Silent Statement : Prosecutor Uses Dramatics to Sum Up in Manslaughter Trial

After eight days of testimony, it took Deputy Dist. Atty. James Rogan only minutes to give his closing argument in the trial of a Glendale man accused of killing two mothers and two daughters while driving drunk.

He said nothing.

Instead, the lanky prosecutor silently lined up 10 plastic cups on the jury’s banister and filled them with beer. That was the number of beers prosecution experts contend that William Conway must have drunk on July 13, 1988, when he drove over a traffic island and hit five pedestrians.

Rogan held up four fingers--one for each of the victims--then angrily snapped his fingers. Gone, just like that, Rogan’s stern face told the six-man, six-woman jury. The expression lingered for a moment. Then he took his seat.

The dramatic performance on Monday brought to a close the Pasadena Superior Court trial of Conway, a 28-year-old former Glendale parks and recreation worker. It preceded a lengthy argument by Public Defender Michael Allensworth that Conway was not drunk, but simply driving too fast through a dangerous intersection.

The trial carried heavy emotional undertones, evident in the grimaces of jurors as they watched a graphic police videotape of the accident scene, in the courtroom demeanor of Conway’s elderly mother, Virginia Conway, and in the tearful testimony of a 13-year-old boy who survived that day as he watched his mother and sister die.

The trial had been anxiously awaited by the Glendale community, which had seen in this case its worst and most tragic traffic accident ever. Jurors reached a verdict Tuesday afternoon and will announce it this morning.

William Kilpatrick Conway is charged with four counts of gross vehicular manslaughter and two counts of causing an accident with injuries while driving under the influence of alcohol. If convicted, he could face up to 18 years in prison.

Witnesses for both the prosecution and defense agreed on a general account of the accident: On July 13, Conway had driven his mother’s 1974 Chevrolet Nova to Verdugo Road in Glendale to help his sister, Louise, change a flat tire. Afterward, she left--and he entered nearby Mike’s Verdugo Room bar.

Meanwhile, Patricia Carr, 36; her daughter, Caren, 6; Valerie Cramer, 32; her daughter, Brianna, 9, and her son, Billy, 11, were returning home from an evening stroll. They were waiting on a dirt-and-gravel traffic island to cross Verdugo Road.

About 8:30 p.m., three hours after he had entered the bar, Conway came speeding toward that intersection. As he rounded the curve of Verdugo, he lost control of the car. The mothers and daughters were struck and killed; Billy survived with a broken finger.

Witnesses and experts for the prosecution testified that Conway was traveling at nearly 80 m.p.h. in the 35-m.p.h. zone. Tests within two hours of the accident found his blood-alcohol level as high as 0.15%, they testified; at the time, it was illegal to drive with a 0.10% level, which has since been reduced to 0.08%.

The prosecution’s experts also told jurors that the Nova was old and worn but had no defects. And the intersection, they said, although it offered no guard rails or concrete curbs , was not inherently unsafe.

Defense experts testified that Conway was going slower than 65 m.p.h., and was not above the legal limit for intoxication until after the accident. They argued that it takes a certain amount of time for alcohol to be absorbed into the bloodstream, and he had left the bar just before the accident. Other defense witnesses described the intersection as dangerous.

In his closing argument Monday, Allensworth asked jurors to consider a verdict of simple negligence--a misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of one year in jail.

On the first day of the trial, Billy Cramer offered a tearful recounting of the incident. At one point, Judge Carol Fieldhouse recessed the trial for five minutes during the boy’s testimony to allow him to recover. After the break, Allensworth pressed Billy Cramer about a discrepancy in his testimony.

Billy had told Rogan that he had less than two seconds to dive from the path of the speeding car. But on the night of the accident, Allensworth said, Billy told police he had five to 10 seconds.

“You didn’t warn them, did you?” the attorney asked the boy, referring to the four others on the traffic island.

“No,” Billy said.

“But you had time to warn them, didn’t you?” Allensworth asked.

Billy’s head fell. “I guess I did,” he said.

Virginia Conway, the defendant’s mother, broke into tears.

The exchange set the stage for an emotional trial. During the first two days, the victims’ families and friends winced as witnesses to the accident recounted it. William Cramer, Billy’s father, and Patrick Carr, who also lost his wife and daughter, got up and left the courtroom a week later when jurors watched a graphic police videotape of the scene.

During a recess after the film, Patrick Carr stood nervously outside the courtroom. “Was it bad? Did they show their faces?” asked the 38-year-old electrical contractor. “Was it best that I didn’t see it?”

Yes, it was best, a friend answered.

As he often did during the trial, Fieldhouse on Monday leaned back in his chair, his tie and collar loosened, as jurors listened to closing arguments.

“This accident happened because Mr. Conway drove too fast, and as a result, he missed the curve. That’s all he did,” Allensworth said. “Anybody could speed, and in speeding lose control of the car. That is not gross negligence.”

For rebuttal, Rogan chose to speak.

“Mr. Conway appears to be a special kind of defendant. In my heart I believe he’s a man of remorse,” the prosecutor said. “But when this case is over and the jury’s gone home, there is one final act that needs to be played out. That is the act of responsibility.”