14!

Ummmmm...isn't this like, uhhh, crime prevention??

A88

Moore guilty of aggravated vehicular homcide in teen's death

DAYTON — A Montgomery County jury convicted Dexter S. Moore II of aggravated vehicular homicide, a third-degree felony, on Monday, July 21, finding that his driving had been reckless on the day he killed a 17-year-old Jefferson High School student.

Moore's speed was measured at 103 mph before the car went airborne, seconds before Hill was struck. The posted speed limit on Derby is 35 mph.

• Moore was speeding for a long period of time on a narrow two-lane country road with residences on it.

• Moore was speeding in the mid-afternoon, when people are running errands, children play in yards, and school buses are known to travel in the area.

• Moore was not paying attention to the roadway, according to then-girlfriend Correnna White, who was in the car at the time.

• Moore failed to maintain his lane and did not stop or yield for the parked school bus, which sat on the roadway.

The jury, which deliberated for five hours Friday and three on Monday, rejected defense counsel's argument that Moore had been merely negligent, and therefore guilty of vehicular homicide, a first-degree misdemeanor.

A third-degree felony is punishable by up to five years in a state prison. A first-degree misdemeanor is punishable by up to six months in jail. Assistant county prosecutors said they were asking for the full five years.

Moore will be sentenced Aug. 7 by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Katherine Huffman. Huffman also revoked Moore's bond, citing the "substantial risk of flight," and sheriff's deputies took him into custody.

"I think Julian got justice today," said Roslynn Mack, the mother of the victim, Julian Hill. "I wish it would bring Julian back, because that's what my heart really aches for."

Moore, 38, was driving a Mercedes-Benz on Sept. 7, when he struck and killed Hill seconds after Hill left his school bus. Hill, 17, had been walking up his driveway at 6645 Derby Road when the car struck him, killing him instantly.

Still, Mack said, the verdict and trial's end were "bittersweet. My heart goes out to Dexter Moore's family. He's someone's son, too."

Moore, who took the stand on Thursday, did not apologize during his testimony. Mack said he did approach her in the courtroom's hallway and apologized and offered his condolences.

The trial's main issue was whether Moore's actions as a driver met the legal definition of recklessness. Aggravated vehicular homicide requires a finding that the driver was reckless. The charge is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.

During his closing argument, assistant Montgomery County prosecutor Steven Knippen explained the legal definition of recklessness, which involves a "heedless indifference to the consequences" and "perversely disregarding a known risk."

Defense attorney Richard Skelton urged the jury to find his client guilty of the lesser charge, vehicular homicide. He said that Moore had not been reckless because recklessness requires a "known risk," and that Moore did not know the bus would be parked in front of Hill's driveway at that moment.

Instead, Skelton pointed to the legal definition of negligence, which states that a negligent person shows a "substantial lapse from due care" and "fails to perceive or avoid a risk."