After receiving 1,000 e-mails and a petition with 9,000 signatures, a Colorado prosecutor is trying to explain his choice of misdemeanor, instead of felony, charges against a hit-and-run driver who seriously injured a bicyclist.
District Attorney Mark Hurlbert and the case of wealthy fund manager Martin Joel Erzinger has become the focus of bicyclists across the country who are increasingly frustrated by the judicial system's apparent leniency toward motorists in crashes with bicyclists [“Financial planner gets “bailout” in hit and run vs. cyclist near Vail”].
Judge's decision
It's now up to a Colorado judge to accept or reject the plea bargain and determine a sentence, which can include loss of driver's license and up to one year of jail time.
In a letter to the Vail Daily newspaper, [“DA explains controversial plea bargain”] Hurlbert said he feels for the bicyclist and wishes him a speedy recovery. Dr. Steven Milo, a surgeon in New York City, suffered debilitating injuries in the collision.
Plea bargain
Hurlbert says Milo and his attorney asked that the driver plea to “felony deferred judgment and sentence.” That means that Erzinger, who otherwise has a clean record, would plead guilty to felony hit and run, but the judgment would be set aside and sealed if he met certain conditions for a two- to four-year period.
“Given that he had a clean history, Mr. Erzinger would essentially have been able to write a check, and the case would then be dismissed. On top of that, while Dr. Milo was still probably recovering from his injuries, Mr. Erzinger would be able to say that he had no criminal history and even deny that anything had happened. That is not something I could stomach.”
So, Hurlbert said he went against Milo's wishes and offered the misdemeanor plea to hit-and-run and careless driving causing serious bodily injury.
“This means that for the rest of his life, Mr. Erzinger will have on his record that he carelessly drove, caused another human being serious bodily injury and left the scene. He will lose his driver's license, face potential jail time as determined by the judge and still have to pay restitution, which as I said in the Vail Daily is important to us but not an overriding objective in the plea.”
Lose job
Hurlbert had earlier told the Vail Daily that a felony conviction could have seriously threatened Erzinger's ability to keep his job as a fund manager at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. That could hurt his chances of paying restitution to Milo.
In the letter, Hurlbert said Erzinger “may or may not lose his job” with the deferred felony plea.
The DA said he takes “full responsibility” for the plea. It's too late to withdraw it; it's up to the judge to accept or reject it.
Odd spin-offs
While the case has brought the expected outrage from bicycle bloggers, there have been a couple of interesting sidelights.
One is the Milo's attorney, Harold Haddon, who faced off against Hurlbert in the sexual assault case against Kobe Bryant in 2003 (the victim eventually dropped the charges).
The Colorado Independent goes on to connect Haddon as a friend of the late gonzo journalist Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, who lived in Aspen, and suggests that Haddon may have a grudge against the district attorney.
The other is the column by John Carney, senior editor of NBC's financial cable channel CNBC. He suggests that, rather than getting a lenient plea offer because of his wealth, Erzinger was actually singled out by police because he was driving a Mercedes Benz.
“I suspect that if Erzinger hadn't been a wealthy guy driving a brand new Mercedes Benz he would never have been arrested for the hit and run.”
There you have it; the motorist is the victim.
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