Mohammad A. Khan Guilty of Vehicular Homicide
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Cherry Hill man. guilty in vehicular homicide
Mohammad A. Khan (DOB 10/7/91), of Cherry Hill NJ was convicted today (10/29) by a Gloucester County jury of vehicular homicide in a 7/3/13 collision on Route I-295 in which a 32-year-old Pennsville woman was killed when Khan’s car, which he was driving southbound at an estimated 105 to 113 miles per hour, struck the back of the vehicle in which she was a rear-seat passenger.
Mary Campbell died of a broken neck in the 11:20 p.m. .crash.
The jury reached a verdict after deliberations Wednesday afternoon and for a brief time today. Superior Court Judge M. Christine Allen-Jackson scheduled sentencing for 1/9/16, to be preceded by a motion for a new trial based on a jury instruction issue.
In the one-day trial, Paul Colangelo, Trial Chief for the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office, presented testimony on vehicle speed calculations and findings that Khan’s blood-alcohol level was .081 when a blood sample was taken four hours after the crash in West Deptford NJ after a warrant was obtained for the sample. Because testing has variability, the actual reading could be .078 to .084.. A measurement of .08 is proof of intoxication under New Jersey motor vehicle law.
However, a New Jersey State Police officer testified that Khan, a dental school student with no criminal record, told him at the crash scene that “I don’t drink.” He also said he may have fallen asleep. After failing two field sobriety tests for balance, he was charged with driving while intoxicated as well as death by auto.
A State Police motor vehicle crash reconstruction officer testified the cause of the collision between Khan’s Toyota Camry and the Hyundai he struck was “the excessive speed Mr. Khan was traveling” as well as his inattention to the vehicles in front of him. Route I-295 in the vicinity of the crash had a 65 mph speed limit. No mechanical or road defects or weather conditions were found to have contributed to the crash, the officer said.
The jury was shown a video of the nighttime crash from a state Department of Transportation camera along the highway.
Khans’ lawyer, John Furlong, told the jury it would have to decide whether Khan’s conduct was reckless, and therefore a crime, as the prosecution contended, or whether it was negligence and not a crime. “You can drink without being reckless and you can be reckless without being drunk,” Furlong said.
If the jury could not decide between reckless or negligent conduct, “you must resolve it in favor of the defendant,” he said.
Furlong also cross-examined the investigating State Police officer about heroin found in the victim’s car next to the driver. The officer said he did not believe the driver was under the influence of the drug. He was driving below the speed limit an estimated 48 to 52 miles per hour.
Khan did not testify. His parents were the only defense witnesses, testifying as to his character.
Colangelo characterized Khan’s operation of his car as “an unseemly high, extraordinary rate of speed. “ Khan’s assertion that he does not drink demonstrated that “at best, he tried to minimize his culpability” and it was a lie, Colangelo said.