Jury Acquits Woman in Death on I-15 : Justice: Prosecutor criticized as trying the wrong person in unusual manslaughter case

After deliberating for less than a day, a jury Friday acquitted a Fallbrook woman who had been accused of vehicular manslaughter while driving drunk, even though she did not drive the car that killed the victim.

Jurors, instead, said they felt the district attorney’s office prosecuted the wrong driver, and that Henry Preiss, the driver of the car that actually killed 19-year-old Thomas Anderlik, should have been on trial.

But, because Preiss requested and the district attorney’s office granted immunity from criminal prosecution in exchange for his testimony, no one will be punished for Anderlik’s death.

As the court clerk read the verdict acquitting her of Anderlik’s death, 26-year-old Dana Lowry screamed out and flung up her arms.

“I’m so relieved that the acquittal came through, and I’m saddened by the tragedy, and if I could change what had happened I would,” Lowry said outside the courtroom.

About midnight Aug. 16, Lowry entered the southbound lanes of Interstate 15 near Fallbrook in the wrong direction, sideswiping a truck on the off-ramp.

She continued to drive on the freeway against traffic after striking the truck, before stopping in the No. 2 lane of the freeway, her headlights facing oncoming traffic.

Lowry, dressed in white clothing, then got out of her car and began to wave her arms. Anderlik, a resident of Washington state who was visiting an aunt in Oceanside, stopped his car on the side of the freeway and went to Lowry’s assistance. He was killed when Preiss’ oncoming car plowed into him, pinning him against Lowry’s 1987 Saab.

Although acquitted of the manslaughter charge, Lowry was convicted of drunk driving and one count of hit-and-run driving related to the accident. She could have been sentenced to 10 years in prison if she had been convicted of the more serious charges, but now faces up to a year in jail.

Overall, the jurors, who declined to be named, said they were simply unconvinced by the prosecution’s case, and that on every count but the hit-and-run, they reached a unanimous verdict on the first vote.

“It was not proven without a shadow of a doubt. There was always a gray section there that was not proven,” one juror said.

Jurors sympathized with Lowry and said that the district attorney’s office should have prosecuted Preiss, who they believe either was paying inadequate attention to the road or has fallen asleep at the wheel.

“I think that they should have prosecuted both” Preiss and Lowry, one juror said. “I didn’t understand why they didn’t prosecute Preiss. I think they made a big mistake giving him immunity.”

Another juror echoed the sentiment that prosecutors had the wrong person.

“They didn’t prove their case, and I just can’t understand why they wanted to do this to this young lady,” one juror said. “The jurors all felt that they couldn’t understand why she was charged with all these things.”

Jurors said they felt that Preiss, a 39-year-old wine and spirits importer from Ramona, was not believable as a witness.

“He changed his story so many times that we never knew what to believe,” said one juror.

“Eight or nine other cars got by there and saw (Lowry’s car) from a great distance away, and one of them was doing 85 miles an hour, and they didn’t have any trouble with getting around her,” said the juror.

Preiss consistently testified that he was not tired on the night of the accident and was “feeling fine.”

During the trial, he testified that, before the accident, he was distracted by flashing lights from a tow truck that was backing down an off-ramp, but in previous statements had said he saw no such lights.

He also said that he did not see at least two cars that had braked while approaching Lowry’s car.

Outside the courtroom, Deputy Dist. Atty. Walter Donovan said he was shocked by the jury’s verdict, and stood by the decision to grant Preiss immunity.

“I’m beyond surprised, I’m stunned,” Donovan said.

“This jury accepted the defense argument that Preiss safely drove from Santa Monica, through Los Angeles County, through Riverside County, into San Diego County, safely staying in his lanes throughout,” Donovan said.

“Then he passed Rainbow, passed Mission Road, passed the Pala Mesa golf course and conveniently dozed off 300 feet before the defendant’s car which was parked the wrong way in Lane 2 with a broken left front headlight,” Donovan said.

The prosecutor said that, for Lowry to be found guilty, the jury needed to see her actions as a “substantial factor” in Anderlik’s death.

“And the evidence shows that she was the primary factor, not just a substantial one,” Donovan said.

Jurors also accused the California Highway Patrol of being shoddy in its investigation of the accident, citing key measurements of the accident site that were later acknowledged to be inaccurate.

“The essence of all that investigation was not adequate at all. It was way below par,” said one juror.

Jurors also regarded with suspicion the testimony of a prosecution witness who said he told investigators that he saw the entire accident. But Pete Trujillo, who runs a tow-truck agency that contracts with the CHP, was not contacted by authorities about the case until earlier this year, when he approached them.

“We felt that he was trying to make the CHP look good,” one juror said.

Anderlik’s relatives were shaken by the verdict.

“The system sucks, what can you say?” said Judy Lucia, the aunt with whom Anderlik had been visiting.

“The bottom line is, why was she out there drunk? She’s just going to do it again and again,” Lucia said tearfully.

Lowry had two previous drunk-driving convictions and had attended seminars on alcohol abuse and driving.

Anderlik’s mother, Karen Anderlik, came down from her home in Kennewick, Wash., for the trial.

“I think she (Lowry) really was guilty. It was her fault. Tom would not have stopped if she hadn’t been out there,” Karen Anderlik said.

“During the trial, they kept calling him Mr. Anderlik . . . that doesn’t connote a 19-year-old boy,” she said. “To me, he wasn’t a man, he was my boy.”