A jury could not reach a verdict this week for a woman accused of vehicular homicide in a crash that killed two people in Montezuma County in 2014, according to a District Court clerk.
A new trial date has not been set for Rowena Jean Yanito, 33, of Bluff, Utah, who is accused of vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, reckless driving and driving under the influence.
Prosecuting attorney Sean Murray argued Wednesday that law enforcement officials ignored “every piece of the truth” in their investigation of a Dec. 13, 2014, crash in the 6800 block of Montezuma County Road G that left two people dead and several others with severe injuries. He and defense attorney Katherine Whitney made closing arguments Wednesday in Montezuma District Court in Cortez before Judge Douglas Walker, but the jury of 12 could not reach a verdict.
In the crash, a 2006 Chrysler Pacifica struck a 2012 Nissan Sentra and then burst into flames, according to court documents.
Yvonne Padilla, the Sentra driver, and passenger Gerald Padilla, of Cortez, were pronounced dead at the scene. A third passenger, a 15-year-old girl, was seriously injured.
But Whitney said it wasn’t clear that Yanito was the driver of the Pacifica because Janeen Black, 27, admitted several times that she was driving the car. Black was arrested Dec. 18, 2014, and held on a $25,000 bond. She was released from jail about six months later in June 2015 after law enforcement officials said she had been wrongly charged.
“It was chaos, it was traumatic,” Whitney said of the crash scene.
Murray maintained that Yanito was the driver, citing a physician’s testimony that Yanito’s injuries, including facial burns, were typical injuries sustained by drivers in similar crashes.
An eyewitness who helped pull the driver out of the burning Pacifica testified that she was wearing a purple bra, Murray said. According to court documents, Yanito told a Colorado State Patrol Trooper she was wearing a purple bra that night. Murray also said witnesses told investigators that the passenger of the Pacifica was larger than the driver. Murray produced photos he said showed that Yanito is thinner than Black.
But Whitney said the prosecution was jumping to conclusions. She said the doctor’s testimony on injuries was not based on scientific fact. Whitney added that Black remembered details, such as the car’s gas gauge being low, that suggested she was driving.
Murray pointed to testimony from Oliver Darrel Silas, another witness. According to court documents, Silas told an investigator he identified Yanito as the driver of the Pacifica. Silas, who Murray said is married to Yanito’s sister, Edwina, also told the investigator his wife said Yanito was the driver, according to the documents.
Whitney told jurors Silas testified that the scene was traumatic and stressful for him, and that trauma and stress can sometimes trick people into believing something that’s not true.
According to court documents, Silas was not interviewed by investigators until June 2015, more than six months after the crash.
“This case has been a roller-coaster ride back and forth,” Whitney said. “This is not a game. ... The jury cannot be swayed by emotions. You have to work through your feelings to get to reason.”
