COAL TOWNSHIP - Shamokin Area senior Angela Kinder cried pretend tears when the mock jury read a mock guilty verdict for involuntary manslaughter in the first degree for causing a mock accident due to texting while driving that took the life of one of her classmates.
The mock trial, held Wednesday afternoon in the middle/high school auditorium, was organized by Northumberland County Coroner James Kelley and assistant district attorney Ann Targonski and was staged by 14 students playing characters in a simulated courtroom to demonstrate the consequences of texting behind the wheel of a moving vehicle.
The cast included a jury, judge, bailiff, stenographer, witnesses, a defendant, her attorney and a prosecuting attorney.
Kinder was on trial for causing the mock death of Anthony Carnuccio and injuring two others by being distracted while driving a truck because she was "willfully and negligently" reading and responding to text messages while operating a motor vehicle on the night of May 20, said Senior Paul Gurba, prosecuting attorney.
The girl claimed not to remember sending a text message that night at the time of the accident, but Gurba provided cell phone records to prove there was an outgoing message at the same time of the incident.
Kinder testified she decided to drive because her friends had been drinking. On the way to the prom, she claimed to have ignored one text message from a friend, but read a second one.
"I know it wasn't right, but I read the message. I only looked at it for a second. My eyes were never really off the road," she said.
Kinder also said the sun was bright, and she claimed the other driver had as much difficulty seeing the road as she did and likely swerved into her lane.
During the witness testimonies, senior Kevin Carsto, who played the part of Special Officer Norman Lukoski, explained he was dispatched to a two-vehicle accident outside the school and immediately noticed a teen, identified later as Carnuccio, was on the hood of the passenger side of a car.
"I believe he was deceased upon my arrival," Carsto said.
Carsto also said he saw Kinder exit the driver's side of the truck while on her cell phone.
Freshman Cole Supsic, who played the part of the driver of the other vehicle, said he, Carnuccio and another friend were driving toward the high school parking lot for prom when a truck struck his vehicle head on.
"I had no time to react. Before I knew it, the truck hit my car. I initially though the driver must be drunk or something," Supsic said.
Carnuccio was on the hood of the car, bleeding and moaning, and the other friend was frantic, he described.
Sophomore Richard Brown, who was playing the part of the defense attorney, asked whether Supsic was the one who left his lane because of the bright sun in his eyes, but Gurba objected to the question based on speculation.
Senior Theo Deptula, who was playing the part of a witness in the parking lot, said the driver of the truck, who he identified as Kinder, was looking down rather than watching the road.
The truck was moving fast and swerving before it collided with the car, he said.
"The next thing I heard was screeching tires and smashing glass. People were screaming. Someone flew out the windshield and onto the hood. It was crazy," he said.
While the jury deliberated, Kinder and her attorney spoke to each other and she crossed her fingers in luck. Once the guilty verdict was read moments later, she broke down into tears and was handcuffed by the bailiff.
Five seconds
Following the mock trial, Targonski explained to the students the average time to answer a text is five seconds. If a person is traveling 55 mph in a vehicle, five seconds is equal to the length of a football field.
Surveys show that 95 percent of adults and 60 percent of teenagers text while driving, she said.
"Even though people recognize how dangerous it is to be driving a vehicle and texting, they still do it. Just because you haven't gotten caught doesn't mean the consequences won't be greater," she said.
Targonski and Kelley offered up several examples in the county where it is believed texting was involved in several deaths from vehicular accidents.
"It is an offense you can be charged with, but more importantly, if you have one of your close friends - or anyone for that matter - die as a result of that, no amount of prison time is going to erase from your mind that you had caused a death," Kelley said.
'Effective'
Middle/high school principal Chris Venna complimented the student actors for their performance and the student audience for being "tuned in" to the issue.
"I think it was effective. If it affects one student, it's effective," he said.
There are many individuals who will hear the message and make better decisions based on the performance, Venna said.
He said the program wouldn't have been possible without the help of Kelley, Targonski and the school's audio-visual (AV) department.
The trial was filmed by the AV department and it will eventually be available to view on YouTube. The North Central Highway Safety Network will provide the taping to other schools to use a teaching guide.