Amie L. Wiscount, whom prosecutors had said caused a man’s death in July 2013 in a Wayne Township crash, left Schuylkill County Court a free woman on Wednesday after all but two minor charges against her were dismissed.
President Judge William E. Baldwin dismissed charges of involuntary manslaughter and recklessly endangering another person, deciding prosecutors had not presented enough evidence to support them.
Prosecutors needed to show Wiscount, 33, of Pine Grove, had acted recklessly or with gross negligence in causing the death of Daniel E. Wenrich, and they did neither, Baldwin ruled.
“I can’t let these go to a jury,” he said in granting the request by Assistant Public Defender Christopher M. Riedlinger, Wiscount’s lawyer, to dismiss the charges. “You haven’t shown me that she consciously disregarded a risk.”
Baldwin did find Wiscount guilty of careless driving and failure to drive on roadways laned for traffic, and sentenced her to pay costs and $525 in fines.
State police at Schuylkill Haven had alleged Wiscount recklessly caused a one-vehicle accident about 10 p.m. July 26, 2013, on Route 443 in Wayne Township. Wenrich, 40, of Pine Grove, died as a result of the accident, police said.
Police said Wiscount was driving west on Route 443 when she lost control of her blue Jeep Liberty. The Jeep left the road, struck a tree, spun clockwise and hit a utility pole, police said.
“There were no adverse conditions,” state police Trooper Vincent A. Laselva Jr., the prosecuting officer, testified.
Laselva said he saw no skid marks anywhere on the road, which is straight and flat at the site of the crash.
“There was significant damage to the front passenger side,” he said. “There were rescue personnel attempting to extricate Mr. Wenrich.”
Laselva said it took approximately 15 minutes to get Wenrich out of the Jeep.
Wiscount told him she was headed to Pine Grove when she tried to avoid a deer and lost control of the Jeep, according to Laselva.
Trooper John P. Minalda, an accident reconstructionist, also testified he saw no skid marks at the scene and no indication that Wiscount had tried to stop.
“I saw a tree that had been impacted by the Jeep,” he said.
However, Minalda said he could not calculate the speed Wiscount was driving because of the way the Jeep had hit the tree.
Although a blood alcohol test showed Wiscount had amphetamine, methamphetamine and benzoylecgonine in her system, Judge John E. Domalakes had refused to allow the test into evidence. At the request of Riedlinger, Domalakes ruled on Nov. 10, 2014, that police had no reasonable grounds to believe that Wiscount was under the influence of either alcohol or drugs. Prosecutors did not appeal that ruling, in which Domalakes also dismissed charges of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and DUI.
Riedlinger and Assistant District Attorney Jonathan P. Phillips each declined to comment on the case after Baldwin’s decision.