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faces prison in crash death
Sentencing is scheduled Mon-
lay for a Belfair man convicted of
vehicular homicide after a five-day
trial this month in Mason County
ESuperior Court.
i Douglas McDonald, 30, of 30
East Falls Place, was fbund guilty
of causing the death of 22-year-old
L. Jines, who died from
uries sustained in a one-ve-
crash in the Lake Cushman
on August 4. McDonald, who
he was not driving the ve-
icle, faces a standard sentencing
range of from 41 to 54 months in
prison when he is sentenced De-
31.
Testimony spoke to the proce-
used to obtain blood sam-
from areas inside the vehicle
:and subjecting them to a genetic
ianalysis that revealed a one in 15
uadrillion chance that the blood
taken from the area of the
passenger seat belonged to some-
other than Jines.
According to testimony at the
trial, McDonald and Jines and a
number of other people were camp-
ing at the Brown Creek Camp-
ground on National Forest Service
Road 24 and the group decided to
go swimming at Lake Cushman.
McDonald, Jines and others had
been drinking alcohol and McDon-
ald provided Jines with a ride back
to the campgound. The crash scene
was down an embankment off F.S.
Road 24 with the vehicle coming to
rest on its top with the passenger-
side door smashed against a tree.
MCDONALD attempted to get
help for Jines, who was found in-
side the vehicle with his seatbelt
on and died at the scene.
The jury heard testimony from
a number of officers of the Wash-
ington State Patrol beginning with
Trooper Christopher Magallon
who said he arrived at the scene
of the crash at 4:01 p.m. on Au-
gust 4 and described the area as
"very remote." He said there were
numerous aid vehicles along-side
the road.
"There was a blanket covering
what I thought was a person at
the side of the road," he told the
jury. "There was a swath through
the brush and some furrows in the
gravel road which indicated a ve-
hicle had gone off the road."
Magallon said he contacted
Richard Snook, who said he as-
sisted in removing Jines from the
vehicle. He said he also contacted
McDonald and asked him about
his involvement in the crash.
"HE SAID HE was a passen-
ger, and the car had gone off the
road and hit a tree," the trooper
said. "He said he had gotten him-
self out of the vehicle which came
to rest on its top next to a tree. He
said he tried to see if there was
anyone around. He said he went
back to the campground, the Lilli-
waup campground, and got people
to come back."
The trooper said McDonald told
him it wasn't his car but he uses it
because the registered owner, Ju-
lianne McBride, is his girlfriend.
Magallon said McDonald ap-
peared to be impaired: with red,
bloodshot and watery eyes, indi-
cating the man's speech was slow
and slurred and he had an odor of
intoxicants on his breath.
Magallon said when he got to
the vehicle it was on its side. He
said the keys were missing from
the ignition and the driver-side
seatbelt had been unfastened but
the passenger-side seatbelt ap-
peared to have been cut with a
knife.
"It looked like to me, based on
the swath through the brush and
furrows in the road, the vehicle
had rolled," he said.
HE SAID JINES had severe
head injuries and was deceased
when he arrived. He identified
photographs taken of Jines at the
scene.
Magallon said Snook told him
McDonald came to the camp-
ground and he went with him to
the crash scene. He said Snook told
him he had rolled the car over and
cut Jines out of his seatbelt and
carried him to the road. "The de-
ceased was a friend of his. He was
somewhat emotional; he had just
lost a friend," the trooper said.
After talking with Snook, the
trooper said he again spoke to
McDonald about the keys and the
seatbelt. "I asked him how he got
out of the seatbelt and he said that
he unbuckled it. I asked him if he
cut it and he said no. He reached
in his pants pocket and pulled out
the keys to the vehicle. I asked him
if he'd been consuming intoxicants
and he said he'd had three beers."
He said at one point McDonald
told him he really did not know
how he got out of the vehicle.
Magallon said he spoke with
Trooper Tim Knopp, telling him,
"We may need to look at Mr. Mc-
Donald as the driver and if he were
we'd have a vehicular homicide."
TROOPER MITCHELL Bau-
er reported being at the scene of
the crash. He said he located the
vehicle, a black Subaru, about
50 feet down an embankment off
the road. He said the car had an
indentation from where it hit the
tree and he said he observed blood
in back on the window of the pas-
senger's side.
He said he contacted Snook,
who "was sitting down by the back
of my car and he was crying." He
said Snook told him about coming
to the crash scene and cutting his
friend from the seatbelt and bring-
ing him to the roadside. He said he
asked McDonald about a bumper.
Bauer described his observation
of the interaction between McDon-
ald and Sergeant Ronald Mead of
the state patrol and noted McDon-
ald's "body language" changed.
"When Sergeant Mead asked him
certain questions he would look
at him and when asked about the
crash he would turn away and
clam up a little bit. Sergeant Mead
told Mr. McDonald he could see
through his story."
Mead took the stand and said
he responded to the scene as a
supervisor and called in Detec-
tive Dan Presba who investigates
fatalities. He said he told Presba
to go to Mason General Hospital
where Trooper Knopp had taken
McDonald for a blood draw.
MEAD SAID Jines had head
injuries and a mark on the left side
of his neck. He said he did not ob-
serve injuries to his chest and the
mark on his neck was consistent
with being in the passenger seat,
not the driver's seat.
He said he questioned Mc-
Donald after Knopp and Presba
brought him back to the scene. He
said there were inconsistencies in
his story. "He said the other indi-
vidual was driving because he'd
had less to drink than the defen-
dant," Mead said.
Mead said he used "a hypotheti-
cal" when he questioned McDon-
ald, asking him if he got a video-
tape from the convenience store
where McDonald said they stopped
for beer, would it show him as the
driver. "Then he changed his story.
He said he drove to the intersec-
tion of State Route 119 and Road
24 and that's when they changed
drivers."
He said after further question-
ing McDonald said he let Jines
drive because the vehicle was a
performance car and Jines wanted
to see what it could do on a gravel
road.
MEAD CONTINUED, "I told
him what I think happened and
that he is being untruthful." He
said at that point McDonald re-
fused to talk with him.
He said he did see indications of
intoxication but described McDon-
ald as coherent. "He knew where
he was at. He was clearly, visibly
intoxicated in my opinion," Mead
said.
Mead said he aided in taking
measurements at the scene and
coordinating certain aspects of the
investigation. He said all the ma-
terial gathered was turned over to
Presba and Trooper Casey Carson,
a certified collision investigator.
Presba and Carson provided a
diagram generated on a computer
program from measurements tak-
en at the scene. Presba also said
he was present at the hospital
with McDonald and Knopp after a
blood draw was taken.
HE SAID HE talked with Mc-
Donald who said he did not know
the last name of"Mike" because he
had only known him about three
weeks. "There was an obvious odor
of intoxicants coming from him,"
he told the jury
Presba said McDonald told him
the car belonged to his girlfre-
ind. "He made comments that his
friend had one too many to drink
and he told him to slow down and
his friend was driving and he was
sitting in the passenger seat."
Presba said McDonald told him
the car came to rest on its top and
Mike was hanging in his seatbelt
but he released his seatbelt and
crawled out. "He said Mike was
partly outside the car and he could
hear him breathing. He said he
tried to flag down a car. He said
he went to the campsite and got
help."
Presba said McDonald told him
he, Rick and another guy went
back to the crash, turned the car
on its side and they pulled Mike
Defendants plead not
guilty; trial dates-set
(Continued from page 24.)
sold the rifle without Lawler's
permission so that he could have
money to bail Chandelle Lee Cau-
dill out of jail.
• Henry M. Cervantes, 26,
of 424 Walnut Street, Shelton,
entered a not-guilty plea to a
charge of possession of metham-
phetamine. He allegedly had meth
when he was arrested December
8 by Officer Daniel Patton of the
Shelton Police Department, who
responded to a report at 1:37 of a
fight at Big E's.
Cervantes was arrested on war-
rants from juvenile court and tak-
en to Mason General Hospital due
to his level of intoxication. Patton
said that on the way to the jail
he saw Cervantes make furtive
movements and found a small bag
which contained a white crystal
substance which field-tested posi-
tive for meth in the back seat of
the patrol vehicle.
* Laurie L. Miller, 45, of 1740
NE Tahuya-Blacksmith Road, Ta-
huya, pled not guilty to unlawful
possession of a firearm in the sec-
ond degree. She was arrested by
deputies on December 9.
Wet cars mean trouble
(Continued from page 24.)
dent inspection."
These tips can help to spot po-
tential flood-damaged vehicles:
• Ask to see the title of a used
car and see if it has a "salvage"
stamp.
• Use an on-line vehicle history
tracking service like Carfax.com
to get more information about a
vehicle's past.
• Check gauges on the dash-
board to make sure they are ac-
curate and for signs of water.
• Test the lights, windshield
wipers, turn signals, cigarette
lighter, radio, heater and air
conditioner to make sure they
work.
• Flex some wires under the
dash to see if they bend or crack,
since wet wires become brittle
upon drying and can crack or fail
at any time.
They said she was a passenger
in a vehicle which was stopped on
Bear Creek-Dewatto Road for a
traffic violation. Two firearms, a
pump-action shotgun and black-
powder rifle, were on the bench
seat of the pickup truck between
the driver and passenger. Mill-
er has a 2004 domestic-violence
conviction in Kitsap County for
fourth-degree assault making it
illegal for her to possess a firearm.
Three unfired shells for the shot-
gun reportedly were found in her
pocket.
Also on December 24, John
Fitzgerald Thomas, 44, of Shel-
ton, entered not-guilty pleas to
charges of residential burglary
and theft in the first degree.
He was arrested on December
11 by Detective Paul Campbell of
the Shelton Police Department
and is accused of breaking into
a residence at 218 South Second
Street and taking $1,600 in jew-
elry.
The case is scheduled for an
omnibus hearing on January 14,
a pretrial hearing on February 4,
a trial readiness hearing on Feb-
ruary 8 and trial during the jury
term beginning February 12.
out of the car.
PRESBA SAID based on mea-
surements from the scene the ve-
hicle was traveling over 35 miles
per hour when it left the roadway,
became airborne and rolled before
ramming into a tree with such
force bark was embedded in the
side of the vhicle.
He said blood was found in
several places near the right rear
window area of the vehicle where
the deceased was partially ejected.
He said the shoulder belt would
not have prevented him from go-
ing through the window as the ve-
hicle rotated.
He said Jines was not in the
driver's seat based on several fac-
tors: the seatbelt being cut, the
blood marks, the lack of injury to
McDonald who had minor scratch-
es on his arms, and the rub mark
on Jines' neck. He said the mark
was made by the frame around
the door and could not have been
made by the seatbelt.
Dr. Susan Wilson, a forensic sci-
entist who specializes in fiber and
textile analysis, said she examined
the fibers on a seatbelt submitted
into the evidence system in con-
nection with the investigation of
the case. She said the seatbelt had
been cut and had not pulled loose
or come apart.
SHE SAID she found a few fi-
bers and a few hairs in the seat-
belt but no signs of impact dam-
age. She said she did not analyze
the fibers and hairs.
Another forensic scientist, Kar-
en Green, provided testimony re-
garding swabs of blood taken from
the vehicle after it was impounded
by the state patrol. She said sam-
ples were taken from the rear pas-
senger-side window, around the
window itself, from the sunroof
area and on the rear passenger-
side window gasket. She said she
was accompanied by a technician
who observed where the swabs
came from and Green identified
photographs she had taken as she
took the swabs.
Robert R. Johnston Jr., a tow-
truck driver, said he was going to
tow a car from an area near Road
24. "We came around a curve, and
I saw a guy on the road, sort of
running and walking," he said. "I
asked him if he wanted a ride. He
said yeah and he tried to jump on
my boom and wheel (on the back of
the truck). I told him to get up on
the top. He was banged up a little
bit. I said, 'Are you okay?' He said
yeah. We drove up the hill and his
campsite was off to the right and
he jumped off. I asked him again if
he was okay.
He said he went and picked up
the car he was going to tow and
when he brought it back the road
was blocked. "When I got down to
where the accident scene was a
fire guy said I'd have to back up.
I asked him to ask the state patrol
to let me through. He said some-
one was killed up there and they
were looking for someone."
TONI FAIN, a volunteer fire-
fighter and emergency medical
technician with Fire District 18,
said she was one of the first people
at the scene of the crash. She said
McDonald was "nowhere on scene
when we arrived." She said there
was "a deceased body on the road-
side" and a guy told her they had
cut his body out of a vehicle and
brought him to the roadside and
performed cardiopulmonary re-
suscitation.
"Then this gentleman showed
up and I asked him who he was,"
she continued. "He told me he was
the driver. He said he tried to get
people to help and he couldn't so
he ran back down to the camp-
ground."
She said when the troopers
questioned him she heard him say
"something different than what he
had told me. He was saying some-
thing about he wasn't the driver
and I told a trooper that's not what
he told me."
Richard Snook said he and a
group of about 10 adults and six
children were camping and that he
had known Jines for about a year
but just met McDonald. He said
they had been together the night
of August 3 and on the morning of
August 4 he decided to go swim-
ming at Lake Cushman around 10
a.m. He said he was not driving but
was in a car with two other people
and Jines rode with McDonald
"I BOUGHT SOME beer at the
store there. I wasn't paying atten-
tion who was or wasn't drinking.
We had all been drinking prior to
going to the lake. I woke up and
pulled a beer out of the cooler. I
don't keep track of who has a beer
in their hand."
Snook said when they left Lake
Cushman he was in another car
and McDonald was driving the
Subaru and Jines was with him.
"I remember Mike coming back
to the car we were in to ask for a
few beers for the road and he got
into the passenger seat. They had
pulled out before us. We weren't
immediately behind them. We got
to the campsite."
He said a lady stopped at the
campsite and said a man was
running down the road and that
was when he saw McDonald. "He
told us Michael was gone so we
ran down there. Somebody had
grabbed the bumper of the car and
put it on the road. We couldn't
see the actual car from the road,"
Snook continued.
He said the vehicle was upside
down with the passenger side
against the tree and Jines inside
with his head out the back window
against the tree. "We just decided
we got to get Mike out of there.
We tried lifting it up and this
other gentleman showed up and
helped us." He said the gentleman
reached in and cut the seatbelt
and Mike fell down. "We cleaned
out all the glass around the sun-
roof and pulled him out. He looked
like he was in the back of the car.
"I WASN'T DOING well at
all," Snook said. "I was in shock,
distraught. My first reaction was
CPR. I tried one time and I knew."
Snook sobbed softly before con-
tinuing. "I said, 'It's done; let's get
him up to the road.' We carried
him to the road."
Trooper Knopp testified about
taking McDonald from the crash
scene to the hospital for a blood
draw and then back to the scene.
He said the blood draw was tak-
en at 7:49 p.m., about two hours
and 15 minutes after the first re-
port of the crash. McDonald told
him he had had about three beers
prior to the crash but had not con-
sumed alcohol since the crash.
Judge James Sawyer read stipu-
lated evidence into the record from
Don Baker, a laboratory technician
at Mason General, who reported
taking the blood from McDonald.
Sawyer said the jury should treat
the written stipulation as though
a person were giving testimony in
person.
THE JUDGE also read evi-
dence into the record from Asa
Lewis, a forensic scientist at the
state patrol lab. Lewis would tes-
tify he analyzed the blood sample
and the blood-alcohol level, or BAL,
was .12. Lewis would also testify
that using a calculation based on
a burn-offrate for alcohol, McDon-
ald's BAL would have been .15
two hours prior to the sample be-
ing taken. The burn-off rate is the
rate at which alcohol is absorbed
into the body. Lewis also said the
sample showed the presence of the
active ingredient in marijuana.
Autopsy results indicated Jines
died of blunt force injuries to the
head, chest and neck areas and in-
cluded bleeding inside the brain.
William Dean, a forensic scien-
tist who specializes in DNA analy-
sis, testified about the swabs taken
by Green from the rear passenger
area of the vehicle. He said there
is a one in 15 quadrillion chance
that the blood came from someone
besides Jines.
The defense did not present any
witnesses.
Members of the jury were Caro-
lyn Shickley, Donna Mehl, Thom-
as Snyder, Sharon Delay, Jeremy
Kirsch, Lillith Truemper, Allen
Moore, Alfred Martinez, Allison
Bowen, Ronald Ferris, Dennis
Faford and Donna Baker. Gilbert
Oberg was the alternate.
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at our new bulld=ng ! I
' Call for reservations and ask about our balloon twisting specia
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426-6182
www.4alottafun.¢om
Thursday, December 27, 2007 - Shelton-Mason County Journal ,, Page 25
faces prison in crash death
Sentencing is scheduled Mon-
lay for a Belfair man convicted of
vehicular homicide after a five-day
trial this month in Mason County
ESuperior Court.
i Douglas McDonald, 30, of 30
East Falls Place, was fbund guilty
of causing the death of 22-year-old
L. Jines, who died from
uries sustained in a one-ve-
crash in the Lake Cushman
on August 4. McDonald, who
he was not driving the ve-
icle, faces a standard sentencing
range of from 41 to 54 months in
prison when he is sentenced De-
31.
Testimony spoke to the proce-
used to obtain blood sam-
from areas inside the vehicle
:and subjecting them to a genetic
ianalysis that revealed a one in 15
uadrillion chance that the blood
taken from the area of the
passenger seat belonged to some-
other than Jines.
According to testimony at the
trial, McDonald and Jines and a
number of other people were camp-
ing at the Brown Creek Camp-
ground on National Forest Service
Road 24 and the group decided to
go swimming at Lake Cushman.
McDonald, Jines and others had
been drinking alcohol and McDon-
ald provided Jines with a ride back
to the campgound. The crash scene
was down an embankment off F.S.
Road 24 with the vehicle coming to
rest on its top with the passenger-
side door smashed against a tree.
MCDONALD attempted to get
help for Jines, who was found in-
side the vehicle with his seatbelt
on and died at the scene.
The jury heard testimony from
a number of officers of the Wash-
ington State Patrol beginning with
Trooper Christopher Magallon
who said he arrived at the scene
of the crash at 4:01 p.m. on Au-
gust 4 and described the area as
"very remote." He said there were
numerous aid vehicles along-side
the road.
"There was a blanket covering
what I thought was a person at
the side of the road," he told the
jury. "There was a swath through
the brush and some furrows in the
gravel road which indicated a ve-
hicle had gone off the road."
Magallon said he contacted
Richard Snook, who said he as-
sisted in removing Jines from the
vehicle. He said he also contacted
McDonald and asked him about
his involvement in the crash.
"HE SAID HE was a passen-
ger, and the car had gone off the
road and hit a tree," the trooper
said. "He said he had gotten him-
self out of the vehicle which came
to rest on its top next to a tree. He
said he tried to see if there was
anyone around. He said he went
back to the campground, the Lilli-
waup campground, and got people
to come back."
The trooper said McDonald told
him it wasn't his car but he uses it
because the registered owner, Ju-
lianne McBride, is his girlfriend.
Magallon said McDonald ap-
peared to be impaired: with red,
bloodshot and watery eyes, indi-
cating the man's speech was slow
and slurred and he had an odor of
intoxicants on his breath.
Magallon said when he got to
the vehicle it was on its side. He
said the keys were missing from
the ignition and the driver-side
seatbelt had been unfastened but
the passenger-side seatbelt ap-
peared to have been cut with a
knife.
"It looked like to me, based on
the swath through the brush and
furrows in the road, the vehicle
had rolled," he said.
HE SAID JINES had severe
head injuries and was deceased
when he arrived. He identified
photographs taken of Jines at the
scene.
Magallon said Snook told him
McDonald came to the camp-
ground and he went with him to
the crash scene. He said Snook told
him he had rolled the car over and
cut Jines out of his seatbelt and
carried him to the road. "The de-
ceased was a friend of his. He was
somewhat emotional; he had just
lost a friend," the trooper said.
After talking with Snook, the
trooper said he again spoke to
McDonald about the keys and the
seatbelt. "I asked him how he got
out of the seatbelt and he said that
he unbuckled it. I asked him if he
cut it and he said no. He reached
in his pants pocket and pulled out
the keys to the vehicle. I asked him
if he'd been consuming intoxicants
and he said he'd had three beers."
He said at one point McDonald
told him he really did not know
how he got out of the vehicle.
Magallon said he spoke with
Trooper Tim Knopp, telling him,
"We may need to look at Mr. Mc-
Donald as the driver and if he were
we'd have a vehicular homicide."
TROOPER MITCHELL Bau-
er reported being at the scene of
the crash. He said he located the
vehicle, a black Subaru, about
50 feet down an embankment off
the road. He said the car had an
indentation from where it hit the
tree and he said he observed blood
in back on the window of the pas-
senger's side.
He said he contacted Snook,
who "was sitting down by the back
of my car and he was crying." He
said Snook told him about coming
to the crash scene and cutting his
friend from the seatbelt and bring-
ing him to the roadside. He said he
asked McDonald about a bumper.
Bauer described his observation
of the interaction between McDon-
ald and Sergeant Ronald Mead of
the state patrol and noted McDon-
ald's "body language" changed.
"When Sergeant Mead asked him
certain questions he would look
at him and when asked about the
crash he would turn away and
clam up a little bit. Sergeant Mead
told Mr. McDonald he could see
through his story."
Mead took the stand and said
he responded to the scene as a
supervisor and called in Detec-
tive Dan Presba who investigates
fatalities. He said he told Presba
to go to Mason General Hospital
where Trooper Knopp had taken
McDonald for a blood draw.
MEAD SAID Jines had head
injuries and a mark on the left side
of his neck. He said he did not ob-
serve injuries to his chest and the
mark on his neck was consistent
with being in the passenger seat,
not the driver's seat.
He said he questioned Mc-
Donald after Knopp and Presba
brought him back to the scene. He
said there were inconsistencies in
his story. "He said the other indi-
vidual was driving because he'd
had less to drink than the defen-
dant," Mead said.
Mead said he used "a hypotheti-
cal" when he questioned McDon-
ald, asking him if he got a video-
tape from the convenience store
where McDonald said they stopped
for beer, would it show him as the
driver. "Then he changed his story.
He said he drove to the intersec-
tion of State Route 119 and Road
24 and that's when they changed
drivers."
He said after further question-
ing McDonald said he let Jines
drive because the vehicle was a
performance car and Jines wanted
to see what it could do on a gravel
road.
MEAD CONTINUED, "I told
him what I think happened and
that he is being untruthful." He
said at that point McDonald re-
fused to talk with him.
He said he did see indications of
intoxication but described McDon-
ald as coherent. "He knew where
he was at. He was clearly, visibly
intoxicated in my opinion," Mead
said.
Mead said he aided in taking
measurements at the scene and
coordinating certain aspects of the
investigation. He said all the ma-
terial gathered was turned over to
Presba and Trooper Casey Carson,
a certified collision investigator.
Presba and Carson provided a
diagram generated on a computer
program from measurements tak-
en at the scene. Presba also said
he was present at the hospital
with McDonald and Knopp after a
blood draw was taken.
HE SAID HE talked with Mc-
Donald who said he did not know
the last name of"Mike" because he
had only known him about three
weeks. "There was an obvious odor
of intoxicants coming from him,"
he told the jury
Presba said McDonald told him
the car belonged to his girlfre-
ind. "He made comments that his
friend had one too many to drink
and he told him to slow down and
his friend was driving and he was
sitting in the passenger seat."
Presba said McDonald told him
the car came to rest on its top and
Mike was hanging in his seatbelt
but he released his seatbelt and
crawled out. "He said Mike was
partly outside the car and he could
hear him breathing. He said he
tried to flag down a car. He said
he went to the campsite and got
help."
Presba said McDonald told him
he, Rick and another guy went
back to the crash, turned the car
on its side and they pulled Mike
Defendants plead not
guilty; trial dates-set
(Continued from page 24.)
sold the rifle without Lawler's
permission so that he could have
money to bail Chandelle Lee Cau-
dill out of jail.
• Henry M. Cervantes, 26,
of 424 Walnut Street, Shelton,
entered a not-guilty plea to a
charge of possession of metham-
phetamine. He allegedly had meth
when he was arrested December
8 by Officer Daniel Patton of the
Shelton Police Department, who
responded to a report at 1:37 of a
fight at Big E's.
Cervantes was arrested on war-
rants from juvenile court and tak-
en to Mason General Hospital due
to his level of intoxication. Patton
said that on the way to the jail
he saw Cervantes make furtive
movements and found a small bag
which contained a white crystal
substance which field-tested posi-
tive for meth in the back seat of
the patrol vehicle.
* Laurie L. Miller, 45, of 1740
NE Tahuya-Blacksmith Road, Ta-
huya, pled not guilty to unlawful
possession of a firearm in the sec-
ond degree. She was arrested by
deputies on December 9.
Wet cars mean trouble
(Continued from page 24.)
dent inspection."
These tips can help to spot po-
tential flood-damaged vehicles:
• Ask to see the title of a used
car and see if it has a "salvage"
stamp.
• Use an on-line vehicle history
tracking service like Carfax.com
to get more information about a
vehicle's past.
• Check gauges on the dash-
board to make sure they are ac-
curate and for signs of water.
• Test the lights, windshield
wipers, turn signals, cigarette
lighter, radio, heater and air
conditioner to make sure they
work.
• Flex some wires under the
dash to see if they bend or crack,
since wet wires become brittle
upon drying and can crack or fail
at any time.
They said she was a passenger
in a vehicle which was stopped on
Bear Creek-Dewatto Road for a
traffic violation. Two firearms, a
pump-action shotgun and black-
powder rifle, were on the bench
seat of the pickup truck between
the driver and passenger. Mill-
er has a 2004 domestic-violence
conviction in Kitsap County for
fourth-degree assault making it
illegal for her to possess a firearm.
Three unfired shells for the shot-
gun reportedly were found in her
pocket.
Also on December 24, John
Fitzgerald Thomas, 44, of Shel-
ton, entered not-guilty pleas to
charges of residential burglary
and theft in the first degree.
He was arrested on December
11 by Detective Paul Campbell of
the Shelton Police Department
and is accused of breaking into
a residence at 218 South Second
Street and taking $1,600 in jew-
elry.
The case is scheduled for an
omnibus hearing on January 14,
a pretrial hearing on February 4,
a trial readiness hearing on Feb-
ruary 8 and trial during the jury
term beginning February 12.
out of the car.
PRESBA SAID based on mea-
surements from the scene the ve-
hicle was traveling over 35 miles
per hour when it left the roadway,
became airborne and rolled before
ramming into a tree with such
force bark was embedded in the
side of the vhicle.
He said blood was found in
several places near the right rear
window area of the vehicle where
the deceased was partially ejected.
He said the shoulder belt would
not have prevented him from go-
ing through the window as the ve-
hicle rotated.
He said Jines was not in the
driver's seat based on several fac-
tors: the seatbelt being cut, the
blood marks, the lack of injury to
McDonald who had minor scratch-
es on his arms, and the rub mark
on Jines' neck. He said the mark
was made by the frame around
the door and could not have been
made by the seatbelt.
Dr. Susan Wilson, a forensic sci-
entist who specializes in fiber and
textile analysis, said she examined
the fibers on a seatbelt submitted
into the evidence system in con-
nection with the investigation of
the case. She said the seatbelt had
been cut and had not pulled loose
or come apart.
SHE SAID she found a few fi-
bers and a few hairs in the seat-
belt but no signs of impact dam-
age. She said she did not analyze
the fibers and hairs.
Another forensic scientist, Kar-
en Green, provided testimony re-
garding swabs of blood taken from
the vehicle after it was impounded
by the state patrol. She said sam-
ples were taken from the rear pas-
senger-side window, around the
window itself, from the sunroof
area and on the rear passenger-
side window gasket. She said she
was accompanied by a technician
who observed where the swabs
came from and Green identified
photographs she had taken as she
took the swabs.
Robert R. Johnston Jr., a tow-
truck driver, said he was going to
tow a car from an area near Road
24. "We came around a curve, and
I saw a guy on the road, sort of
running and walking," he said. "I
asked him if he wanted a ride. He
said yeah and he tried to jump on
my boom and wheel (on the back of
the truck). I told him to get up on
the top. He was banged up a little
bit. I said, 'Are you okay?' He said
yeah. We drove up the hill and his
campsite was off to the right and
he jumped off. I asked him again if
he was okay.
He said he went and picked up
the car he was going to tow and
when he brought it back the road
was blocked. "When I got down to
where the accident scene was a
fire guy said I'd have to back up.
I asked him to ask the state patrol
to let me through. He said some-
one was killed up there and they
were looking for someone."
TONI FAIN, a volunteer fire-
fighter and emergency medical
technician with Fire District 18,
said she was one of the first people
at the scene of the crash. She said
McDonald was "nowhere on scene
when we arrived." She said there
was "a deceased body on the road-
side" and a guy told her they had
cut his body out of a vehicle and
brought him to the roadside and
performed cardiopulmonary re-
suscitation.
"Then this gentleman showed
up and I asked him who he was,"
she continued. "He told me he was
the driver. He said he tried to get
people to help and he couldn't so
he ran back down to the camp-
ground."
She said when the troopers
questioned him she heard him say
"something different than what he
had told me. He was saying some-
thing about he wasn't the driver
and I told a trooper that's not what
he told me."
Richard Snook said he and a
group of about 10 adults and six
children were camping and that he
had known Jines for about a year
but just met McDonald. He said
they had been together the night
of August 3 and on the morning of
August 4 he decided to go swim-
ming at Lake Cushman around 10
a.m. He said he was not driving but
was in a car with two other people
and Jines rode with McDonald
"I BOUGHT SOME beer at the
store there. I wasn't paying atten-
tion who was or wasn't drinking.
We had all been drinking prior to
going to the lake. I woke up and
pulled a beer out of the cooler. I
don't keep track of who has a beer
in their hand."
Snook said when they left Lake
Cushman he was in another car
and McDonald was driving the
Subaru and Jines was with him.
"I remember Mike coming back
to the car we were in to ask for a
few beers for the road and he got
into the passenger seat. They had
pulled out before us. We weren't
immediately behind them. We got
to the campsite."
He said a lady stopped at the
campsite and said a man was
running down the road and that
was when he saw McDonald. "He
told us Michael was gone so we
ran down there. Somebody had
grabbed the bumper of the car and
put it on the road. We couldn't
see the actual car from the road,"
Snook continued.
He said the vehicle was upside
down with the passenger side
against the tree and Jines inside
with his head out the back window
against the tree. "We just decided
we got to get Mike out of there.
We tried lifting it up and this
other gentleman showed up and
helped us." He said the gentleman
reached in and cut the seatbelt
and Mike fell down. "We cleaned
out all the glass around the sun-
roof and pulled him out. He looked
like he was in the back of the car.
"I WASN'T DOING well at
all," Snook said. "I was in shock,
distraught. My first reaction was
CPR. I tried one time and I knew."
Snook sobbed softly before con-
tinuing. "I said, 'It's done; let's get
him up to the road.' We carried
him to the road."
Trooper Knopp testified about
taking McDonald from the crash
scene to the hospital for a blood
draw and then back to the scene.
He said the blood draw was tak-
en at 7:49 p.m., about two hours
and 15 minutes after the first re-
port of the crash. McDonald told
him he had had about three beers
prior to the crash but had not con-
sumed alcohol since the crash.
Judge James Sawyer read stipu-
lated evidence into the record from
Don Baker, a laboratory technician
at Mason General, who reported
taking the blood from McDonald.
Sawyer said the jury should treat
the written stipulation as though
a person were giving testimony in
person.
THE JUDGE also read evi-
dence into the record from Asa
Lewis, a forensic scientist at the
state patrol lab. Lewis would tes-
tify he analyzed the blood sample
and the blood-alcohol level, or BAL,
was .12. Lewis would also testify
that using a calculation based on
a burn-offrate for alcohol, McDon-
ald's BAL would have been .15
two hours prior to the sample be-
ing taken. The burn-off rate is the
rate at which alcohol is absorbed
into the body. Lewis also said the
sample showed the presence of the
active ingredient in marijuana.
Autopsy results indicated Jines
died of blunt force injuries to the
head, chest and neck areas and in-
cluded bleeding inside the brain.
William Dean, a forensic scien-
tist who specializes in DNA analy-
sis, testified about the swabs taken
by Green from the rear passenger
area of the vehicle. He said there
is a one in 15 quadrillion chance
that the blood came from someone
besides Jines.
The defense did not present any
witnesses.
Members of the jury were Caro-
lyn Shickley, Donna Mehl, Thom-
as Snyder, Sharon Delay, Jeremy
Kirsch, Lillith Truemper, Allen
Moore, Alfred Martinez, Allison
Bowen, Ronald Ferris, Dennis
Faford and Donna Baker. Gilbert
Oberg was the alternate.
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Thursday, December 27, 2007 - Shelton-Mason County Journal ,, Page 25