Jury selection underway in Fallen Seven trial

LANCASTER — Both sides in the trial of Volodymyr Zhukovskyy agree that the death of all seven victims was the result of the collision between the pick-up truck driven by the defendant and the group of Jar Head motorcyclists. Where they disagree is who is at fault for the June 21, 2019, collision on Route 2 in Randolph.

Jury selection for the trial got underway Monday in Coos County Superior Court and is expected to take most of the week.

The court is picking 18 jurors to allow for six alternates. With over 140 individuals on the two witness lists, the trial is expected to last three to four weeks. Testimony gets underway next week.

Documents filed in the case make it clear the trial will focus on which party is at fault for the accident.

The state argues Zhukovskyy, 27, of West Springfield, Mass was operating recklessly and under the influence of controlled drugs and is at fault. He is charged with seven counts of manslaughter, seven counts of impaired negligent homicide, seven counts of negligent homicide, one count of aggravated driving while intoxicated, and one count of reckless conduct with a deadly weapon.

Zhukovskyy has pleaded not guilty to all counts. The defense points to expert reports that the lead motorcycle was protruding over the center line when it struck the truck.

The autopsy report showed the blood alcohol level of the motorcycle driver, Albert Mazza Jr., was .135, well over the statutory limit of .08., meaning he was legally drunk.

Members of the Jar Head Motorcycle Club, made up of former and current Marines and their families, were headed to the Gorham V.F.W. Club on the evening of Friday, June 21, 2019, to check on arrangements for their annual meeting the next day. A group of 15 motorcycles with 22 riders were traveling east on Route 2 in formation with club president Albert Mazza in the lead position. Seven of them were killed and several others seriously injured in the collision.

Traveling west on Route 2, driving a 2016 Dodge pickup truck with an attached flatbed trailer, was Zhukovskyy, 27, of West Springfield, Mass. He had dropped off a car at a Gorham dealership on his first day on the job for Westfield Transportation. Zhukosvkyy was such a new employee for the Massachusetts company he had not been added to its liability insurance policy.

The state will present witnesses who will testify to three separate instances of a black Dodge truck hauling a trailer that was traveling erratically shortly before the crash.

An affidavit filed earlier in the case alleges Zhukovskyy admitted to police on the night of the accident that his vehicle crossed into the oncoming lane of traffic when he diverted his attention from the road to retrieve an item from the truck’s console. The initial analysis of the scene by the N.H. State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction unit said the truck was over the center line and there was no evidence the motorcycles were on the wrong side of the road.

But the state then hired the Crash Lab Inc. of Hampton to examine the scene and vehicles. Documents filed in the case reveal the firm found the state police CAR assessment deeply flawed and incorrect. Crash Lab said the initial impact occurred between the left side of Mazza’s motorcycle and the left front tire of Zhukovskyy’s truck. The firm said its analysis found the impact occurred directly over the center line and that Mazza’s motorcycle was in fact protruding over onto the center line when it struck the truck.

More from this section

+3

How gas prices have changed in New Hampshire in the last week

After the Crash Lab report the state dismissed the original indictments that charged the truck had crossed the center line into the opposite land of traffic. New indictments were returned that eliminated any reference to the truck crossing the center line.

The defense reconstruction expert, William Howerton of Scientific Boston, Inc., also said the collision occurred in the center of the road. His report states the motorcycle was in a hard right lean and had begun to slide out, heading into the oncoming lane.

Hoverton said the left side of the motorcycle collided with the left front wheel of the pickup truck. The collision damaged the front wheel and apparently deformed the steering linkage of the truck. The truck then traveled across the eastbound lane and struck other motorcycles traveling behind Mazza. The pickup truck eventually caught fire. Howerton’s report noted there was testimony that Mazza had been looking backwards at the other motorcycles just before the crash.

Justice Peter Bornstein has limited testimony about prior collisions by Zhukovskyy but will allow testimony about an overdose incident in May 2019 in which the defendant was found unresponsive in a parking lot in Agawam, Mass. It took three doses of Narcan to revive him.

On the day of the collision, Zhukovskyy reportedly told law enforcement that he had snorted heroin, fentanyl and cocaine at approximately 8 a.m. Defense expert Dr. Edward Sellers said the concentrations of drugs in Zhukovskyy’s blood test at the time of the accident over 12 hours later are consistent with that timeline.

“Mr. Zhukovskyy was not intoxicated at the time of the accident,” he stated in his executive summary.

Zhukovskyy has been held without bail since his arrest. He is a Ukranian national and holds a green card and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued a detainer on him.

Mazza grew up in Haverhill, Mass., and served four years in the Marines. He was a founding member of the JarHeads Motorcycle Club. Mazza was described as someone devoted to helping veterans.

Also killed in the collision were 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.

Prosecuting the case are Coos County Attorney John McCormick, N.H. Assistant Attorney Generals Scott Chase and Joshua Speicher. Defense counsels are Public Defenders Jay Duguay and Steve Mirkin.

•••

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.