Ex-trooper found guilty in fatality
LITTLE VALLEY — David M. O’Brien, a retired state trooper, was found guilty Tuesday of the drunken-driving head-on crash that killed a Seneca Allegany Casino cashier last year.
The jury verdict came after a two-week trial before State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. The jury deliberated for about an hour and a half before finding O’Brien guilty.
O’Brien, 69, of Boulder Ridge Road, Allegany, insisted he only remembers waking up in his car in a ditch after the incident.
O’Brien remains free on $1,000 bail pending his Sept. 9 sentencing.
A state trooper for 26 years until his 1986 retirement, O’Brien faces a prison term of up to to seven years on vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and misdemeanor drunken driving charges.
O’Brien declined to comment following the verdict. However, his attorney, Edward C. Cosgrove, accused the jury of a “lack of courage” and faulted Kloch for not allowing him to call character witnesses on O’Brien’s behalf.
Chautauqua County District Attorney David Foley prosecuted the case with the help of Grace Janlon and Lynn Hodgens after the Cattaraugus County district attorney recused himself.
Foley praised the jury as being “very courageous,” adding that, “the evidence was very clear of guilt.” He also said it is up to the discretion of the judge to allow character witnesses.
On April 26, 2008, O’Brien was driving the wrong way on Route 219 in the Town of Carrollton when he crashed head-on into a car driven by Wendy J. Karnes, 38, just south of Exit 23 of the Southern Tier Expressway at about 10:35 p. m.
Both O’Brien and Karnes were driving to work at the Salamanca casino, where she was a cashier and O’Brien was working as an enforcement officer for the State Racing and Wagering Commission.
Karnes was pronounced dead at the scene. Cattaraugus County District Attorney Edward M. Sharkey ordered O’Brien be brought to Olean General Hospital for a blood test about three hours after the crash. Thirty-two witnesses testified at the trial, including three sheriff’s deputies who said O’Brien was glassy eyed and smelling of alcohol at the hospital.
O’Brien testified Monday that he could not explain why he was driving the wrong way at the time of the incident. He insisted he only recalled an “explosion” and waking up in his car in a ditch after the crash.
Cosgrove said the verdict will be appealed.
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