EDITORIAL: Innocent until proven ... innocent?

Aug. 11—The acquittal Tuesday in a New Hampshire courtroom of Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 26, of West Springfield, on seven counts of manslaughter, seven counts of negligent homicide and one count of reckless conduct shows how important it is to remember the fundamental rule of law in our system of jurisprudence: The person accused of a crime should always be considered innocent until proven guilty.

After the verdict was read in a Concord, New Hampshire, courtroom, Zhukovskyy wiped away tears and pointed a finger to the sky, before walking out of the courtroom an innocent man.

It is hard to believe sometimes as casual observers who aren't watching every second of a trial that someone could be found innocent following such a horrific incident. Many people still think OJ did it. But that's the beauty of our judicial system: Everyone has their day in court — as difficult as it is for the survivors of the seven people killed on June 21, 2019, in Randolph, New Hampshire.

From the outside, it seemed like a slam-dunk for the prosecutors, who argued that Zhukovskyy, "had taken heroin, fentanyl and cocaine that day, repeatedly swerved back and forth before the head-on crash and told police he caused it," according to an account of the court hearing by Associated Press reporter Holly Ramer. "But a judge dismissed eight charges related to whether he was impaired, and his attorneys blamed the lead biker, Albert 'Woody' Mazza, who was among those killed."

It seems sad and opportunistic to blame someone who is deceased for causing not only his own death but the deaths of six other people, all of whom happened to be members of a motorcycle club made up of ex-Marines. But that's just what defense attorney Jay Duguay had to do in order to get a fair trial for his client. Duguay was able to sow the seeds of doubt in the minds of the jurors about evidence that had been seemingly overlooked or discounted by prosecutors.

For example, Duguay claimed that Mazza, the leader of the motorcycle club, was intoxicated and swerving all over the road that day.

According to the AP story: "Duguay said Mazza was drunk and not looking where he was going when he lost control of his motorcycle and slid in front of Zhukovskyy's truck.

He also accused prosecutors of ignoring the fact that their own accident reconstruction unit contradicted their theory that Zhukovskyy crossed into the oncoming lane. An expert hired by the defense, meanwhile, testified that the crash happened on the center line of the road and would have occurred even if the truck was in the middle of its lane because Mazza's motorcycle was heading in that direction."

Witnesses also offered conflicting testimony.

"From the beginning of this investigation, the state had made up their mind about what had happened, evidence be damned," said Duguay. "Those witnesses were all over the place about what they recalled and what they claimed to have seen."

There is no doubt that what happened that day was a tragedy.

Among those who were killed were Mazza, of Lee, New Hampshire; Edward and Jo-Ann Corr, a couple from 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.

But in the end, even the New Hampshire Attorney General accepted the verdict, saying in a statement: "Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. We thank the court and the jurors for their service, and while we are extremely disappointed, we respect the verdict and our system of justice."