Final arguments were made in the trial of two young offenders accused of street racing in a deadly 2014 crash.
Was the driver of a BMW in this deadly crash racing with the driver of a Mazda, who drove away from the scene? That’s the central question the defence tried to answer during closing arguments on Tuesday.
Peter Brauti, the defence lawyer for the Mazda driver, spent more than an hour telling the court that two cars travelling side by side in excess of the speed limit does not qualify as street racing.
He said there was no proof of an arrangement, an agreement, or a joint venture between the two drivers.
As for witnesses who testified that they saw racing, Brauti said "pacing each other at moderate speeds cannot support an opinion of street racing."
The crash at the centre of this trial claimed the life of Theresa Van Wieren-Wisch in 2014. Her Toyota was struck by the BMW on Mapleview Drive.
The lawyer for the BMW driver tried to poke holes in witness statements about racing and police testimony that his client was going 107 km/h. He called the surveillance footage used to reach those conclusions a "blurry mess" that may not have produced accurate calculations.
He said the BMW driver was speeding, and looked back to change lanes before the crash. He called it "a lapse in judgement, but it was not dangerous driving."
The Crown summed up its case briefly, saying "the only rational conclusion is they were street racing."
Prosecutors pointed to evidence and the testimony of witnesses.
"There is no better people in the world to know what happened that day than those two witnesses," Crown attorney Fred Temple said.
The Crown also challenged the testimony of the Mazda driver, who said he didn't stay at the scene because he panicked and thought there were enough adults on hand to deal with it.
The Mazda driver's lawyer said that makes it "a moral mistake but does not make it a criminal mistake."
A judge is expected to make a ruling on Oct. 5.
