UPDATED: Jury finds Rockholds gulty of homicide for deadly 2008 crash

In an effort to illustrate to jurors how little drugs his client, Randell Mayne, had in his system at the time of a fatal 2008 crash, defense attorney Jim Wren picked up a chocolate bar Thursday afternoon.

He broke off a one ounce piece, and broke that one ounce piece in half. He then shaved off a small sliver from one of the half ounce pieces.

"Yeah. It’s hokey, but it illustrates a point," he told jurors during closing arguments at Mayne’s homicide trial.
While the illustration may have been hokey, it apparently worked.

Jurors could have convicted Mayne of two counts of second-degree manslaughter in connection with the March 26, 2008, accident.

Instead, it took jurors a little over an hour Thursday to convict Mayne of two lesser offenses of reckless homicide, and driving while under the influence. Jurors needed about 10 more minutes to recommend the maximum sentence for reckless homicide, five years in prison on each count. The six-man, six-woman jury recommended that the two sentences be served consecutively, or at the same time for a total sentence of 10 years in prison.

Jurors also recommended a 30-day jail sentence on the DUI charge and a $300 fine. By law the jail sentence will have to be served concurrently, or at the same time as the reckless homicide sentence.

Defense attorney Jim Wren

Circuit Judge Paul Braden scheduled formal sentencing for May 18.

"We are satisfied that the jury reached a reasonable conclusion and exercised wisdom. I felt that the jury made a wise decision in this case," Wren said after the trial.

"Of course, my client, Mr. Mayne, really meant it when he said that he regrets this every day. He does wish that it had been him, who had died that day, instead of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. If there was anything he could do to bring them back, he wishes that he could do it."

On March 26, 2008, Mayne, 46, of Rockholds, was driving on Highway 26 near Hillbilly Auto Sales, when he struck another SUV with Alton and Doreen Wilson inside.

Alton Wilson, the driver, was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene. Doreen Wilson had to be extricated from the vehicle and died at a Lexington hospital about a week later from injuries she suffered in the crash.

A Kentucky State Police Accident Reconstructionist testified that Mayne’s post impact speed was at least 55 mph after he crashed into the Wilson vehicle. He also testified that Mayne’s vehicle crossed over Wilson’s lane of travel, and that neither vehicle left skid marks.

State lab officials testified that Mayne had therapeutic levels of Methadone and Valium in his system about 82 minutes after the crash. He told police at the scene that he wasn’t under the influence of any drugs, but failed three field sobriety tests. Mayne didn’t have a prescription for either drug.

Mayne took the stand in his own defense Thursday morning at the start of the trial’s second day.

He told jurors that he had spent the night at a friend’s house because he and his wife were fighting, which prevented him from going home and getting his prescribed Loracet that he took for chronic back pain.

Mayne said his friend offered him the Methadone and Valium pills, which he took for the back pain that morning.

"I was just all to pieces … He told me it would settle me down," Mayne testified.

The wreck happened shortly after 5 p.m., and Mayne said that he didn’t think he was still under the influence of the drugs at the time of the crash.

Mayne claimed that he could only remember parts of the accident, and he thinks that his accelerator was stuck prior to the crash.

"It was like I was standing on the brakes, but they didn’t work," he testified.

He apologized to the victim’s family, and told jurors that he wished he could trade places with the deceased couple.

"Every day, I wish it had been me that had passed in that wreck. I’d give anything," Mayne testified.

On cross-examination, Mayne couldn’t explain why his vehicle apparently was traveling in Wilson’s lane at the time of the crash.
Jurors could have convicted Mayne of two counts of second-degree manslaughter, which is a class ‘C’ felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison on each count.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Allen Trimble admits that he was surprised by the verdict and expected a second-degree manslaughter verdict.

"One of the things we do is have 12 people make that decision," he said. "While I may disagree with the decision, I certainly will respect it and abide by it."

Trimble said that past juries have struggled when court officials have given the definition of wanton, which is a legal term used in the manslaughter statute.

"Jurors have trouble understanding what wanton is and how it applies to the facts of the case," he said. "In my life, I don’t use the word wanton. I never looked at my son when he was a kid and said ‘that was a wanton act.’ If people don’t use it and aren’t familiar with it. It is an uncommon term that only juries have to deal with."

Trimble said that he could probably ask 100 different lawyers in Kentucky to define wanton without looking it up in a legal dictionary, and that he would probably get 100 different, widely varying definitions.

Mayne will be eligible for parole after serving 15 percent of his sentence or about 18 months behind bars.