Adam Gaillard Hit and Run
03/25/08
A man accused of killing two women as they walked along the Blue Heron Bridge in Riviera Beach pleaded guilty Monday to driving with a suspended license at the time of the 2006 accident.
Adam Gaillard, 35, of Palm Beach Shores, received a 60-day sentence and was credited for time already served.
Jury selection in Gaillard's trial begins this morning on a charge of leaving the scene of a crash involving death, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Cynthia Andrews, 49, and Linda Taylor, 56, were out for their routine weekend walk across the bridge about 6 a.m. when they were hit by the sport utility vehicle. Andrews was hurled from the bridge to a small beach below. Taylor was left dying on the asphalt.
Gaillard claims he did not know he struck anyone. He had been free on bond pending trial but was sent back to jail in November after testing positive for cocaine.
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03/31/08
1:53-2:36 pm PDT
Plea Agreement reached
The families have approved the proposal of the state.
Judge McSorley declared the mistrial and handled the plea agreement after the jury was excused from their duties.
Gaillard pleaded guilty as charged and will spend 5 years in jail with time served and will have 10 years probation. His driving privileges are revoked for the rest of his life.
1:25 pm PDT
The jury cannot reach a unamimous decision.
The prosecution and defense asked the judge for a few minutes so they can speak together about the jury's decision. Judge Sandra McSorley agreed to a 5 to 10 minute recess so they can talk.
12:35 pm PDT
The jury requested to view the animation and to watch the 40 minute video of Gaillard's statement to the police which was granted.
12:07 pm PDT
Jury is struggling to come to a virdict
03/31/08
Deliberations Begin
A six panel jury now has Adam Gaillard's destiny in their hands as they deliberate over whether he knew he hit Cynthia Andrews and Linda Taylor with his SUV and then left the scene of the accident.
Defense attorney David Roth gave his closing arguments pointing out that there was no evidence that Gaillard was intoxicated at the time of the crash.
He stated that the accident was at 5:48 am which was the same time the phone call was received by Gaillard, after which he threw down the phone which caused the accident.
Roth emphasized that Gaillard didn't know he hit the women at the time of the crash.
Assistant State Attorney Ellen Roberts talked about Gaillard's demeanor and lack of compassion during his police questioning after the crash.
She pointed out his delayed reporting of the crash, and that he sneaked out of the apartment and avoided confronting the many police out front.
Roberts went on to point out the many flaws she felt there were in the defense's accident reconstruction experts testimony. As she played back the simulation, she pointed out that you could see the women in the animation. She said, " Hello, we see them. If you see them... why didn't the defendant see them?"
The jurors left for the Jury Room at approximately 10:45 am EDT to begin their deliberations. (NLH)
03/28/08
Friday-Trial Day Three
Out of the presence of the jury, prosecution showed a poster sized photo exhibit of a lady who was Linda Taylor's height, 5' 8", standing in front of the SUV. Judge Sandra McSorley called the pictures a purported representation which was very conclusionary as opposed to factual. She did not allow it come into evidence.
Larry Colagiovanni, Traffic Homicide Investigator, said Adam Gaillard seemed genuinely remorseful when he spoke to him about the collision.
Colagiovanni then diagrammed the accident scene. He said Linda Taylor could be seen over the hood of the SUV.
Roberts asked if it was possible that Gaillard didn't see her and Colagiovanni said, "Absolutely, it's possible."
Then she asked, "Is it reasonable?" He answered "No."
Colagiovanni said that he believed the G-forces Gaillard experienced at the time of the accident weren't that high as Gaillard was likely driving the speed limit when he sideswiped the wall, allowing the G-forces to spread out over the entire distance as the truck moved forward.
The defense did his best to discredit Coagiovanni's testimony as an expert.
When asked if he thought Gaillard may have been disoriented after striking the wall before he ran over Linda Taylor, Colagiovanni responded,"Look at NASCAR drivers. They hit stuff and just keep driving."
Pictures of the victims were allowed into evidence for the jurors to view.
The state rested their case.
The attorney, Steve Sessa, who represented Gaillard when he gave his statements to police, testified that he believed his client did not commit a crime, and that's why he allowed his client to speak to the police. And, if his client had smelled of alcohol, or seemed under the influence, he wouldn't have allowed him to speak to the police.
When asked by the prosecution, Sessa said he didn't do any type of sobriety tests on Gaillard.
A high paid defense expert, Frank Andrew Fore, testified. He gave his long list of expertise, and created and showed the jury a simulated video of what he determined happened on the day in question.
Personally, watching this on CNN all I saw was the back of peoples heads and a black screen. Maybe InSession will show the simulation on Monday.
The Defense rested, and the judge sent the jury home for the week-end. They will be deliberating on Monday morning, March 31. (NLH)
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03/27/08
Gaillard Trial Day 2
The first prosecution witness, Stephanie Register, was called to the stand at approximately 9:40 am, EDT.
Register had been fishing a small bridge beneath the Blue Heron Bridge when she heard a sound like a big explosion, which caused her turn and look. She saw sparks coming off the rims of Gaillard's SUV as he drove away.
Register watched him drive without stopping until he turned a corner at the bottom of the bridge. She described a thin white male with a baseball cap on. He was sitting straight up close to the steering wheel, and it appeared he was looking through his rear view mirror.
Another witness, Brett Worcester, said he heard a loud noise and saw a dark SUV with flat tires go through an intersection. His thought was that somebody must have sideswiped the curb.
He contacted the police after he saw the bodies and realized the SUV might have been involved, and showed them where the damaged truck was parked.
The defense pointed out, through cross examination, that the car hadn't been camouflaged from view.
Two Palm Beach County Sheriff's saw two people drive away from a house where Adam Gaillard had gone after the crash.
Ed Tierney, Adam Gallard's friend, gave inconsistent testimony as to when he first found out from a neighbor that people had been injured on the bridge.
Tierney testified that there were about eight or nine police outside. When asked by the prosecutor if Gaillard could have come out of the apartment to speak with the police, he said "Yeah, he could have walked outside".
When cross examined by the defense, he said Gaillard was 100% sober at the time, but that Gaillard was distraught in the hours after the crash and that he wanted to go to the police.
The medical examiner, Dr. Stuart Graham, testified as to the gruesome details of the two women's injuries.
Graham concluded that Cynthia Andrews was not struck by the vehicle, but fell from the bridge, and that Linda Taylor was struck by the SUV.
Sgt. Larry Colagiovanni showed the jury the different debris found at the scene, and showed photos of the dents and rims of the car.
He explained that Linda Taylor never landed on the hood of the vehicle, but was sucked underneath the vehicle.
An officer was showing a video of how well lit the bridge was at the time of the accident (which looked pretty dark to me) the CNN feed went out for a short while.
They jury listened to a 40 minute tape of an police interview with Adam Gaillard on the 24th of September, 2006.
Gaillard talked about the arguments and concerns he was having with his girlfriend.
He went on to say, tearfully, how upset and distraught he was while he was driving. His cell phone rang but no-one was there so he threw his phone down, got his finger caught in the steering wheel, lost control of the vehicle, yet didn't know he hit anyone.
He said he looked out of his passenger side and saw he blew a tire and drove on, but wasn't speeding, yet his seat belt was on.
He admitted his license was suspended because of delinquency of child support. He didn't want to stop because of the suspension. He put off calling police or his insurance company because he was afraid he'd go to jail.
He said he wasn't drinking, and said that the lights on the bridge were off.
He said he stopped at the bottom of the bridge to check out the damage to his vehicle. He only saw the right front tire flat and wasn't aware of the back one being flat also.
Gaillard said he didn't see anyone on the bridge and didn't see any flashing lights. He went on to say that anything flashing would have caught his eye.
Gaillard said he didn't see any police around the apartment later on that morning.
Court recessed for the day. (NLH)
03/26/08
Opening Statements
Jury selection finished up and opening statements by Ellen Roberts, a traffic homicide prosecutor, and David Roth, defense attorney, began in the Adam Gaillard hit and run trial, Wednesday.
"Guilty as charged", Ellen Roberts told jurors in opening statements. "They will reach that verdict at the close of the evidence", she said, "that Adam Gaillard is guilty of leaving the scene of a fatality".
Gaillard knew or should have known that he struck one or both of the woman, Roberts told jurors. His headlights were working fine, the weather was clear that morning, Linda Taylor had a flashing red light on her chest, a light other witnesses easily noticed.
Roberts said that Gaillard didn't stop because he had a suspended license and that he drove away on the rim of the tire with sparks flying off.
Afterwords, there was sizable dent in his Suburban, a dent likely created when he mowed over Linda Taylor.
Roberts also emphasized Gaillard's delayed reporting to police, not sitting down with an investigator until more than 12 hours later. That he passed up talking with sheriff's deputies who swarmed around the vicinity near where his damaged Suburban was found.
Gaillard was delayed in contacting police, defense attorney David Roth told jurors. But he wanted to do so much earlier, soon after he found out people had been hurt in an accident on the bridge.
Then friends convinced him to contact a lawyer first, delaying things, but the lawyer they contacted couldn't arrage a meeting until later in the day.
Roth opened his statement calling it a tragic accident. Telling jurors that in Gaillard's mind at the time, he had just struck the cement wall, damaging his own vehicle and nothing else. He drove away because his license was suspended because a failure to pay child support, nothing more.
Roth described Gaillard to jurors as having saved people's lives while working on the beaches of Singer Island, participating in a shark attack rescue when lifeguards wouldn't. Not the type of man at all to leave two ladies to die.
Roth told jurors that the veteran homicide investigator who interviewed Gaillard will tell them that no suspect ever has come without any promise of leniency and cooperate as Gaillard did.
An accident reconstruction expert will also tell them that Gaillard was pulling forces of 15 Gs when he jumped the sidewalk and hit the bridge wall.
"He Will tell you unequivocally, based on the physical evidence and all the facts in this case, that Adam Gaillard had no idea" that he had struck Andrews and Taylor.
Only two witnesses (The Jones) testified for a very short period on the stand. Both had been on the bridge at the time of the accident. They had heard the sound of screeching tires and the thumping of what they said sounded like a blown tire.
One witness, Jessie A. Jones said that the Bridge lights were on when the crash occurred.
They described what they saw at the scene. Jessie was in tears as she spoke if what she saw. One woman lay dead and the other had fallen over the bridge and onto the sand below.
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Susan Spencer-Wendel Palm Beach Post Staff Writer