[Cagdu] FW: NC: Civil Trial Begins RE: Hit and Run That Killed Seeing Eye Dog...

Tue Nov 27 20:01:57 PST 2007

Subject: NC: Civil Trial Begins RE: Hit and Run That Killed Seeing Eye
Dog...

http://www.heraldsu
<http://www.heraldsun.com/resources/printfriendly.cfm?StoryID=902090&pageid=
10> n.com/resources/printfriendly.cfm?StoryID=902090&pageid=10

Civil trial will focus on identifying driver

By Beth Velliquette : The Herald-Sun
bvelliquette@ <mailto:bvelliquette%40heraldsun.com> heraldsun.com
Nov 27, 2007

HILLSBOROUGH -- As the civil trial of Stephen Coffee
-- who allegedly was driving drunk when he hit a blind
woman waiting for a bus and killed her Seeing
Eye dog -- begins today, the question jurors will
likely want answered is who was the driver of the car
that hit Danielle Iredale?

Iredale, the woman injured in the Oct. 5, 2005, wreck
on BPW Club Road in Carrboro, filed a civil suit
against Coffee, claiming he was the driver and asking
for compensation for medical bills and severe
emotional distress, as well as punitive damages.

The trial is scheduled to begin today in Orange County
Civil Superior Court with jury selection. On Monday,
Superior Court Judge Paul Gessner heard pre-trial
motions from both Iredale's and Coffee's attorneys.

The judge decided to exclude an anonymous letter that
someone sent Iredale claiming that he, not Coffee, was
responsible for the wreck. The letter, which
was not read in court, was described as saying that
the author was sorry for what happened but was afraid
to come forward to accept the consequences.

The letter was postmarked in Fayetteville but did not
identify the author. After Iredale received the
letter, she turned it over to investigators at the
Carrboro Police Department, who dusted it for
fingerprints but were unable to identify who had
written it.

Kristie Farwell, one of Coffee's attorneys, said the
question of who was driving her client's car that
morning is the crux of the case. Coffee always denied
he was driving and said someone named Brian was
driving his car, she said.

Iredale's attorney, William Plyler, argued that the
letter would only be confusing because no one knows
who wrote it. It could have been by written by Coffee
himself or a friend of his, the lawyer said.

Gessner agreed with Plyler, saying the hearsay law
requires the name and address of the person and there
was no evidence that letter was trustworthy because
it was anonymous. He said the letter could not be
submitted as evidence.

Coffee pleaded guilty in August 2006 to driving while
impaired and felony hit and run but did not admit his
guilt during a criminal hearing. He was sentenced
to four months in prison.

After Coffee was released from prison, he went to
Virginia, according to Plyler, and applied for a
driver's license there. On his application, he did not
mention his North Carolina license had been revoked
for the Iredale wreck and that he had just served time
for driving while impaired and felony hit and
run.

Coffee's defense team asked the judge to exclude
mention of that incident, but the judge denied their
motion after Plyler said it is evidence of Coffee's
lack of credibility.

Coffee's defense team asked that evidence of emotional
distress from the death of Iredale's Seeing Eye dog,
Inka, and photos of Iredale and Inka be excluded
from the trial.

A dog is considered property in North Carolina, and a
person cannot be compensated for emotional loss of
property, said Reid Russell, Coffee's other attorney.

Plyler told the judge there may be an exception to the
law regarding Seeing Eye or assistance animals and
asked for additional time to research the issue.

Gessner allowed the two photos of Iredale and Inka to
be submitted into evidence and told Plyler to be ready
this morning to make further arguments about
Seeing Eye dogs and assistance animals.

Coffee's attorneys also asked that the value of Inka
be limited to what Iredale paid for the dog, which was
$150. She paid $50 for a replacement dog, they
said.

Plyler told the judge that the value of a Seeing Eye
dog is between $50,000 and $70,000 based on the cost
and time it takes to train the animal. A person
receiving a Seeing Eye dog pays a token fee, which
does not reflect the actual cost of the dog.

The judge denied the defense's motion to exclude the
cost of training the dog, but said they could question
Iredale about how much she actually paid for
the dog.

Other defendants in the case, including the bar He's
Not Here, and Eric Stubbs, an employee of the bar,
have settled out of court in a confidential agreement.

On Monday, defense attorneys said they wanted to know
how much the settlement was for, but the judge denied
their motion for now. It could come up later
in the trial if it turns out the other defendants made
a deal to testify against Coffee, and at that time,
the issue could be reconsidered.

__________________________________________________________
Be a better pen pal. 
Text or chat with friends inside Yahoo! Mail. See how. http://overview.
<http://overview.mail.yahoo.com/> mail.yahoo.com/

__._,_.___ 
Messages
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K9Scoop/message/702;_ylc=X3oDMTMyaThiaHRmBF9T
Azk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzcwNzQyNTIEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA3NTA1MjQ3BG1zZ0lkAzcwMgRzZWMD
ZnRyBHNsawN2dHBjBHN0aW1lAzExOTYyMjA0MDMEdHBjSWQDNzAy> in this topic (1)
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K9Scoop/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJvbmllMzBoBF9TAzk3MzU
5NzE0BGdycElkAzcwNzQyNTIEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA3NTA1MjQ3BG1zZ0lkAzcwMgRzZWMDZnRyBHN
sawNycGx5BHN0aW1lAzExOTYyMjA0MDM-?act=reply&messageNum=702> Reply (via web
post) | Start
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K9Scoop/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJlam01ZjU5BF9TAzk3MzU
5NzE0BGdycElkAzcwNzQyNTIEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA3NTA1MjQ3BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA250cGMEc3R
pbWUDMTE5NjIyMDQwMw--> a new topic 
Messages
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K9Scoop/messages;_ylc=X3oDMTJlNDlpMHFlBF9TAzk
3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzcwNzQyNTIEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA3NTA1MjQ3BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA21zZ3M
Ec3RpbWUDMTE5NjIyMDQwMw-->  
For guide dog handlers assisting guide dog handlers with
advocacy/education-- visit:
www.gdui.org  or  www.nfb-nagdu.org 

<http://groups.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTJkMXYxZXVqBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzcwN
zQyNTIEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA3NTA1MjQ3BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2dmcARzdGltZQMxMTk2MjIwNDAz>
Yahoo! Groups 
Change
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K9Scoop/join;_ylc=X3oDMTJma3FqODE1BF9TAzk3MzU
5NzE0BGdycElkAzcwNzQyNTIEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA3NTA1MjQ3BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3N0bmdzBHN
0aW1lAzExOTYyMjA0MDM-> settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) 
Change settings via email: Switch
<mailto:K9Scoop-digest at yahoogroups.com?subject=Email Delivery: Digest>
delivery to Daily Digest | Switch
<mailto:K9Scoop-traditional at yahoogroups.com?subject=Change Delivery Format:
Traditional> format to Traditional 
Visit
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K9Scoop;_ylc=X3oDMTJkcWxwcDZkBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0
BGdycElkAzcwNzQyNTIEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA3NTA1MjQ3BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2hwZgRzdGltZQMx
MTk2MjIwNDAz> Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms
<http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> of Use | Unsubscribe
<mailto:K9Scoop-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com?subject=> 
Visit
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K9Scoop;_ylc=X3oDMTJlbW9hMXRzBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0
BGdycElkAzcwNzQyNTIEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA3NTA1MjQ3BHNlYwN2dGwEc2xrA3ZnaHAEc3RpbWUD
MTE5NjIyMDQwMw--> Your Group 
Cat Fanatics

on
<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12j8f4155/M=493064.11292562.11840176.8674578/D=
groups/S=1707505247:NC/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1196227603/A=4836040/R=0/SIG=11olbte0b/*h
ttp://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/catzone/index.html> Yahoo! Groups

Find people who are

crazy about cats.

Moderator Central

Yahoo!
<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12jvh3hoj/M=493064.10729651.11333342.8674578/D=
groups/S=1707505247:NC/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1196227603/A=5028924/R=0/SIG=11e3tma2a/*h
ttp://new.groups.yahoo.com/moderatorcentral> Groups

Join and receive

produce updates.

Fitness Zone

on
<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12kcmas4j/M=493064.11675218.12153349.11323196/D
=groups/S=1707505247:NC/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1196227603/A=4840951/R=0/SIG=11n59vup4/*
http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/healthandfitness/> Yahoo! Groups

Find Groups all

about healthy living.

.

<http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97359714/grpId=7074252/grpspId=1707505247/msgId
=702/stime=1196220403/nc1=4836040/nc2=5028924/nc3=4840951> 
__,_._,___ 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://nfbcal.org/pipermail/cagdu/attachments/20071127/ddc3cbb4/attachment.html 