Story by: The Seattle Times Company

Posted: Monday, March 5, 2007 - 12:00 AM

EAST WENATCHEE - A truck driver has been acquitted in what his lawyer says is the first jury trial under Washington's unsecured load law.

A six-member Douglas County District Court jury found Wilfredo "Jesse" De Jesus, 53, a longtime driver for Savage Transportation of Pasco, innocent of first-degree failure to secure a load. The case stems from the death of Bruce A. Gearhart, 33, of Anamosa, Iowa, after a metal ratchet or winch slammed through the windshield of his car Aug. 25 on State Route 28 about six miles east of East Wenatchee.
Deputy Prosecutor Gordon Edgar said the winch came from a Freightliner driven by De Jesus, but nobody saw anything come loose from the truck and defense lawyer Steven W. Woods said it could have come from another vehicle.

"I can appreciate where there wasn't enough evidence as maybe (the jury) would be comfortable with in making a decision, and it is a very new law," Edgar said.

According to the Washington State Patrol, De Jesus used six winches to strap two large potato hoppers onto a Freightliner truck and had three more winches in his tool box.

Edgar said there were no other trucks in the vicinity.

Woods says the verdict rendered Feb. 26 is believed to be was the first under the Maria's Law, a state statute named for Maria Federici of Renton, who was blinded by a piece of particleboard that blew off a trailer and into her car in 2004 on Interstate 405.

Under the law a driver is subject to prosecution for a misdemeanor if something from an unsecured load comes off a vehicle and causes damage, injury or death.

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

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