Unavailable evidence disrupts crash case

STAUNTON – The failure of state police to request a blood-alcohol test resulted in blood evidence being discarded in a fatal crash case, authorities and hospital officials said Thursday.

Traveling alone with an open container in his truck, no driver’s license, his headlights out and a record spotted with almost two-dozen traffic violations, Dale Michael Pleasants, 31, smashed his vehicle head-on into a pickup along U.S. 340 in October 2008, killing Steven Patrick Henry, 29, of Stuarts Draft, according to authorities and court records. A passenger in Henry’s truck later recovered.

Authorities charged Pleasants with felony reckless driving.

Augusta Health emergency room staff drew three vials of blood from Pleasants while treating him for injuries in the crash before crews transported him to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, records show. State police said those vials were delivered to U.Va along with Pleasants.

Augusta Health spokeswoman Vicki Kirby said as a matter of practice blood samples are not sent with patients to U.Va. Kirby said hospital staff followed policy and discarded the blood vials seven days later after receiving no requests for tests.

The investigating officer, state police Trooper A.T. Coffey, did not request blood tests, state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.

Geller said state law mandates troopers make DUI arrests within three hours of a crash. If the three hours pass without an arrest, troopers cannot extract blood samples or force a Breathalyzer test to determine a person’s blood-alcohol content level, authorities said.

“The trooper was doing next-of-kin notification and he was not able to get to U.Va hospital within the mandated state timeframe,” she said. “He missed the window. He missed that three-hour timeframe.”

Authorities said investigating officers often submit requests to have blood sent to a state lab for testing.

On Nov. 3, 2008, five days after the crash, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Rupen Shah subpoenaed medical records and blood analysis reports on Pleasants, according to court records. He received the medical records from both Augusta Health and U.Va., but no blood analysis.

Even without evidence to prove intoxication, Shah said he hopes to convict Pleasants for reckless driving.

“His behavior was reckless in itself because he didn’t have a headlight and he didn’t have a drivers license,” Shah said. “It’s outrageous.”

In a statement to police, Pleasants said he drank one beer approximately one hour before he “blacked out” while driving.

One witness, Mary Tyler, said she saw Pleasants pass her without his headlights on, police records show. A crash reconstruction report stated Pleasants had an open container in his truck.

Notes from U.Va doctors state Pleasants had an “altered mental status” that was “likely due to intoxication,” according to court records.

In a brief submitted Tuesday by Public Defender Duane Barron, the attorney argued prosecutors lacked the evidence to convict his client of reckless driving.

“No one knows what happened to cause this accident,” Barron wrote. “No one can conclusively say that there were no defects that contributed to the loss of control of the vehicle.”

Barron also cited an autopsy report of Henry’s body, which stated Henry had traces of marijuana in his system.

Barron added, “It is certainly reasonable to infer that Mr. Henry had the last chance to avoid the accident, but was not able to do so because he was under the influence of marijuana.”

Since 2000, Pleasants has been charged for driving under the influence, ticketed for speeding at least six times, charged with driving on a suspended license, lack of tags, expired registration, improper driving and not wearing a seat belt, according Department of Motor Vehicles and Augusta County court records.

Since the 2008 crash, Henry’s family has endured one-and-a-half years of disappointment and pain, family members said.

“So many things seem to have gone awry and not our way,” said Damian Desmond, Henry’s brother-in-law. “It’s made it very tedious and very painful.”

Henry’s sister, Tara Desmond, of Winston Salem, N.C., said her brother left behind a young son and family that loved him dearly.

Tara Desmond said her brother’s funeral was appropriately filled with family and baseball lovers from Riverheads. A die-hard New York Mets fan, Henry used to practice pitching with his son, Ryan, after he came home from work, Desmond said.

“He was 10 years older than me, but he was my source for unconditional love,” she said. “He was just gentle. If Pat were here he’d just want this to be over and just have everybody let it go.”

But her family can’t let it go, Tara said. And they’ll continue to wait as the newest battle in court revolves around the grammar of the reckless driving law.

“This guy Dale Pleasants is probably going to get off on a couple of words in the law that a judge can read one way or another,” Damien Desmond said.

Pleasants is scheduled to appear Aug. 2 before Judge Victor V. Ludwig. Since November 2008, the case has been continued more than six times.

The grammar of reckless driving code

As Dale Pleasants’ case continues through the court system, attorneys haggle over the grammar of the reckless driving code section.

From 46.2-868:
Every person convicted of reckless driving under the provisions of this article who, when he committed the offense, (i) was driving without a valid operator’s license due to a suspension or revocation for a moving violation and, (ii) as the sole and proximate result of his reckless driving, caused the death of another, is guilty of a Class 6 felony.

• Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Rupen Shah argued “that the modifier “for a moving violation” applies to only the word “revocation” that immediately precedes it,” and not the word “suspension.” Shah said Pleasants violated the law by driving with a suspension.

• Shah said the defense argued the phrase “for a moving violation” is attached to the word “suspension,” and that Pleasants’ reason for suspension doesn’t match the code section. Pleasants’ license was suspended for failing to pay a fine, not a moving violation.