Demetrius Coleman’s attorney admits that his client committed a crime on Thanksgiving Day 2016 in plowing his sedan at high speed into another vehicle, killing a family of three, but the lawyer maintains it was not murder.
Whether the three counts of third-degree murder against Coleman, 24, of Homewood, are warranted is the key issue in his trial that began Thursday with opening statements in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.
Testimony begins Thursday morning before Judge Cashman in trial for Demetrius Coleman, charged in crash that killed 2 year old girl and two others on Thanksgiving Day 2016.
— AlleghenyCountyDA (@AlleghenyCoDA) February 27, 2019
Both prosecution and defense attorneys stated that the facts are not in dispute in the fiery midday collision on Nov. 24, 2016, at the intersection of routes 30 and 48 in North Versailles. Killed instantly when Coleman’s vehicle smashed into theirs were three members of a Pitcairn family on their way to a holiday dinner: David Lee Bianco, 29; his fiancee, Kaylie Meininger, 21; and their daughter Annika, 2.
Coleman was initially stopped at a GetGo by East McKeesport police Officer Scott Lowden for a traffic violation on Route 30. After Officer Lowden determined Coleman had an arrest pending for violating probation from a prior drug conviction, he requested assistance from North Versailles police. After multiple police vehicles arrived at the GetGo, Coleman drove off, pursued in a high-speed chase for nearly two miles before the crash.
In addition to the counts of third-degree murder, Coleman is being tried for homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, fleeing police, driving under the influence and other charges.
His lawyer, T. Brent McCune, told the jury that Coleman knows he needs to be accountable for the other crimes, but not murder.
“The case is going to turn on ... whether this was an accident that resulted from criminal liability that is something other than cold-blooded murder,” Mr. McCune said. “You’re going to have to decide whether Mr. Coleman contemplated this fireball could happen and Mr. Coleman didn’t give a damn.”
Assistant District Attorney Douglas Maloney said Coleman’s conduct constituted third-degree murder due to disregard for the lives of others on the highway.
“I think of murder as extreme, sustained recklessness ... putting other people in harm’s way,” Mr. Maloney said. “He didn’t brake, he didn’t slow down, he didn’t swerve or anything else.”
Mr. McCune explained during a break that Coleman is subject to mandatory life imprisonment if convicted of multiple counts of third-degree murder.
Police officers and others present on Route 30 that day were among those testifying for the prosecution Thursday afternoon that Coleman drove erratically and at high speed.
One of those witnesses — who stated, “I didn’t think I was going to make it out alive” — was Asia Camp, 26, who owned the white Hyundai that Coleman was driving and was a passenger in the vehicle’s front seat.
She testified that the two of them had gotten high from marijuana that day and that Coleman had made a drug deal before the police stop, dropping off one of about 40 stamp bags of heroin they had with them. Ms. Camp said she had the heroin bags in her pants and was charged by police following the crash with a drug-selling felony and drug possession misdemeanor. Guided by Mr. Maloney, she told the jury she was testifying under a plea agreement in which the felony count would be dropped and she could get probation, with her criminal record eventually expunged..
Ms. Camp said she feared for her life during the chase because of both the way Coleman was driving and the other traffic they encountered along busy Route 30.
Samuel Gallo, who was a North Versailles police officer at the time, and Matthew Lisovich, now retired but driving on Route 30 that afternoon to his job as a police lieutenant in Swissvale, both testified that they were westbound on the highway when Coleman swerved into their lanes driving in the wrong direction at high speed. They both said they narrowly avoided being struck head-on by his vehicle.
A Pennsylvania State Police crash expert estimated at Coleman’s preliminary hearing that Coleman was driving the car at 82 mph at the time it crashed into the victims’ vehicle at the Route 48 intersection, causing it to erupt in flames. A Mercedes SUV was also struck, injuring its three occupants. Coleman also suffered serious injuries.
The crash expert is expected to be among those testifying during several additional days of trial before Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman.
Gary Rotstein: grotstein@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1255.
First Published: February 28, 2019, 6:30 p.m.
