Vehicular manslaughter trial in Nez Perce County pushed to October

The new trial of a Carson, Calif., man charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter will be pushed back another month.

Nez Perce County Senior Magistrate Judge Gregory Kalbfleisch agreed on Friday to reset the man’s trial for Oct. 17-22.

Pompeyo Salazar-Cabrera’s attorney, Jonathan Hally, sought to keep the trial on its previous schedule for Sept. 14-17, which was set this spring after the original trial date of April 27-29 was vacated because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hally argued that any delay in the trial would cause his client significant harm. Hally said Salazar-Cabrera is currently unemployed and taking single-day manual labor jobs; the case is preventing him from obtaining a full-time job; and he and his family are not eligible for financial assistance, which means any delay threatens to render his family homeless, court records said.

Nez Perce County Deputy Prosecutor April Smith sought at least a two-week continuance for the trial to Sept. 28 because the state’s expert witness, Scott Skinner, was unavailable to testify in person or via the teleconferencing service Zoom, where most 2nd District court hearings are being heard during the pandemic.

Salazar-Cabrera received a new trial in November 2019 when Idaho 1st District Senior Judge Fred Gibler, of Kootenai County, agreed with Hally that a typo in the Idaho Criminal Jury Instructions should have said “carelessly and heedlessly” instead of “carelessly or heedlessly.”

Salazar-Cabrera is charged in a crash from March 2018 that killed Hayden Garrett, 19, of Clarkston. Prosecutors say Salazar-Cabrera drove recklessly down the Lewiston Hill, reaching speeds of 67 mph while smoke billowed from his brakes. Salazar-Cabrera did not use any runaway truck ramps along U.S. Highway 95, which reaches a 7 percent grade on the hill. Salazar-Cabrera’s semitruck failed to stop at the intersection with State Route 128 and collided with Garrett’s car.

A Nez Perce County jury convicted Salazar-Cabrera of vehicular manslaughter in October 2019, but a new trial was ordered instead. Kalbfleisch ordered a change of venue in the case to Latah County in December 2019.

Wells may be contacted at mwells@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2275.