Krystal Francis, 25, has been cleared of charges relating to the death of Jasmine Herron, 23, a cyclist who was knocked into oncoming traffic by Francis’ open car door in September 2010, says the New York Daily News.
In February a jury found Francis , but a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge threw out that verdict on Tuesday, ruling that due to some technicalities, her guilt could not be proven.
The article says that prosecutors had to prove that Francis’s suspension notice was sent by the DMV and that the Post Office delivered it to the right address, which the judge ruled was impossible.
“There was no proof offered whatsoever concerning an essential element of the crime,” the judge ruled, according to the Daily News.
, prosecutors alleged that Francis swung her car door open into traffic while parked on Atlantic Avenue, near Washington Avenue. The driver’s side door clipped Herron, knocking her off her bike into heavy traffic. She was fatally struck by a passing MTA bus. The original suit alleged that Francis fled the scene.
“I cannot understand how a judge can change the verdict of 12 jurors,” Wendy Clouse, Herron’s mother said, in a statement through her lawyer. “This girl did something illegal that led to my daughter’s death. To make it worse, she left the scene.”
