**Exclusive. No reprint of reports without permission from Jackson Jambalaya**
JJ has obtained a copy of both accident reconstruction reports in the Irby case. The first one states JPD officer Christopher Barnhart was the investigator and E. Martin was the officer on the scene. Hinds County Deputy Sheriff Michael Huff took the measurements used in both reports.
There are interesting facts in the reports. Officer Barnhart states "Jackson Police Communications contacted me at my residence, in reference to this collision on February 11, 2009, 2236 hours, at which time my assistance was requested in reconstructing this collision. I went to the scene and I began my investigation." JJ has learned Barnhart was not on call that night and was the least experienced accident reconstruction officer at JPD. The Irby wreck was the first accident reconstruction case for Barnhardt. The question must be asked why JPD went out of its way to assign the case to Officer Barnhart for what it knew would be a high-profile case, when it had more experienced officers available to be utilized first if such a wreck occurred.
Barnhart also admits he was the one who ordered the BAC test for Mrs. Irby. However, Barnhart makes a mistake on page eight of the report. He states Mrs. Irby was guilty of a DUI 1st Offense Refusal in 1997. As JJ pointed out in an earlier post, Mrs. Irby was convicted in a Rankin County Justice Court of the offense BUT was acquitted when it was appealed to County Court in Rankin County and the prosecution dismissed the case. The rest of the report is pretty straightforward as it states his conclusion the speed was 114 mph (no calculations are included although he does state the formula used) and Mrs. Irby's driving caused the wreck.
The measurement data starts on page twelve of the report. It states the data was measured on February 16, 2009, five days after the accident. Deputy Michael Huff measured the scene while JPD officers Barnhart and Joe Cotten were present. Sources have also informed JJ Huff was used because no one at JPD was qualified to use the machine to take the measurements. The report also has no photographs whatsoever of the scene or the marks.
Hinds County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Huff submitted the second report on March 12, 2010. It confirms the left front tire of the Mercedes was missing from the car. It was this tire that was not included in evidence. One can only speculate why JPD did not obtain the tire nor include it in the evidence submitted for the case. Huff states "I then used the critical speed formula to calculate the Irby Mercedes speed to be 70 miles per hour." This was important as the lower speed probably would not support a depraved heart murder charge and explains why the District Attorney indicted Mrs. Irby for Aggravated DUI/Death the day before her guilty plea.
It should be noted Officer Barnhart is currently the subject of some recent controversy. WLBT reported he was recently assigned to the dog pound (that is the dog pound in Jackson, not the dawg pound. Have to spell that out for State fans, you know) after he engaged in unprofessional conduct during the recent visit to Jackson by the First Lady. JJ has also learned (ready for this?), Barnhardt filed an EEOC complaint against the city of Jackson for his transfer to the dog pound. It is safe to say the JPD officer will be the subject of much scrutiny for some time to come.
Copy of reports
Monday, March 29, 2010
JJ obtains copy of Irby Accident Reconstruction Reports
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34 comments:
Could this get any more bizarre? (Sent in from the dawg pound).
well, I don't think we REALLY have to ask why Barnhart was called to work the case- DO WE?-Malcolm????
This may well be a conspiracy, but I suspect it's just typical JPD incompetence. I had a vehicle broken into, and they couldn't even find MY fingerprints.
This accident "investigation & reconstruction" was clear from the beginning (sounds all too familiar). High profile case, 2 fatalities, what do you do? "Botch the investigation". We all knew it then & we all know it now. Why do you call in a rookie on a high profile case, why are there no photographs in the report, why not include critical evidence? This was no mistake, no error! When you control the accident scene you control all. Now wondering how this will affect the civil case?
The first thing I would do is have a third party evaulate both methodologies and calculations.
The original report seemed professional enough.
As for Karen Irby and the two victims, it is somewhat irrelevant at this stage. Karen has pled guilty to negligent culpable manslaughter and will likely get significant time in prison. and , of course the two young doctors are dead.
I believe strongly against any conspiracy theory. A conpsiracy would be logical if the original report showed 70 mph and the subsequent report showed 114 mph.
It did not assist Karen Irby one bit to have the original calculation (whether accurately calculated or error) come out at 114mph. It actually worked to her detriment to have 114 mph as the 'official' determination.
The accident reconstructionist would have been embarassed and debunked in a trial, but Karen Irby would have still been held responsible.
I think it will make a difference in the civil suit filed by the Pogue and Dedousis families against the Irbys.
If the true speed was 70 mph and not the 114 mph as originally
reported will help the Irby case.
KingFish assertion that McMillin
has orchestrated some conspiracy designed to help the Irby just doesnt make sense. If anything, the erroneous report hurt the Irby case for the last year. Even if, it was discovered to be in error during a trial, it would opnly put the Irby case back to where an accurate report would have place them in the first place.
Why?
If the speed is knocked out of court, then the depraved heart charge fails. All they had to do was show the wrong measurement and thus the wrong calculation was made and depraved heart probably fails.
Report 1 listed the Doctor's truck as a 2-Door Crew Cab.
Report 2 listed the truck as a 4-Door Crew Cab.
Kingfish, was there no black box in the Mercedes?
Bottom line, conspiracy or not, McMillin's leadership of JPD was an unmitigated disaster on any number of fronts. He didn't lower crime, he didn't root out corruption, he didn't weed out trouble officers top to bottom, and he did nothing to turn around the departmental incompetence that has become JPD's 'claim to shame'. He left the department in the same shape, or worse off, than when he took the job. Those who thinks McMillin walks on water only do so on blind faith.
12:36 Did you see what was left of the truck after the collision? This might be an understandable mistake.
KF, so you mean the conspiracy is that McMillin orchestrates to
trump up the charge to depraved heart murder (life imprisonment) so it would fail in court.
Dang, Mcmillin is more clever than I thought. I woulda thought he might triple the BAC report to .39 because she only drank 2 glasses of wine.
is that you, mac?
What are you people trying to prove? If he intended to throw the case as you suggest, he did a poor job.The Sheriff investigated the accident with the tools at his command and she plead guilty and now her fate is out of his hands. He is the best sheriff this county has ever had or will ever hope to have. He treats everyone with respect regardless of thier station in life. Betcha you did not know that he instruct his force to not arrest anyone for a minor violation before Christmas in order to protect the children envolved. That woman was not going anywhere and he knew it. Untold Hinds County tax money was saved by his piloting of the tragic case.
I'd rather belive JPD messed it up again rather than "Conspiracy". You can't prove Conspiracy with just the stuff we have here.
I agree. It seems like gross negligence more than a conspiracy. JPD has some good people working for it, but some less than desirable incompetents running it. Just look at the in-car video camera situation.
Untold Hinds County tax money was saved by his piloting of the tragic case.
How?
May not prove conspiracy but how do you prove gross negligence on the part of a sheriff? Do you send a rookie on such an accident scene as this? No foul, no crime, type of manner?
KF, with all the known "errors' floating around this accident scene & reconstruction, do you think it likely that Farese will be "adding names" to their civil lawsuit?
I still wonder why the more experienced police officers were not assigned the investigation and reconstruction of this wreck? Everyone knew it would be high profile from the get go. You would think that the Jackson Police Chief would not have left anything to doubt and assigned his very best officers to investigate and reconstruct this wreck. Instead a rookie officer was sent to do a very, very important task-reconstruct the accident, and guess what? He screwed it up big time. So much for leadership in the JPD then. There was none.
I'm a fan of math. If there are two points, you can draw a line. The question here is not which point is correct, but where on the line the "truth lies".
And yes, that is a great grammatical phrase worthy of describing this very case.
So now the JPD admits they screwed up the Irby investigation, the biggest, most high profile case they have had in a long time. Who would have thought it Chief Mac?
http://www.wapt.com/news/22971289/detail.html
I heard some mention of the possibility of a investigation of JPD via grand jury. (from the tv coverage)
Dayumn. Monica brought it in her report on WLBT.
Wow. Now we WLBT and WAPT are both on this. Good. Very good.
Don't mess with Monica.
McMillin says he didn't get involved because of his relationship with Stuart. BULLSHIT.
The Chief is responsible for the department. Relationships or not.
Whether he likes it ~ or more likely doesn't ~ the buck for the investigative fiasco associated with this accident rests clearly and completely with McMillin.
Former JPD Chief McMillin OWNS this debacle. The media in this town can not let him run and hide from that ownership.
In reference to the question above concerning possible county money saved by not slamming little Ms. Karen in jail, as a retired attorney I have done a little estimate for your enlightenment. Jailing her at the Farm for a year would have cost $18,250 minimum. The accident occurred early in the year, so her insurance deductable would not have been met, making the sheriff liable. Whether her insurance would have even paid would be problematical, so tack another $500,000 in hospital bills. The possiblility of bail would have been out of the sheriffs hands, so that cannot be figured into the equation. As it turns out, taxpayers saved the expense of a jury trial, which would have been enormous- I would guess $100,000. We should thank Malcolm for saving our butts in this matter rather than trying to second guess a man who knows more about law enforcement than anyone else around these parts, including all of you. He had a second rate police force handed him by a crazy mayor and did a yeomans job in my opinion.
The county is only responsible for providing medical care to inmates that are in its custody. Karen Irby could have been arrested and released shortly thereafter all from the comfort of her hospital room. It has been done before as it should have been done in this situation.
McMillin took the job. NOTHING was handed to him. He did not accept the job under duress. He may know a great deal about law enforcement but considering his shit poor job performance as JPD Chief that isn't saying much at all.
Again I will ask - what is the status of a data recorder or "black box" in Karen Irby's Mercedes? Was there ever one? Does that model have them?
Every vehicle has a PCM(Power Control Module), some vehicles have two. Normal "investigative" procedure is to determine the available data, if any. Yes, they can be tampered with, an Expert AR could possibly determine this. Funny, no mention of the PCM data in the Irby vehicle so far....we should soon hear something.
You are so full of it. I bet Mrs. Irby's deductible was hit in the first two hours of her admittance to the hospital. The county would only pay for her care IF SHE REMAINED IN CUSTODY. She would've bonded out almost immediately after arrest. Wait a second, she DID!!!
Mac also let her go to Florida while there was an outstanding indictment against her. Period. When she turned herself in, the indictment had been returned by the grand jury two thursdays before that Monday, so call it 11 days prior to her turning herself in.
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