BOATER CONVICTED IN FATAL CRASH AT PYRAMID LAKE.Byline: Laurence Darmiento Daily News Staff Writer In a bitter, emotion-laden case, a San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. man was convicted Monday of reckless reckless adj. in both negligence and criminal cases, careless to the point of being heedless of the consequences ("grossly" negligent). Most commonly this refers to the traffic misdemeanor "reckless driving. boating in an incident last year on Pyramid Lake Pyramid Lake, 188 sq mi (487 sq km), W Nev. The lake, a remnant of ancient Lake Lahontan, receives the Truckee River. Visited (1844) by U.S. explorer John Frémont, the lake was named for its large pyramidal rocks. that killed two people, including his girlfriend. After deliberating for seven hours over two days, a Newhall Municipal Court jury found Patrick Forman, 31, guilty of the misdemeanor misdemeanor, in law, a minor crime, in contrast to a felony. At common law a misdemeanor was a crime other than treason or a felony. Although it might be a grave offense, it did not affect the feudal bond or take away the offender's property. By the 19th cent. in the April 30 deaths of his girlfriend Leah Helbert, 24, and friend Joey Halsey, 27. Forman, who is not in custody, faces up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine when sentenced March 1 by Judge Floyd Baxter. The case has aroused so much rancor among various friends and relatives of Forman and the victims that Baxter threatened to hold court spectators in contempt if they reacted to the verdict. As the verdict was read, Forman looked down quickly as relatives of Helbert and Halsey broke out into tears and smiles. More than half a dozen spectators who sided with Forman remained expressionless. Forman walked out of the courtroom without comment, as did his relatives. His attorney was not in court for the verdict, and was represented by a different lawyer. Helbert's father said he may now file a wrongful death The taking of the life of an individual resulting from the willful or negligent act of another person or persons. If a person is killed because of the wrongful conduct of a person or persons, the decedent's heirs and other beneficiaries may file a wrongful death action suit against his deceased daughter's boyfriend. "It's only a reckless boating charge, but it's a beginning," said Gary Helbert, 45, of San Fernando. "Now we know who was responsible for our daughter's death, and we'll go on from here. We can't possibly make him feel as miserable as we do, but we can try." "Justice was served. I believe God works in mysterious ways," said Helbert's aunt Kathy Kjar. "Thank God for the jury's verdict." The bitter feelings of the case were complicated last year after Forman married the other survivor of the crash, Halsey's wife, Stacey. Halsey drowned in the crash, while Helbert broke her neck, officials said. Prosecutors contended that Forman caused the tragedy by his negligence, while the defense called it a simple accident that did not warrant a criminal prosecution. The accident took place as Forman was operating a powerful speedboat owned by Helbert, while a second boat operated by a friend approached a slower craft pulling a water surfer. The group, hailing from the northeast San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , had gone to the lake for a day of boating. The second boat went to the right of the slower craft into calmer waters, while Forman split to the left, hitting a wake created by the slower craft and several personal watercraft personal watercraft n. 1. A motorized recreational water vehicle normally ridden by straddling a seat. 2. (used with a pl. verb) Such water vehicles considered as a group. . The wake caused the speedboat to become airborne for some 15 feet before landing on its nose. The impact caused the hull to snap in half, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. testimony by the water surfer. Deputy District Attorney Marlo Dickman said that while testimony in the five-day trial never conclusively con·clu·sive adj. Serving to put an end to doubt, question, or uncertainty; decisive. See Synonyms at decisive. con·clu  sive·ly adv. established that Forman was above
the lake's 35 mph speed limit at the moment the craft crashed, it
did show he was accelerating.
"It was important. We had six civilian witnesses, and they tended to contradict con·tra·dict v. con·tra·dict·ed, con·tra·dict·ing, con·tra·dicts v.tr. 1. To assert or express the opposite of (a statement). 2. To deny the statement of. See Synonyms at deny. each other as you would expect, but they all agreed on that one important point - he was accelerating," Dickman said. "It was a difficult case to try. You could feel the tension in the courtroom." The accident was the second fatal one that day on the lake. Just a few hours earlier, a 22-year-old Canyon Country man died after his personal watercraft was hit by a bass boat. In October, boat operator Jeffrey Hanel, 29, of Lancaster, pleaded no contest to reckless boating and was fined, placed on probation and ordered to attend boating school. |
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