Date set for negligent homicide trial
By Morgan Palmermpalmer@fosters.com
Dec 18, 2014 at 3:15 AM Dec 18, 2014 at 10:19 AM
DOVER — A Jan. 5, 2015 trial date has been set for a 24-year-old man accused of driving while intoxicated and causing a crash in Durham last February that claimed the life of a retired New Hampshire judge.
Ryan Marchant, of 19 Beach Tree Circle, in Wakefield, Mass., was indicted in November 2013 for two counts of negligent homicide after allegedly causing an accident that killed retired Candia District Court Judge Bruce Larson, 74. He was also indicted on an aggravated driving intoxicated charge for the injuries he allegedly caused to his passenger.
Each count of negligent homicide carries a potential prison sentence of 7 1/2 to 15 years and a $4,000 fine. A felony aggravated DWI charge carries a potential prison sentence of 3 1/2 to 7 years and a $4,000 fine.
According to court documents, Marchant and his friend Martin Hyppolite, a football player at the University of Connecticut, were in Durham on February 22, 2013, the night before the accident, to visit friends at UNH. Hyppolite said that the two of them shared a bottle of vodka with two other friends before going to several bars in Durham. Hyppolite said he could not recall what his friends had consumed at the bar, but said they did not continue drinking once arriving to his friend's off-campus apartment. Court documents stated that witnesses stated that Marchant left the apartment with Hyppolite so he could go to work after sleeping around "six and a half to seven hours."
According to a sworn affidavit from Durham Police Officer Franklin Daly, at about 8:59 a.m. members of the police, the fire department, and McGregor Memorial EMS responded to a call of a two-vehicle accident on Route 4 with "extensive damage." The affidavit states that Marchant, who was driving a 2004 Chrysler sedan, was severely injured and had to be transported by helicopter to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Indictments state that Hyppolite was later determined to have a fractured pelvis.
Larson, who was driving a 2000 Buick sedan, was declared dead at the scene. Hyppolite told officers he "recalled another motor vehicle coming at them at a high-rate of speed" but could not remember anything else.
According to the affidavit, a witness to the accident stated that he was traveling eastbound when looked in his rearview and witnessed who was later identified as Marchant attempting to pass him. The posted speed for this section of Route 4 is 55 miles per hour and is a non-passing zone for vehicles traveling eastbound. The witness said that when he realized that Marchant did not have enough room to safely pass him, he pulled his vehicle to the right in order to allow Marchant to have the space to pass. He said he saw that the two vehicles had collided when he looked in his rearview mirror.
A paramedic at the scene of the accident provided a written statement, stating that she detected what might have been an odor of alcohol coming from Marchant's breath, court documents say. Based on this, Marchant's medical records were seized in order to determine his blood alcohol content.
According to court documents, Marchant's medical records indicated that around 11:22 a.m., a little over two hours after the accident occurred, his blood alcohol content was 0.135 percent.
Marchant's attorney John Gillen filed a motion in October to suppress the blood alcohol tests. The motion stated that the paramedic stating that she may have smelled alcohol on Marchant's breath was not enough probably cause to obtain a warrant for Marchant's medical records. The court later denied this motion.
Marchant was released on $5,000 personal recognizance bail on November 27, 2013, and accepted into the Strafford County Community Corrections bail supervision program. Under this program, Marchant was ordered to have a sobrietor, a hand-held device that detects the presence of alcohol. He has been prohibited from drinking any alcohol or operating a motor vehicle.