Wife initially took blame
Toolbox
By Brent Curtis Herald Staff - Published: November 21, 2008
Taking the stand in her husband's trial, Margaret Neisner said she initially took the blame for a crash that her husband allegedly caused because Melvin B. Neisner was depressed and she feared he might harm himself.
"I was afraid for my husband but not in the way that you might think," Margaret Neisner said during the first day of her husband's jury trial on Thursday in Rutland District Court.
Her husband, a 52-year-old Killington lawyer and former part-time traffic court judge, is charged with felony gross negligent operation for allegedly causing a crash last year that injured a motorcyclist. He also faces felony charges for leaving the scene of the crash and impeding a police officer as well as a misdemeanor charge of lying to police.
Those last two charges stem from Neisner's comments to State Police investigators that his wife was behind the wheel of a sport-utility vehicle involved in the crash. Results of a preliminary breath test Neisner agreed to take on the night of the crash registered a blood-alcohol level of .123, above the 0.08 legal limit for driving in Vermont, according to court records.
Margaret Neisner was charged with causing the crash before her husband came forward with his lawyer a month after the incident to acknowledge that he was the driver.
Pausing to collect her thoughts and control her emotions, Margaret Neisner testified that she held her tongue and didn't deny her husband's allegations because she feared for his life.
"He had been going through a rough patch since my father died … He was suicidal and that's why I did what I did," she told the court. "I feel like I saved his life that night … He's my husband. I love him and I didn't want to lose him. He's the father of my children and I tried to get help for him in the past."
Melvin Neisner watched solemnly from the defense table as his wife testified about his state of mind on the night of Sept. 22, 2007, when the accident took place.
Neisner also didn't flinch when his wife told the court that she appealed to Killington Constable Scott Bigelow for help before she was arrested by State Police.
Margaret Neisner said she approached Bigelow, who was at her home investigating the crash on the night of the incident, twice.
In her first private conversation with Bigelow, she said she told the constable "I swear to God I wasn't driving." In her second appeal, she said she told Bigelow, "I don't know what to do."
Margaret Neisner's testimony was the most surprising of its kind on Thursday when the court heard from two motorcyclists involved in the crash, a cook who witnessed the incident, an emergency room doctor and Bigelow.
Before any of those witnesses took the stand, Rutland County State's Attorney James Mongeon and Neisner's defense attorney, Stephen Klein, presented competing versions of events to the jury during opening arguments.
Mongeon argued that Neisner acted with gross negligence when he cut in front of motorcyclist Michael Schumann and hit the brakes hard enough to bring the GMC Envoy XL he was driving to a sudden stop, leaving Schumann no time to avoid a collision with the rear of the SUV.
"He couldn't stop even at those moderate speeds. There was no time to stop because of what the operator of the SUV had done," Mongeon said.
The state's attorney told the jury that Neisner then exacerbated what he had done by immediately leaving the scene and later lying to police. That lie, he argued, hindered the police investigation.
"It had the effect of stopping the officer cold in his tracks since Neisner denied driving the vehicle. On the word of Neisner, the officer placed (Margaret Neisner) under arrest and took her to the State Police barracks in Rutland."
But Klein told jurors to pay close attention to testimony from the only witness to the accident that he said "didn't have an ax to grind" in the case.
That witness, Jax restaurant cook Dan Mooney, was taking a smoke break when he saw the crash take place 100 yards from the restaurant's deck.
He also referred to Schumann as a "so-called victim" and later asked the motorcyclist from Massachusetts during cross-examination if he wasn't partly responsible for the crash.
"Schumann caused the accident and not vice versa," Klein said. "I submit that you will not be able to find that Mr. Neisner was grossly negligent but Mr. Schumann was."
He also told the jury that police knew or should have known when they interviewed Neisner that it was he and not his wife behind the wheel of the SUV.
"There's no way that they had to arrest Mrs. Neisner. His statements were in no way a hindrance," he said.
The details of the crash differed among the three witnesses who testified Thursday but all agreed that events began with Neisner behind the motorcyclists.
Schumann and his friend John Huband told the court that they were traveling down Killington Road on their motorcycles at about 8:45 p.m. when Neisner pulled onto the road behind them.
Huband said Neisner drove up close behind him as he traveled in the right-hand lane before changing lanes and pulling up close behind Schumann, who was riding his Harley Softail motorcycle in the passing lane.
Schumann testified that he pulled into the right-hand lane to allow Neisner to pass him. But after the SUV drove by, Schumann and the other witnesses said Neisner swerved into the right-hand lane less than a car-length in front of him.
At some point less than 10 seconds — the time given by the witnesses varied from less than five seconds to 10 seconds — the driver of the SUV hit the brakes.
Schumann's injuries included a hairline fracture to his ankle which was set in a cast, a broken tooth and a number of cuts and abrasions. He told the court the crash did $11,000 worth of damage to his motorcycle.
A lawyer hired by Schumann was in court on Thursday taking notes for what Klein argued was an imminent civil lawsuit against Neisner.
Drawing on testimony provided by Mooney, Klein asked Schumann questions about his proximity to Neisner's SUV and his motives at the time of the crash.
Mooney told the court that it appeared Schumann was trying to pass Neisner in the right-hand lane before the SUV moved in front of the motorcycle. He also told the court that Schumann and Neisner proceeded down the road about 20 feet apart, driving at the same speed for five to 10 seconds before the crash.
During cross-examination, Klein asked Schumann if he was angry and looking to get even with Neisner after the SUV pulled up close behind him.
"Isn't it true that it's you who wanted some kind of revenge when Mr. Neisner passed you?" Klein said to Schumann, who denied that vengeance was on his mind.
"I was surprised by it and confused by it but I wasn't angry," Schumann said referring to testimony he gave about the SUV approaching within 18 inches of his taillights before the crash.
Klein also asked Schumann why he didn't follow the "two-second rule" — a road rule that dictates a two-second gap between two vehicles driving in the same lane.
Schumann said he was aware of the rule but didn't have time to back off from the SUV before the crash.
"You can't really adjust that quickly in less than five to 10 seconds," Schumann said.
Neisner's trial will continue today at 9 a.m. with testimony from the remaining witnesses for the prosecution followed by witnesses — possibly including Neisner — for the defense.
Contact Brent Curtis at brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com.
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