Volodymyr Zhukovskyy is asking a judge to toss evidence offered by witnesses who allegedly saw him drive erratically before his pickup truck slammed into and killed seven bikers last June in New Hampshire.
Zhukovskyy, facing 23 charges including homicide in the deaths of seven Jarheads Motorcycle Club members in a fiery wreck on U.S. 2 on June 21 of last year in Randolph, N.H., also made requests last week to toss various evidence related to his checkered past.
The West Springfield man is contesting witness accounts of his alleged erratic driving before the crash, as described by a passer-by, three Littleton, N.H., firefighters and two employees of an auto dealer, one of whom called Zhukovskyy’s pickup driving like a “a bat out of hell.”
Zhukovskyy’s lawyers also want a judge to prevent prosecutors from presenting evidence of his alleged heroin overdose and revival after three doses of Narcan administered by emergency responders last May in Agawam.
“There is no specific apparent connection between an incidence of apparent overdose, and an allegation of impaired driving seven weeks later,” Zhukovskyy’s public defenders wrote in a filing last week.
Zhukovskyy also asked a judge to toss, or grant an oral argument over evidence related to his semi-tractor trailer rollover in Texas 18 days before the New Hampshire accident. According to prosecutors, Zhukovskyy allegedly told New Hampshire investigators, “Well, I mean, I do heroin,” when discussing the Texas rollover.
Defense attorneys fired back, calling the connection between the accidents lacking a “logical chain or reasoning.”
“An accident related to inattention for which Mr. Zhukovskyy was not at fault could not possibly be relevant to prove Mr. Zhukovskyy’s knowledge of the dangers of inattention,” his filing states. “No such logical chain of reasoning exists.”
An initial investigation by authorities alleged Zhukovskyy drove over a center divider and slammed into the Jarheads bikers head-on, while an independent analysis cited by Zhukovskyy’s legal team earlier this year alleged the lead biker killed in the accident drove onto the center divider and was intoxicated.
The case is scheduled to go to trial in November while Zhukovskyy sits in a New Hampshire lockup.
Make sure you have subscribed to our Facebook page or Twitter to stay tuned!
Source: The Sun (Lowell) by Andrew Martinez