Sandra Jacobson returned to the witness stand this morning, where she maintained that she was not drunk the day her pickup and a taxi van collided on Pena Boulevard — and faced repeated challenges to her version of events.
Jacobson, 41, reiterated her assertion that she did not drink any alcohol until after the Jan. 28, 2009, collision on Pena Boulevard — rejecting prosecutor Christine Washburn’s repeated questions about whether she was under the influence before the crash.
“I wasn’t drinking earlier in the day whatsoever,” Jacobson said.
Asked by her attorney whether she had anything in her system at the time of the crash, Jacobson responded, “No … None … Nothing.”
Jacobson faces two counts of vehicular homicide and four other charges in the wake of the crash, which ended with the taxi van slid off the road and rolled over, killing Connecticut librarians Kate McClelland, 71, and Kathleen Krasniewicz, 54.
Prosecutors allege that Jacobson, drunk and driving more than 80 mph, lost control of her pickup, swerved across two lanes, made contact with the van, and then sped off. Among their evidence: A smear of paint from the left-front fender of the taxi that was left on the right-rear truck bumper, next to other fresh damage.
Jacobson contended that one of the six dogs in the truck jumped over the seat, bumping her arm and causing her to lose control. She described gathering it up and driving on, and testified that she had never seen the purple taxi van until she saw a photograph of it in a newspaper after the crash.
She also stuck to her story — that after arriving at Denver International Airport shortly after the crash, she opened the back door of the truck, discovered a bottle left from the previous weekend that contained a mixture of Vitamin Water and banana schnapps, and drank it in three swigs.
This morning, court began with Judge Robert McGahey Jr. ruled that Washburn could ask Jacobson questions about a Federal Trade Commission ruling that barred her from “multi-level marketing.” The ruling included an $804,813 judgment that would be imposed if she attempted to return to the business.
McGahey ruled that Washburn could ask about the case, under which Jacobson paid a $5,000 fine, “because it goes to issues of truth and veracity.”
Jacobson faced questioning from Washburn on three separate occasions today, from her lead attorney, Charles Elliott, and even from jurors.
Jacobson disagreed with Washburn’s assessment that she’d been involved in a “pyramid scheme.” She also said that she had decided to leave the “network marketing business” before the FTC decision.
“The case is closed,” Jacobson said. “I paid the $5,000 and left the industry, which I had already left.”
Washburn challenged Jacobson’s story that she drank the schnapps from a Vitamin Water bottle that she later threw in a pickup — and not from a similar bottle that investigators found in a pocket of the driver’s door. The one in the door, Jacobson said, was orange; the one she drank from that day was red.
“So it would surprise eyou to learn that this particular bottle smells like alcohol?” Washburn asked.
“That’s impossible,” Jacobson said.
Washburn also hit Jacobson on what she termed a number of discrepancies between her initial testimony on Friday and what she said this morning on the witness stand:
— She indicated today that a blow from the taxi cab sent her Springer Spaniel, Bentley, over the seat and into her, causing her to lose control. Friday, she said the dog jumped over the seat to get a Cheeto.
“It happened fast,” Jacobson said. “I didn’t know — Bentley — I didn’t know we were hit from behind and caused Bentley to go over the seat.”
— She testified today, in answering a question from Elliott, that she took her right hand off the wheel to give the dog an “elbow” and get him back into the back seat. Friday, she had said that she never took her hands off the wheel.
Washburn asked several times whether she recalled testifying Friday that she never took her hands off the steering wheel. Each time, Jacobson repeated that she kept one hand on the wheel.
“You didn’t make a distinction (Friday),” Washburn said.
“Well, I’m making it now,” Jacobson said.
— She said today, in answering a question from a juror, that among the first words out of her mouth were “you’ve got the wrong truck.” Washburn pointed out that earlier testimony, by her and others, differed, and Jacobson relented.
“I don’t know if I said, ‘You’ve got the wrong truck,'” she said.
“But that’s what you just said under oath?” Washburn said.
— She told jurors today that she saw the damage to her truck after an officer walked her over to show it to her. Friday, she testified that she noticed the damage to her truck while sitting in a police car.
Again, Washburn asked why her testimony today differed from Friday’s.
“I don’t know,” Jacobson said. “What did I tell you on Friday?”
