The Santa Rosa woman charged with second-degree murder in a fiery crash prosecutors said happened while she was chasing her motorcyclist boyfriend pointed the finger at the victim Tuesday, claiming his negligence and intoxication were to blame.
An attorney for Heather Howell, 29, said in court papers that Jesse Garcia, 56, also of Santa Rosa, had already lost control of his Triumph convertible when Howell came along and hit or was hit by the car.
Howell's lawyer, Steve Spiegelman, argued that excluding evidence in the upcoming trial of Garcia's blood-alcohol level, determined through autopsy to be 0.05 percent, would undercut a defense that his reckless driving was the cause.
"The deceased's alcohol intake just before the accident undoubtedly factored into his driving and thus into the direct causation of this accident," Siegelman said in the court papers.
Howell's attorney has also lodged a separate motion with Judge Robert LaForge to suppress her alcohol level at trial on grounds that she didn't consent to a blood test. A state Department of Justice analysis found her at 0.11 percent — well above the 0.08 percent legal limit.
Spiegelman is also seeking to bar any mention to a jury that Howell was convicted of drunken driving in 2006, in part because he said she lacked professional legal representation.
Prosecutors oppose the exclusion of Howell's alcohol level and conviction history. The second-degree murder charge relies on one of two theories, including that she had a previous drunken-driving conviction and was aware of the dangers of driving under the influence.
Judge LaForge is expected to rule on the two motions and others later this month. Both sides are expected to begin picking a jury July 29 and testimony could begin in early August.
Prosecutors said the July 14, 2012, crash happened after Howell and her boyfriend, Tony Kraus, got into an argument over his infidelity at her Hartman Lane home. She had at least one drink earlier in the day at a bar called The Zoo.
Howell told deputies Kraus left suddenly on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle and she followed him in her black 2001 Acura, wanting to continue the fight. She left so quickly she didn't bother to put on her shoes, prosecutors said in court papers.
Howell followed Kraus to Fulton Road, where they turned south and began weaving in and out of traffic at high speeds, according to witnesses.
Prosecutors said many people saw their erratic driving, which included running red lights. They were captured in video in front of Piner High School, speeding past other cars, according to court papers.
The pursuit continued for several miles until Kraus turned west on Hall Road and made a quick left onto Countryside Road into a small residential development. Howell followed, at one point shaking her fist at Kraus and yelling "Yee-haw!", a witness at her preliminary hearing said.
The motorcycle and car got back on Hall Road, heading west, and came up on a couple in a red Lexus. Believing Howell was about to hit him, Kraus rode around the left of the Lexus and Howell swerved around the Lexus on the right, prosecutors said.
She sideswiped the Lexus, causing her to careen to the shoulder, then swerved back onto the road, where she hit the victim's Triumph from behind, prosecutors said.
She hit the car at such a speed that the Triumph emblem was stamped on her front fender, a CHP officer testified.
Garcia lost control of the sports car and it flipped numerous times before coming to rest on its top. He was trapped under it as it was engulfed in flames, prosecutors said in court papers.
Howell and Kraus stopped and were questioned. Howell was later arrested and charged with second-degree murder and reckless driving. She has been in custody ever since.
Her lawyer has questioned the prosecution's version of what happened. Spiegelman is expected to argue that Garcia drove up from behind the Lexus and swerved around it on the right.
He said in court papers that his own accident reconstruction experts can prove Garcia's car was already starting to flip when it collided with Howell's car, which was behind it.
Any negligence on Howell's part was only contributory and possibly not "a legally recognizable factor in what happened at all," he said.
(You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com.)
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