MANSLAUGHTER RULED IN DEATH OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESS

On December 18, following nearly four days of deliberation, a Pomona, Calif., jury convicted a drunken driver of manslaughter rather than murder in the death of a Jehovah’s Witness who died after refusing a blood transfusion. On March 7, 1998, Keith Cook was driving with a 0.17 blood-alcohol level when his truck slammed into a car that hit Jadine Russell. Russell, 55, was on the side of the road with police officers because of an earlier minor traffic accident.

As a result of the car’s impact, Russell suffered broken bones and massive bleeding. She repeatedly told the paramedics, emergency workers and attending physicians, “No blood!” The collision also injured the woman’s daughter and two police officers at the scene.

Charles Unger, the defense attorney for the 32-year-old auto mechanic, contended that it was the woman’s religious beliefs that actually killed her. Prosecutor Larry Larson acknowledged “the lack of a transfusion was a contributing factor,” but he argued that Cook alone was responsible for the events which led to Russell’s death and, as such, was guilty of murder. He also declared that Cook was already on probation for a 1996 drunken-driving conviction.

While the jury’s verdict reduced the murder charge to manslaughter, the latter conviction carries the same penalty — 15 years to life — because of Cook’s prior conviction.

—MKG

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