03/12/2004: 
Criminally Absurd
Judge overrules Sasquatch defense
from Bennington Banner VT
udge squashes Sasquatch questions
By JOHN LeMAY,
Staff Writer
BENNINGTON -- A judge cut short a line of questioning Thursday that suggested a bigfoot might have caused a fatal crash on Route 7 last summer.
Mark T. Zielinski, 34, of Mount Tabor, has been charged with grossly negligent driving with a death resulting. He crossed his van into the oncoming lane on Route 7 in Shaftsbury on June 25, 2003 and collided with a second van containing six people. The driver of the second van, Shaun Keenan, 23, of Shaftsbury, died as a result. Six others, including Zielinski, who was alone in his van, were hospitalized.
In a tense 45-minute hearing to discuss a motion to dismiss, defense attorney Matthew Harnett argued that prosecutors have no way of knowing that Zielinski wasn't trying to avoid some obstacle in his lane when his northbound van crossed into the southbound lane.
At one point, with investigating officer Sgt. Michael Marvin of the Vermont State Police on the stand, Harnett asked, "Isn't there a moose crossing at that location?"
Marvin answered indirectly. "Moose cross there," he said.
Harnett asked, "Haven't there been bigfoot sightings in that area, or allegations of sightings," but Judge David Suntag ended that line of questioning. The reference to bigfoot refers to reports that people have spotted a bigfoot, a bear or someone dressed in a costume near the location of the crash. The Banner reported on mysterious sightings in late September and early October, when several people said they saw a bigfoot or something resembling a bigfoot at the highest elevation on Route 7.
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Though Harnett acknowledged that the crash caused Keenan's death, he insisted that since the prosecution has no eyewitnesses and only the analysis of officers at the scene, they can't prove there wasn't some unknown factor contributing to the crash, and therefore can't prove Zielinski was driving negligently.As a result, the charge should be dismissed, Harnett argued.
Prosecutors Dan McManus and David Fenster of the Bennington County State's Attorney's office relied on observations and measurements made by Marvin and Sgt. Terry Aiken of the Vermont State Police of skid marks and other evidence at the scene.
The officers described skid marks showing that both vans had skidded more than 70 feet. Zielinski's skid marks began when his vehicle was fully in the southbound lane, and the marks showed that he had tried to turn the vehicle toward the northbound lane when he first hit the brakes, the officers said. But the momentum of the van carried it in a straight line toward the oncoming vehicle, they said.
The marks from Keenan's van showed that the driver had tried to veer toward the shoulder of the road and out of Zielinski's path, the officers said.
