that blood drawn from Aristizabal about two hours and 20 minutes after the crash showed a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.073 percent, or less than the 0.08 percent level at which a driver is considered legally intoxicated in New Jersey.  However,  Assistant Morris County Prosecutor Peter Foy elicited testimony from a scientist who, through extrapolation calculations, determined that Aristizabal's BAC was between 0.09 percent and 0.14 percent at the time of the crash.

Aside from testimony about the BAC, none of the police officers who responded to the accident suspected Aristizabal was intoxicated, according to trial testimony.

Defense lawyer Walter Laufenberg on Tuesday argued to the judge that a 1987 state Supreme Court case precluded him from using a BAC based upon extrapolation in deciding a motor vehicle summons.  He argued that the judge had to accept the 0.07 percent BAC, which is below the legal limit.

McGovern, however, reviewed the Supreme Court decision and said it dealt only with extrapolation of a BAC based upon a Breathalyzer reading, not on a blood draw. The judge found he could consider the extrapolation testimony from the trial to decide the DWI and noted that the law on DWI speaks generally of a person being guilty of driving while intoxicated if he or she operates a vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor.

"I conclude the state has met its burden, proven beyond a reasonable doubt" that Aristizabal was driving while intoxicated at the time of the crash, the judge said.

Aristizabal had faced up to 10 years in prison if he were found guilty of the vehicular homicide charge.

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