Jury Told How Man Clung to Car’s Hood and Fell

A woman told jurors Monday that she screamed at her husband to get out of the way of her stepmother’s car because her stepmother “was crazy and she would hit him.”

Betty Young Davies, 59, of Newport Beach is on trial for involuntary manslaughter and hit and run in the death of James Ward, who was thrown from the hood of the Mercedes-Benz on Dec. 19, 1989.

Wendy Ward, 31, remained in control as she told jurors Monday how Davies raced the motor and then drove into James Ward and how she frantically chased after the car as her husband clung to the hood.

But when Deputy Dist. Atty. Lewis R. Rosenblum asked her to describe what she heard when her husband fell from the car, she broke down.

“Sir, I just heard a big . . . thud,” she finally managed to say.

She continues her testimony for the third day today.

Rosenblum has told jurors that Ward’s death was caused not by the Mercedes striking him, but from falling on his head when he could no longer hang onto the hood. He died three days later.

A neighbor spotted Davies in the bushes near the Wards’ Costa Mesa home the night of Dec. 19. The neighbor called the Wards, who confronted Davies outside.

The Wards had called police several times in the past to complain that Davies was harassing them.

Ward testified Monday that her relationship with her stepmother soured several years ago. One explanation was that Davies was upset when Ward allowed a young woman to move in with her and who eventually married Davies’ son, Jeff.

But no explanation has been given for what Davies was doing in front of the Wards’ house that night.

Ward testified that her husband blocked Davies’ path to the driver’s side of the Mercedes and told her she wasn’t leaving until they had some answers as to why she was harassing them. Ward said she told Davies: “Go home and leave our family alone.”

But Davies entered the car from the passenger side and slid into the driver’s seat, Ward said, adding that her stepmother continued driving without slowing down after James Ward was thrown from the hood.

“Did she ever honk the horn or tell him, ‘Get out of the way’?” prosecutor Rosenblum asked her.

“No sir,” Ward answered.

“Did you ever see the car slow down?”

“No sir, it did not.”

The cross-examination by Davies’ attorney, Marshall Schulman, gave some indications as to what his defense will be.

He asked Ward if she had told police that “something just snapped” in Davies. He also got on the record that Davies has seen numerous psychiatrists over the years.

Schulman also objected each time Rosenblum’s questions included the phrase “when Jim Ward was struck by the car,” pointing out that at the moment of the impact, Wendy Ward’s eyes were on Davies, not on the front of the car. Schulman may contend that Davies was so upset about the confrontation that she was unaware she had struck Ward.

Davies sat throughout her stepdaughter’s testimony Monday without glancing at the witness stand.