The sole survivor of one of the state's deadliest single-car wrecks can't be guilty of encouraging her friend to drive drunkenly because she was a victim of the crime, the state Court of Appeals ruled Monday.
A jury found Teresa Hedlund guilty three years ago of being an accomplice to drunken driving July 16, 2001, when the car she was riding in slammed into a concrete pillar, killing her fiance and the five others crammed inside the vehicle.
In an unusual legal stance, Auburn prosecutors argued that Hedlund had been egging on the driver, Tom Stewart, to drive recklessly by videotaping him as she sat in the passenger seat.
But Monday, a three-judge panel found that Hedlund could not be prosecuted as Stewart's accomplice in the crime because she was a victim of it. She was critically injured and spent many months recovering from head, spleen, liver and hip injuries.
Details here from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The Court's opinion is here. (via Bashman)