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Motion Filed To Dismiss Case Against Berthoud Teen

Michelle Berra Charged In Crash That Cost 2 Classmates Their Legs

POSTED: 10:55 am MDT August 10, 2007

Attorneys for Michelle Berra said they filed file a motion to dismiss the case against her later Friday.

Stephen Peters and John Chanin said the decision in this case to charge Ms. Berra and not charge Mr. Carron was unjustified and arbitrary.

She faces two counts of careless driving causing injury in connection with a January crash that cost two classmates their legs.

Berthoud High School classmates Tyler Carron and Nikko Landeros were pinned between Berra's sport utility vehicle and the SUV they were working on and Berra was charged in connection with the crash.

Berra's attorneys said they would like the case against her dismissed because of selective prosecution, failure to preserve the crime scene, and continuing questions about the blood-alcohol content of Carron and Landeros that weren't answered by medical records provided.

The scene was "completely and forever altered" by the passage of time, wind, weather, traffic, the media and a snowplow.

They also submitted a request for discovery involving medical records.

Berra's attorneys said, "It almost appeared as though someone went through these thousands of pages of records and selectively removed all lab and blood test results because those records would reveal that both boys were impaired by alcohol on the night of January 15, "and went on to say that the medical records produced from McKee Medical Center, where Mr. Carron was transported before Denver Health Medical Center, showed a blood alcohol level of .133.

Likewise, Denver Health records for both boys contained a box marked "Yes" under the heading "ETOH", (the chemical abbreviation for alcohol).

The same attorneys filed a brief in May that alleged the actions of the two boys contributed to the crash.

According to Berra's attorneys, medical records showed that the two boys were intoxicated and passed a number of driveways where they could have safely pulled over to change a flat tire on the SUV they were in. Instead, they stopped in the road. The attorneys also said the two were blocking the emergency flashers on the car, causing Berra to not see them until the last second.

Berra's attorneys also raised questions about whether a relative of Carron's inappropriately interfered in the crash investigation. That relative, Thornton police Comander Lori Moriarty, is identified in State Patrol reports as Carron's aunt. She spent time at the scene during a state patrol re-enactment of the accident, videotaped it, spoke to witnesses and questioned the conclusions of a state trooper, according to a source familiar with the case who spoke to the Rocky Mountain News.


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