Jury acquits Campbell NCO in crash death - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Jury acquits Campbell NCO in crash death

COVINGTON, Ky. — When a Kenton County jury announced it had reached a verdict Friday on whether Army Sgt. Riley Ealy caused a fatal wreck in 2009, Ealy was nowhere to be found.

The 27-year-old father of four had gone to his mother’s home in Crescent Springs while the jury deliberated to see his children “just in case,” his attorney told the judge.

The quick trip home wasn’t necessary. The jury of seven men and five women acquitted Ealy in the death of James Fry after deliberating less than an hour.

“I’m delighted that they found me not guilty,” Ealy said after the verdict. “I thought that when everything came out that’s what it was going to be. As far as the Fry family, I feel nothing but regret that they lost their son. I’m sorry for their family.”

During the four-day trial in Kenton Circuit Court, prosecutors tried to prove that Ealy was driving Fry’s Chevrolet Cobalt after a night of drinking when the car crashed on Amsterdam Road. Fry, 25, was thrown from the car and died of his injuries.

Ealy’s defense attorneys said that Fry was driving the car.

Ealy was charged with second-degree manslaughter, first-degree wanton endangerment and driving drunk. He could have faced 15 years in prison.

Instead, he will likely return to Fort Campbell — and possibly Iraq — where he swept for IEDs and earned a Purple Heart.

Ealy wore his green Army dress uniform during the trial in front of Circuit Judge Patricia Summe. Kenton Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders said he suspected that the “defendant’s uniform played into the verdict.”

Fry’s family also thought the uniform swayed the jury.

“He used his uniform to get out of this,” said Fry’s mother, Tammie Fry. “All we wanted was justice for James and answers. We needed the truth.”

Fry lived in Northern Kentucky for about four years and became friends with Riley Ealy’s brother Marshall when the two worked as airline mechanics. Marshall Ealy, who was also in the car, testified that he can’t remember who was driving.

“Marshall and Riley protected each other,” Tammie Fry said.

James Fry’s fiancé, Heather Tomco, said their 6-year-old daughter still asks when her father is coming home.

“I wanted the truth. Who was driving the car and what the hell were they thinking?” she said.

Riley Ealy told seven people after accident that he had been driving the car, according to testimony at the trial. Jurors also watched a video of Ealy telling an Erlanger police officer he was driving.

An accident reconstructionist testified that Ealy was driving, that Marshall Ealy was in the passenger seat and Fry, who was thrown from the rear window in the accident, was in the back seat.

“The two people left walking around had the airbags, the person that did not is dead,” Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney James T. Redwine said during his closing argument.

After the verdict, Redwine said he believes the state proved Ealy’s guilt.

“I respect the jury’s verdict,” he said. “They saw the evidence differently than I did.”

In his closing argument, defense attorney Nick Summe said Ealy told officers he was driving because he felt he should take responsibility after the accident.

“Put the three any which way you want,” Summe said. “The truth is you don’t know. The defense doesn’t know, the prosecution doesn’t know.”

After the verdict, Summe, who represented Ealy along with Paul J. Dickman, said he was pleased with the verdict.

“The system worked,” he said.