On that tragic day three years ago, Marcus Wright insisted he wasn’t driving when the 2000 Buick LeSabre crashed into a Pine Township pond, drowning his girlfriend and seriously injuring his son.
A Porter County jury after deliberating for three hours Thursday acquitted Wright on the four charges that accused him of operating the vehicle while intoxicated, causing his girlfriend’s death and his son’s catastrophic injury.
A tearful and relieved Wright hugged his defense attorney Mark Chargualaf after the jury left the courtroom.
The four-day trial of Wright, 35 of Michigan City, revolved around the question of who was driving on March 25, 2022.
Alisa Oman, 22, died as a result of injuries in the crash. Marcus Xavier Oman, now 4 1/2, suffered “life-altering injuries” as he was underwater for 15 minutes before his rescue.
Chargualaf in his closing argument called the case “horrible” and “tragic.”
However, from the start, Wright told Porter County Sheriff’s officers that day that his girlfriend drove the car.
“Marcus has never wavered. He was not the driver, and the brakes of the car went out,” Chargualaf said.
The car that couldn’t stop struck a railroad tie and crashed upside-down into the pond off Ardendale Road. Wright crawled out of the driver’s side door of the vehicle, Chargualaf said.
After the verdict, Chargualaf said he believed that expert testimony about the brakes was one key to the case.
The prosecution’s expert had stated that fluid was added to the brake system before it was tested after the crash, Chargualaf said. The prosecutors in their closing argument noted that the brakes, while in bad shape, were still operational.
Before the closing arguments, Chargualaf called his own expert witness, Mitchell Kirk, who has 30 years of experience as a car mechanic. Wright did not take the stand in his trial.
The prosecution’s witness had stated the brake fluid could have leaked out when the car overturned. However, Kirk testified that the cap to the master cylinder for the brakes appeared from a photograph to be still intact, so the fluid couldn’t have leaked.
Chargualaf also showed the jury a photograph of a scrape on the left side of Alisa Oman’s head, which could have happened if she hit her head on the driver’s side window.
During the prosecution’s closing argument, Deputy County Prosecutor Kiré Pavlovski admitted that they didn’t have an eyewitness as to who was behind the steering wheel that day.
However, both Pavlovski and Deputy County Prosecutor Harris Peterson stated there was plenty of circumstantial evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Wright was the driver.
Blood tests showed that Wright had twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system and tested positive for marijuana.
Peterson and Pavlovski pointed out that whenever Alisa Oman drove the car, she adjusted the seat close to the steering wheel. The seat was back 2.34 feet from the wheel, which was the position Wright liked to drive in.
Peterson also noted that the electrical system would have shut down because the car was underwater, so the seat position couldn’t be moved after the crash.
In addition, Pavlovski cited evidence from Alisa Oman’s text messages to a friend sent that day between 4:25 p.m. and 4:31 p.m., minutes before the crash.
One of her last messages concerned how it was “pouring and hailing.”
“Would she have texted that while driving with her child in the car?” Pavlovski said.
After the verdict was read, Alisa Oman’s family left the courtroom. The grandparents have the custody of Marcus Xavier Oman, whom they call Xavier.
Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer granted Chargualaf’s request that the electronic monitoring of his client would end.
Wright, after three years of facing the possibility of prison time, was now a free man.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.