The Twinkie Defense

In my neck of the woods, the death of local businessman 5 years ago has spawned a criminal case involving the girl he was driving with on the night of the accident. At the time of the accident, I remember all kinds of rumors swirling about the circumstances behind the crash. Well, now those rumors have spawned fruit in the girl's defense with, "I couldn't have been driving the car, I was giving him a blow-job." (I'm posting the entire article because the Hartford Courant (an LA Times piece of trash) makes you register.)

Judge Allows Argument Crash Involved Sex Act
March 3, 2004
By ALAINE GRIFFIN, Courant Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN -- A Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that a Vernon woman can use the defense that she was engaged in a sex act to fight charges that she caused a 1999 crash that killed Hartford-area businessman Neil Esposito.

"A defendant has a right to offer a defense no matter how outlandish, silly or unbelievable one might think it will be," Judge Robert L. Holzberg said.

And in a further wrinkle in a case that may involve political influence, the defense attorney told the judge that state police gave key pieces of evidence to the Esposito family.

Jeremiah Donovan, the attorney representing Heather Specyalski, 33, who faces charges of second-degree manslaughter and second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle, has said his client was not driving because she was performing oral sex on Esposito at the time of the October 1999 crash. He contends Esposito was the driver.

Assistant State's Attorney Maureen Platt fought to bar testimony about possible sex acts unless the defense established "a good-faith basis for such an inquiry."

The motions were argued Tuesday between sessions of jury selection. The issue behind the hearing led to some awkward moments in the nearly empty courtroom. Specyalski sometimes fidgeted in her seat at the table next to her attorney. Platt at one point apologized for any "crude" language she used in making her arguments.

Holzberg was more frank.

"No one ever told me in law school that we'd be having these kinds of conversations in open court," he said.

Donovan referred to witnesses at the scene who, upon seeing Esposito's pants unbuckled and pulled down, suggested that Specyalski "may have been performing" a sex act. He told the judge he planned to ask a witness, an emergency medical technician, his opinion of who was driving the car.

But Platt argued that such statements are "clearly opinion evidence," and noted that in prior statements Specyalski never said she was engaged in oral sex at the time of the crash and rather told authorities she couldn't recall much of what happened.

"No one saw it," Platt said. "His pants could have been down because he was mooning a car he was drag racing. His pants could have been down because he was urinating out of a window. His pants could have been down because he wasn't feeling well. ... I could go on."

The prosecution has also suggested that Esposito's pants may have been pulled down as he was ejected from the vehicle. The defense has countered that point by saying a gash on Esposito's buttocks did not match any rip in the pants and could not have occurred while the pants were on.

Jurors will likely not see the pants, but only photos of them taken shortly after the crash. Donovan told the judge that state police investigators involved in the initial investigation gave the pants to the Esposito family.

The initial probe concluded that Esposito, 42, a wealthy trash-hauler from Rocky Hill and a frequent charitable donor, was driving his leased Mercedes-Benz convertible when it crashed on Route 9 in Cromwell. The couple had attended a party at a Middletown restaurant, and tests showed they had been drinking.

"Who knows what the Espositos may have done with the pants?" Donovan said.

Donovan says in a motion to dismiss all charges against his client that the Espositos hired a state police scientist to investigate the crash on the family's behalf. He says Gov. John G. Rowland was behind the state's decision to prosecute Specyalski. Both Neil Esposito and his father, Raymond Esposito, contributed to the governor's 1998 gubernatorial campaign, and a bridge over I-91 in Wethersfield was named after Neil Esposito in 2000.

Raymond Esposito pushed state police to reopen the case. Specyalski was arrested in November 2000, two weeks after she sued Neil Esposito's estate, claiming his negligence caused her life-altering injuries.

The judge on Tuesday ruled against a motion by Donovan to use gender as grounds to eliminate jurors. Donovan argued women would be biased against his client and more likely to convict her. Platt said she was personally "insulted" by the suggestion, and said it was "startling" to hear such a claim in 2004. She said jurors could not be discriminated against because of their gender. The judge agreed.

Jury selection resumes today.

I have a feeling she may get off, but it could be hard. Haha.