AppId is over the quota
As Mark Gerth crawled out of the fiery 2011 crash that killed two, he said, ?It?s over. It?s over.?
That, Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Kevin Hardman told jurors seated in Gerth?s murder trial, wasn?t in reference to the deadly crash.
It was Gerth?s selfish comment about his freedom, Hardman insisted Monday.
?He just didn?t care,? Hardman said, suggesting that was typical of a man with a 27-page criminal record accused of driving a stolen car ?like a mad man.?
Gerth, 40, is on trial before Common Pleas Court Judge Norbert Nadel for murder, aggravated vehicular homicide and other charges stemming from the March 16, 2011, Downtown crash that killed cab driver Mohamed Ould Mohamed Sidi, 33, of Erlanger, and his blind passenger, Tonya Hairston, 38, who was on her way to New York to care for her ailing mother.
The stolen car police say Gerth was driving was traveling at 77 miles per hour when he sped into the Downtown intersection and crashed.
Hardman boasted it was unusual for prosecutors to have video of a crime like the police cruiser and security video that captured the crash.
?What more can a prosecutor ask for on a case than to have the actual crime in front of you?? Hardman asked jurors, showing them the video.
Gerth, Hardman noted, should have been in prison ? on two separate convictions ? at the time of the crash. Gerth was convicted in 2002 and sent to prison for 10 years, Hardman said, but was released in 2008, just in time to be convicted of another crime and sent to prison for four years. Obviously, he didn?t serve all of that sentence, either.
Gerth?s attorney, though, insisted Hamilton County prosecutors didn?t prove their case. That combined with Gerth?s heavy drug use, he told jurors, should result in a not guilty verdict.
?This man was completely and totally under the influence of drugs,? Norm Aubin said.
Gerth, Hardman said, had alcohol, marijuana and cocaine in his system after his arrest.
The jury deliberated more than three hours Monday before being sent home to return today to continue deliberations.
Gerth?s charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
