A jury acquitted a commercial truck driver on Tuesday of killing seven motorcyclists in a devastating head-on crash in northern New Hampshire, exposing deadly faults in the handling of license revocations between states.
Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 26, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, was found not guilty on seven charges of manslaughter, seven counts of negligent homicide, and one count of reckless conduct in connection with the collision in Randolph on June 21, 2019. He had been imprisoned since the collision and seemed to wipe away tears as the judgement was delivered before exiting the courtroom.
After a two-week trial in which prosecutors said that Zhukovskyy, who had taken heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine earlier that day, repeatedly veered back and forth before the incident and told police he caused it, jurors deliberated for less than three hours. However, a court dropped eight allegations linked to whether he was intoxicated, and his defense blamed the lead motorcyclist, Albert “Woody” Mazza Jr., alleging he was drunk and not paying attention when he lost control of his motorbike and skidded in front of Zhukovskyy’s vehicle.
“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. Our trial team did an outstanding job, and we are confident that the State proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt “In a statement, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella stated.
Zhukovskyy’s family, some of whom were present during the trial, issued a statement thanking God, the court, and the defense counsel for a “honest and fair trial.”
“”Our family extends its heartfelt sympathies to the family and friends who have been impacted by this tragedy,” the family wrote, characterizing him as a “very honest and nice guy.” He would never intentionally harm somebody.”
Zhukovskyy, who was born in Ukraine, was still imprisoned late Tuesday afternoon. It was unknown when he will be freed. According to Ben Champagne, superintendent of the Coos County Department of Corrections, after the accident, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued an immigration detainer on him, which was enforced after the judgment.
Zhukovskyy has been presented with a notice to appear before an immigration court, according to ICE, and will remain in ICE custody awaiting the result of that hearing. It did not specify where he was being detained.
The Jarheads Motorcycle Club was responsible for the deaths of all seven bikers. Following the decision, a Marine group member contacted through Facebook refused to comment. Albert Mazza, Mazza’s father, expressed surprise.
“He gets away with murdering seven people. That is incredible, “Mazza said. He characterized his son as a “decent guy” who spent most of his time to charity and said that blaming him was incorrect.
“It doesn’t make sense,” he said. “Seven persons have died. Seven households are impacted. It’s odd that he didn’t receive anything.”
The deceased bikers were from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, and their ages varied from 42 to 62. They were part of a bigger group that had just departed a Randolph hotel on US Route 2.
Mazza of Lee, New Hampshire, Edward and Jo-Ann Corr of Lakeville, Massachusetts, Michael Ferazzi of Contoocook, New Hampshire, Desma Oakes of Concord, New Hampshire, Daniel Pereira of Riverside, Rhode Island, and Aaron Perry of Farmington, New Hampshire were among those killed.
In final arguments Tuesday morning, both sides questioned who was more “all over the place”: the trucker accused of veering across the road or the eyewitnesses accused of contradicting one other.
“Those witnesses were all over the place in terms of what they remembered and claimed to have seen,” defense attorney Jay Duguay said.
Duguay also accused prosecutors of neglecting evidence from their own accident reconstruction section that contradicted their claim that Zhukovskyy crossed into oncoming traffic. Meanwhile, a defense expert stated that the incident occurred on the center line of the road and would have happened even if the truck had been in the middle of its lane since Mazza’s motorbike was traveling in that direction.
“From the outset of this inquiry, the state had made up its mind about what had transpired, facts be damned,” Duguay said, pointing to contradictions in witness testimony or instances where witnesses contradicted themselves.
Duguay, in particular, argued that the bikers “shaded” their accounts in order to protect Mazza and the club. Prosecutor Scott Chase recognized several anomalies but encouraged jurors to consider the context.
“People were burying the dead, saving the barely alive, and soothing the dying. This was not a storytime “He said. “They were up here talking about some of the most unthinkable mayhem, trauma, death, and devastation that three years later we can even comprehend. They were discussing hell when it burst open.”
He said that witnesses described the vehicle swaying back and forth before the accident. Chase said that this practice persisted “till he murdered people.”
“That’s what got him. It’s not that he made a mature choice to pay attention or do the right thing “He said. “After tearing past a bunch of motorbikes, the only thing that stopped him was an embankment.”
Chase described the effort to blame Mazza as a “fanciful narrative” and a “frivolous diversion,” and reminded jurors that Zhukovskyy, who did not testify at trial, told investigators, “Obviously, I caused the tragedy.”
“He was absolutely clear from the start that he was the cause of this tragedy,” Chase added. “He stated that because it is what occurred.”
Because of a drunken driving arrest in Connecticut approximately two months before, Zhukovskyy’s commercial driving license should have been canceled in Massachusetts at the time of the collision.
The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles was notified, but Zhukovskyy’s license was not terminated owing to a backlog of out-of-state notifications concerning driving crimes. Federal investigators conducted an examination and discovered comparable backlog issues in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and at least six additional municipalities.