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Kenealy, Isabelle Wrongful Death trial, Hyde PotterEnt 19660608

20190603HAv-
The Potter Enterprise (Coudersport, Pennsylvania) 08 Jun 1966, Wed Page 1 -
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TEENAGERS ON TRIAL IN WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT, JURY TO GET CASE THIS AFTERNOON
- Lawyers Make Summations This Morning In Trial Of Jerry Dean Hyde, Marcia Gale Prince, Charged In Death Jan. 15 Of Mrs. Isabelle Kenealy 12 Witnesses Appear For Plaintiff Before Defense Begins Case.-

The civil suit against Jerry Dean Hyde and Marcia Prince, Millport teenagers charged with causing the automobile accident Jan. 15, 1966 which took the life of Mrs. Isabelle Kenealy, Coudersport, went into its third day in Potter County Court this morning. In a criminal suit stemming from the same accident, Hyde was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter two weeks ago in the same courtroom. Although a different jury is hearing this week's trial, many of the witnesses are here for a repeat performance.
In addition, several new witnesses have taken the stand-- persons who were eye witnesses to events surrounding the collision on Rt. 44 just west of Millport. And previous witnesses are being permitted to be more specific regarding the speed of the vehicles prior to the collision. An informed source told the Enterprise that more latitude is permitted in a civil suit than in a criminal action.
The courtroom scene this week includes Lawrence Kenealy, as administrator of his deceased wife's estate, seated at the plaintiff's table facing the defendants, Hyde and Prince.
Karen Kenealy, 17, has been present in the courtroom throughout the two days. Ten-year-old Karla sat through the first day of testimony, and the two were joined Monday afternoon by their brother, Lawrence Clarke Jr., 15. The plaintiff's children have been joined occasionally by their cousin, Brenda Kenealy, a prominent member of this year's graduating class, Coudersport Area High School.
Harold Fink Jr., as attorney for the plaintiff, rested his case yesterday afternoon after calling 12 witnesses to the stand, including Mr. Kenealy. Most of the plaintiff's witnesses were cross-examined by Robert Healy of Bradford, attorney for Miss Prince, and some by George Linton of Wellsboro, Hyde's lawyer in this suit.
First on the stand Monday morning were the defendants, who recounted events of that fatal morning in January. Marcia said she had gone to Shinglehouse to deliver her brother for basketball practice and to pick up some groceries for her mother. Her parents were auctioning their farm that day, she said.
En route home she spotted the car of her fiance, 18-year-old Jerry Dean Hyde, in the driveway of his brother's home, the Dennis Hyde residence. She drove in and talked with him briefly, she said. She told him she had to help at home but would see him later in the day. They agreed to go to his home in Millport, both testified, for a bottle of pop before she left for her home.
Both said they maintained substantially the same speed in the two-mile drive to the scene of the accident. She left first in her red 1961 Ford convertible, then he pulled out of the driveway in his 1957 green Dodge sedan. She said she slowed down briefly in Sharon Center when she saw a bulk milk tank truck approaching the road from the Earl Higley farm, then resumed her speed.
The two vehicles passed Burdette West who was traveling in the opposite direction, toward Shinglehouse, in a Scout. Mr. West estimated their speed as they approached him at 70 miles an hour. Dennis Pierce, 18, of Millport who works for West Bros, was a passenger in the rear of the Scout. He said he saw them after his attention was drawn to their approach by a comment of Mr. West about their "high rate of speed."
Mrs. Donald Higley, whose home is north of the highway about a half mile east of the Dennis Hyde residence, saw the cars pass as she stood at her picture window facing the highway. She said they were traveling between 65 and 70 miles an hour and that the "big car" was about a car-length and a half behind the red one. They appeared to be accelerating their speed, she said.
Her attention was drawn to the window when she heard a "roaring sound" on the highway approaching her home. The mailman, traveling east, had just stopped at her mailbox with a package. "After I saw those two cars going ... I thought the mailman wasn't going to get out of the road," she said.
She stepped back and looked down the road from her side window. "All I saw was the tail end of the cars." She testified that the unobstructed view of the highway from her home includes about 800 feet of its length.
Next on the stand was Mrs. Frank Bixby whose home is further east and about a half mile from the scene of the accident. She was standing in the front entrance of her home preparing to shake out some scatter rugs she said when she heard the cars approaching.
A Sharon Center resident for 26 years, Mrs. Bixby said in the previous trial that she differentiates between the speed of cars on that highway by the sound. Normal traffic has a calm sound. She described the approach of these two cars as "shrill" and had estimated their speed at "at least 75 miles an hour."
In this trial, her testimony was objected to by Attorney Healy because the view of the road from her home includes only about 45 feet of its length. Judge Walter Wells sustained his motion that it be stricken from the record and that the jury be instructed to disregard it. Judge Wells, however, denied other similar motions by Attorney Healy in the past two days regarding testimony of other witnesses.
Mrs. Bixby said it was a matter of seconds after they passed her house that she heard the crash.
Next on the stand was Joe Eagen, who said he has been a rural mail carrier in that area for more than 25 yeas. When the two vehicles passed him, he was off the road on the left side, sorting mail to be placed in the box at the Maxson residence.
When he heard their approach he raised his right window to avoid being splashed by the slush on the highway. He described the sound as a "whoosh" and said the "absolute minimum speed of travel was 60 miles an hour." ...
Trooper Steven Toboz, Coudersport-based state police, took the witness stand late Monday afternoon to describe the scene of the accident when he arrived that January morning at about 10:10 o'clock.
He said debris on the road was confined to a ten-foot area, and that the three disabled vehicles were all east of the debris, toward Coudersport. He determined the point of impact with a fresh gauge mark in the west-bound lane of traffic, east of which were 60 feet of skidmarks.
On the scene for about an hour and a half, he took measurements and talked with -witnesses and bystanders. He directed the making of a half -dozen photographs which were offered in court as exhibits by the plaintiff.
The jury was asked to disregard his testimony regarding the point of impact following an objection by Attorney Healy, who said Trooper Toboz couldn't be sure of this since he hadn't been an eye witness.
Clifford Mesler was driving a pick-up truck from Shinglehouse when he arrived at the scene, shortly after the collision. He repeated his testimony that young Hyde was pinned in the wreckage of his car which came to rest across the road. "He was in awful pain and was screaming. I tried to settle him down and tell him he was more comfortable in the car than he would be out of it, until the ambulance arrived."
Miss Prince returned from a nearby house where she had phoned for an ambulance. When she came up to the Hyde car Mr. Mesler testified he heard the youth say, "Now I hope you're satisfied." Under cross-examination Mr. Mesler said he couldn't say for sure that Hyde's remark was directed to Miss Prince, but that he thought at the time it was.
Howard Green of Coudersport was one of the few first-hand witnesses to the collision. He said he was a front-seat passenger of a car driven by his son, Douglas Green. They had followed the car driven by Mrs. Kenealy ever since they left Coudersport.
The deceased woman was on her way to Olean to bring her daughter, Karen, a student at a beauty school there, home for the weekend. She was traveling 45 miles an hour. Green testified, and slowed down going through Millport. He said he thought Douglas had it in mind to pass her when they left that village.
Although Hyde testified in his own behalf yesterday afternoon that he was never closer than 100 feet, or six car lengths, to the Prince vehicle. Green said he never saw the Hyde car until it swerved from behind the red Ford into the left-hand lane to pass Miss Prince and hit the Kenealy car head-on.
Green said he first saw the red car approaching at a distance of 300 to 400 feet away.
The Greens, with Ernest Boucher of Coudersport riding in the back seat, pulled off the road when the accident happened. They saw the Kenealy car, a 1964 Mercury Comet, being turned completely around in... (Continued on pg 8)

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The Potter Enterprise
Coudersport, Pennsylvania
08 Jun 1966, Wed • Page 1

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