Print edition: 
WICHITA — Jurors said they could not reach a unanimous decision Friday afternoon on whether Matthew Noel had been driving recklessly before a car crash that killed a 5-year-old girl and injured her mother last February.
Sedgwick County District Judge Warren Wilbert called the jury into the courtroom after 5 p.m. Friday. They had been deliberating the case since 10:25 a.m. Thursday in an effort that included one juror being excused because of language problems.
Wilbert asked the presiding juror whether the panel would consider going home for the weekend and then returning to talk about the trial on Monday.
“I speak for the whole jury when I say I don’t think it would make a difference,” he said.
Prosecutors did not immediately announce whether they would consider trying Noel again on charges of aggravated battery in the injury of Michelle Randolph and involuntary manslaughter in the death of her daughter Amber last Feb. 12.
The defense had adopted a theory of the accident similar to the way prosecutors originally charged the crime.
Jon Womack, Noel’s lawyer, said Ron Bevan actually caused the accident by cutting in front of Noel on west Kellogg that afternoon. Noel swerved and skidded over a snowbank, which propelled his truck over a concrete barrier to hit the Randolphs’ car head-on, as it came to a stop on the shoulder.
The Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office had originally charged Bevan with the more serious crime of second-degree murder, saying that he caused the accident. Bevan, who witnesses said had been drinking heavily that day, had been seen speeding west on Kellogg before he cut off Noel.
But prosecutors Aaron Breitenbach and Tyler Roush contended Noel was culpable, too, because they claimed he had been racing Bevan. They said his speed had to have been fast enough before he was cut off to propel his truck over the median and across multiple lanes of traffic to hit the car on the far shoulder.
Several eyewitnesses told conflicting stories during the trial of what they saw. Several claimed Noel was not speeding. All agreed Bevan caused the accident.
Jurors heard testimony that Noel’s blood alcohol level of .03 was well below the limit of legal intoxication of .08. They did not hear evidence that Noel was driving on a suspended license, because he pleaded guilty to that charge before the trial began.
The jury also had the option of considering vehicular manslaughter, a misdemeanor, instead of involuntary manslaughter.
This afternoon, Wilbert dismissed a juror, a Vietnamese man, who said he could not fully understand the legal instructions, including the definition of “reckless.” He was replaced with an alternate juror, who spoke and read better English.
But the jury still could not come to agreement the rest of the afternoon, and whether Noel acted recklessly was a key element in deciding both charges.
Several jurors said they couldn’t agree on whether recklessness had been proven “beyond a reasonable doubt,” because of the inconsistent testimony of the witnesses to the accident.
They ended the day deadlocked at 6-6, said D.J. Selvidge.
“Nobody thought he was acting as a responsible young man,” Selvidge said. “But no one thought the state had proven he was reckless.”
Bevan is set for trial early next year.
