Jury hears emotional testimony in Fallen Seven trial

LANCASTER — Members of the Jarhead Motorcycle Club testified in Coos Superior Court Wednesday about the horrific crash that left seven members of the club dead three years ago on Route 2 in Randolph.

The second day of the trial of Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 27, of West Springfield, Mass., centered on testimony by four surviving members of the motorcycle club about the collision and the accident scene.

The most emotional testimony came from Valerie Riberio, who was riding with her husband, Manny Riberio, next to the lead motorcyclist, Albert Mazza, Jr. Known by his nickname Woody, Mazza was club president.

“I saw a black Dodge truck coming at us with its wheels well over the yellow line and our lane of traffic. There was no way for us to get out of the way,” Ribeiro said.

After the impact between the truck and Mazza’s motorcycle, Riberio said Mazza went “flying off of his motorcycle with both hands over his head sideways, and he launched right into our bike and pushed our bike.”

Mazza, she said, “saved us that day because his hitting us made us go far right, right off the road.”

Riberio said she and her husband immediately went to find Mazza. She said she saw parts of his brain on the road.

“He was gone. There was nothing that we could do to help him,” she said.

After checking on other members of the club and finding more fatalities, Riberio said, “I was just walking around screaming to the heavens. It was hard to process everything that was happening and it just didn’t seem real,” she said.

Dana Thompson was further back in the formation and said he did not see the collision but heard the impact.

“I saw more of the trailer than the truck as it was passing across my face,” he said of the flatbed trailer Zhukovskyy’s pickup was hauling that took out many of the motorcycles.

Thompson described the scene as chaotic and said parts were flying, bikes were going down, people were coming out from the cabins, and there was a big fireball as the truck caught on fire. A prospective member of the club, he said was able to stop his bike and it stood up in the middle of all the carnage.

After going around to check and see if he could help other members, Thompson said he saw the driver behind the truck. He described Zhukovskyy as pacing, visibly upset.

Club member Tad Duarte said the motorcyclists were still getting in formation when the collision occurred. His first reaction after the collision was to check and make sure his wife was OK on the back of the motorcycle and then call 911. Walking around to see if he could help, he discovered some members had been killed.

He confronted the driver, yelling at him but said he avoided any physical contact.

“I was nose to nose with him. And I’m telling you right up close,” Duarte said.

Asked by the defense if he has detected an odor of alcohol on the defendant, Duarte said he did not. But when questioned, he and others said the club had a barbecue at the Mount Jefferson View Cabins that afternoon and Mazza had purchased a keg of Coors Light beer that members had been drinking.

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While the state has charged Zhukovskyy with 23 counts including multiple counts of manslaughter, impaired negligent homicide, and negligent homicide, the defense is arguing Mazza was driving drunk and is responsible for the collision.

Public Defenders Steve Mirkin and Jay Duguay made a point of asking the club members when they were asked about drinking on the day of the collision. The defense is charging the issue was not considered by the state until last fall.

Killed in the crash were Albert Mazza, 59, of Lee, Michael Ferazzi, 62, of Contoocook; Daniel Pereira, 58, of Riverside, Rhode Island; Jo-Ann and Edward Corr, both 58, of Lakeville, Mass.; Desma Oakes, 42, of Concord; and Aaron Perry, 45, of Farmington.

The question of who is responsible for the crash was the focus of Tuesday’s opening arguments.

Public Defender Steve Mirkin said his client did not cause the crash. He placed the blame totally on Mazza for driving while intoxicated.

While arguing Zhukovskyy caused the crash that killed seven members of the club, Coos County Attorney John McCormick said the state does not have to prove he was the only cause of the collision.

“The evidence is going to clearly prove that the defendant was a substantial factor in causing the crash. And that’s what we have to prove,” McCormick said in his opening statement. He said state law does not require them “to prove to you that the defendant was the only cause of the crime.”

Repeatedly using words like reckless, negligent, and out-of-control, McCormick said the state will present witnesses who will testify that Zhukovskyy was driving erratically that day including at the dealership and shortly before the crash.

The county attorney said Zhukovskyy admitted at the scene that he was not paying attention and his truck might have crossed the center line. McCormick said Zhukovskyy also told authorities he had snorted a concoction of heroin and fentanyl and taken cocaine at 8 a.m. that morning. He said the defendant knew how dangerous heroin was because he had overdosed on the drug six weeks prior to the crash and had to be given three doses of the drug Narcan to revive him.

McCormick said the Jarhead club is made up of former Marines and the families and they ride motorcycles together and raise money for veteran causes. They were having their annual meeting the next day at the Legion in Gorham. Many were staying at the Mt. Jefferson View Cabins and had arrived by Friday and spent the day catching up and barbecuing.

While the state has focused on Zhukovskyy’s use of drugs on the morning of the crash, Public Defender Steve Mirkin said it did not look at alcohol consumption by the motorcyclists. He said an expert will testify that the Zhukovskyy was not impaired at the time of the collision and accident reconstruction experts have determined the truck was not over the center line.

But he said the state did not pay the same attention to alcohol consumption by Mazza and other motorcyclists. Blood tests have shown Mazza was legally drunk at the time of the collision.

Prosecuting the case are Coos County Attorney John McCormick, NH Assistant Attorney Generals Scott Chase and Joshua Speicher. Public Defenders Jay Duguay and Steve Mirkin are representing Zhukovskyy.

The trial got underway Tuesday after jurors were transported Monday to Gorham and Randolph to view the crash site. It is scheduled to continue today in Lancaster.

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