Woman on trial for videotaping inside car before 6-fatality crash

Teresa Hedlund wasn't behind the wheel of the Ford Escort that smashed into an overpass pillar near the SuperMall in Auburn two summers ago, killing her fiancé and five others inside.

Nevertheless, Auburn city prosecutors contend that along with providing alcohol and cigarettes to those in the car, Hedlund is criminally responsible for the crash primarily because she was behind a video camera recording the ride when it turned into the worst single-car accident in state history.

In a trial beginning today, prosecutors are making the unusual legal argument that Hedlund, the sole survivor of the crash, is an accomplice to drunken and reckless driving — two gross misdemeanors.

Along with those charges, Hedlund, 30, is charged with two other gross misdemeanors stemming from the crash — furnishing alcohol and tobacco to minors. If convicted, she could be sentenced to a year in jail on each charge.

To show Hedlund was an accomplice to drunken and reckless driving, prosecutors must prove she solicited, commanded, encouraged or requested the driver, 22-year-old Tom Stewart, to commit the crimes of reckless and drunken driving.

He and the five other victims were guests at a party Hedlund was hosting at her mother's Auburn condominium before the July 16, 2001, crash, according to investigators. After Hedlund's mother came home, they all left the condo and packed themselves into the small car, investigators say.

The car was going about 60 mph in a 35-mph zone when it hit a curb, spun 360 degrees and crashed into the pillar, killing the six instantly and critically injuring Hedlund.

Stewart, the twin brother of Hedlund's fiancé, Tim, who was also in the car, had a blood-alcohol level of at least .15, according to court documents — nearly twice the legal limit.

The videotape recovered from the wreckage shows the group drinking at the party and laughing and joking in the car seconds before the crash. City prosecutor Kelly Montgomery says the tape was shot by Hedlund and makes up the "lion's share" of the prosecution's accomplice case against the Auburn woman, who was 28 at the time of the crash. The victims — who were 17 to 22 years old — were "showing off for the camera," and that, Montgomery said, played a role in Stewart's driving.

"I think the video will show that having the camera on him caused him to act differently," Montgomery said. "He was just showing off. ... He was going to drive the way he wanted to drive."

"It's one of the most horrifying things I've seen as a prosecutor."

Hedlund's attorney, Tom Campbell, rejects the notion that pointing a camera at the driver could make her an accomplice to his actions.

"I just don't think that's a viable legal theory," he said. "Does the news media then become criminally responsible for the WTO (riots that were filmed)?" he asked.

Hedlund's best friend, Cynthia Berglund, was among those who showed up to support Hedlund during jury selection at the Grace Community Church, where the trial will be held because city facilities are being remodeled. Berglund says she was also a friend of the victims' and doesn't believe it's fair for prosecutors to try to hold Hedlund responsible for their deaths.

"They have to have somebody to accuse," she said. "It was an accident. Everyone in the car was old enough to know what they were doing."

But Montgomery said that even if Tom Stewart had survived, both he and Hedlund would have been charged. "They both acted in concert in this deadly crash," she said.

In addition to the Stewart brothers, those killed were Marcus Cooper, 21, Federal Way; Brandon Dupea, 21, Algona; April Byrd, 17, and Jayme Vomenici, 18, both of Auburn.

"Since that day, everything's stopped," Hedlund said yesterday. "It's been breaking me down emotionally."

She said she is still close to the Stewart brothers' parents as well as Dupea's, and doesn't believe the victims' families blame her for the crash.

Vomenici's mother, Monica, who also sat through yesterday's jury selection, said she didn't show up at the church basement to blame anyone.

Rather, she said, she is hoping for answers. She said she still doesn't know why her daughter wasn't driving that night. Jayme Vomenici was sober, according to autopsy results, and it was her car Stewart was driving.

Vomenici said the trial is just another part of the ordeal she has lived through since her daughter's death.

"It's never gone away," she said.

Janet Burkitt: 206-515-5689 or jburkitt@seattletimes.com.