Truck driver acquitted in deaths of 7 motorcyclists in 2019

CONCORD, N.H. -- A jury on Tuesday acquitted a commercial truck driver of causing the deaths of seven motorcyclists in a head-on collision in northern New Hampshire that exposed fatal flaws in the processing of license revocations across states.

Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 26, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, was found innocent on seven counts of manslaughter, seven counts of negligent homicide and one count of reckless conduct in connection with the June 21, 2019, crash in Randolph. Jailed since the crash, he appeared to wipe away tears as the verdict was read and briefly raised his index finger skyward before leaving the courtroom.

Jurors deliberated for less than three hours after a two-week trial during which prosecutors argued that Zhukovskyy, who had taken heroin, fentanyl and cocaine that day, repeatedly swerved back and forth before the head-on crash and told police he caused it. But a judge dismissed eight charges related to whether he was impaired, and his attorneys blamed the lead biker, Albert "Woody" Mazza, who was among those killed.

In closing statements Tuesday morning, the two sides raised questions about who was more "all over the place": the trucker accused of swerving back and forth across the road or the eyewitnesses accused of contradicting each other.

"There is no doubt that this accident was a tragedy," said defense attorney Jay Duguay said. "But we are not here to decide whether or not this was a tragedy."

Duguay said Mazza was drunk and not looking where he was going when he lost control of his motorcycle and slid in front of Zhukovskyy's truck. He also accused prosecutors of ignoring that their own accident reconstruction unit contradicted their theory Zhukovskyy crossed into the oncoming lane. An expert hired by the defense, meanwhile, testified the crash happened on the center line of the road and would have occurred even if the truck was in the middle of its lane because Mazza's motorcycle was heading in that direction.

"From the beginning of this investigation, the state had made up their mind about what had happened, evidence be damned," said Duguay, who also highlighted inconsistencies between witness accounts or when witnesses contradicted themselves.

"Those witnesses were all over the place about what they recalled and what they claimed to have seen," he said.

In particular, Duguay suggested members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club "shaded" their accounts to protect Mazza and the club. Prosecutor Scott Chase acknowledged some inconsistencies, but asked jurors to remember the circumstances.

"People were covering the dead, trying to save the barely living, comforting the dying. This wasn't story time," he said. "They were up here talking about some of the most unimaginable chaos, trauma, death and carnage that we can even imagine three years later. They were talking about hell broke open."

Witnesses were consistent, he argued, in describing the truck as weaving back and forth before the crash. That behavior continued "until he killed people," Chase said.

"That's what stopped him. It's not that he made some responsible decision to start paying attention or do the right thing," he said. "The only thing that stopped him was an embankment after he tore through a group of motorcycles."

Chase called the attempt to blame Mazza a "fanciful story" and "frivolous distraction," while reminding jurors that Zhukovskyy, who didn't testify at trial, told investigators "Obviously, I caused the crash."

"He was crystal clear from the very beginning that he caused this crash," Chase said. "That is what he said, because that is what happened."

Zhukovskyy's commercial driving license should have been revoked in Massachusetts at the time of the crash because of a drunken driving arrest in Connecticut about two months earlier.

Connecticut officials alerted the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, but Zhukovkskyy's license wasn't suspended because of a backlog in out-of-state notifications about driving offenses. In a review, federal investigators found similar backlog problems in Rhode Island, New Hampshire and at least six other jurisdictions.

The motorcyclists who died were from New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island and ranged in age from 42 to 62. They were part of a larger group that had just left a motel along U.S. Route 2 in Randolph.

Killed were Mazza of Lee, New Hampshire; Edward and Jo-Ann Corr, a couple from Lakeville, Massachusetts; Michael Ferazzi of Contoocook, New Hampshire; Desma Oakes of Concord, New Hampshire; Daniel Pereira of Riverside, Rhode Island; and Aaron Perry of Farmington, New Hampshire.

Associated Press writer Kathy McCormack contributed to this report.