Defense offers ‘why’ at manslaughter trial
Just before 7 a.m. on Sept. 27, 2013, Jennie Zhu was driving a MercedesBenz that rear-ended a minivan on the intersection of Pine and Gough streets, killing one of the minivan’s passengers — 16-year-old high school student Kevin San — and severely injuring his mother and sister. Before the collision, Zhu’s SUV was traveling well beyond Pine Street’s speed limit.
In the vehicular manslaughter trial against Zhu, 63, this much is certain. What’s unclear, though, according to her attorney, is why her car was going that fast.
On the first day of Zhu’s trial Thursday morning in San Francisco’s Hall of Justice, defense attorney Alfredo Vea Jr. attempted to cast doubt on the prosecution’s case.
Vea told jurors that Zhu heard a loud noise just before the crash. He said her vehicle “ran away from her.” Vea urged jurors in his opening statements to focus not just on the “who” and the “what” of the testimony, but also the “why.”
“People assume she isn’t the fourth victim in this case,” Vea said of his client.
Prosecutor Rani Singh, of the San Francisco district attorney’s office, rejected these arguments, calling Zhu’s actions “reckless” and “negligent.”
The collision shouldn’t be described as an accident, Singh said, adding that the difference between an accident and a case like this was Zhu’s actions directly caused severe injuries and the death of a teenager. Kevin was reportedly an avid bicyclist and a member of the Lincoln High School Junior ROTC, playing in the drum corps.
“The evidence in this case will show Ms. Zhu is responsible for this collision,” Singh said.
While the minivan was totaled, Singh said, investigators and technicians were able to analyze evidence from the Mercedes-Benz.
Officials in 2013 said the Mercedes had exceeded 70 mph, and experts from Mercedes-Benz and the California Highway Patrol found no evidence of a mechanical failure in Zhu’s SUV.
Zhu is charged with one count of vehicular manslaughter and two counts of reckless driving for the injuries of Kevin’s mother and sister.
The boy’s mother, Htwe Kiu Chew, suffered a traumatic brain injury, broken arm, fractured vertebrae and a laceration to the liver, according to court records. Kevin’s sister, Ileen San, suffered a fractured right scapula, right hand and left wrist.
The trial’s first witnesses were Kevin’s mother and father, who both dabbed their eyes with a tissue as they testified about the morning their son died. Another witness, Martha Noel, said she noticed Zhu’s SUV going “extremely fast” just before the collision.
Noel estimated that it was traveling at least 60 mph in a 25-mph zone.
Zhu had not yet testified by Thursday afternoon. She wore a navyblue sweater and sat silently as the proceedings were translated to her.