[T]he trial for a man accused of killing five teenagers in a 2016 wrong-way crash on Interstate 89 will stay in Chittenden County.
Burlington Judge Kevin W. Griffin wrote in a decision that Steven Bourgoin, 37, has not been able to show “so great a prejudice” against him from media coverage that he would be unable to receive a fair trial in the county.
Bourgoin’s attorney, Robert Katims, requested in April that the trial should not be held in Chittenden County Superior Court, arguing his client would not receive a fair trial from jurors who lived in the same county where the crash occurred.
“Not only has publicity in this case been pervasive and severely negative with respect to Mr. Bourgoin, but any potential juror from Chittenden County is likely to have driven through the scene of the crime (a section of Interstate 89 in the Town of Williston) on numerous occasions,” wrote Katims. “The community in Chittenden was powerfully impacted by the events at issue in this case, and cannot be expected to judge Mr. Bourgoin fairly.”
Katims could not be immediately be reached for comment on Monday.
The state had argued that the pretrial coverage “is not so pervasive, so negative, so inflammatory, or so prejudicial” to Bourgoin that he would not receive a fair trial in the county.
The court found that media coverage of the case has been extensive statewide, and given Chittenden County’s ability to offer the largest pool of jurors, determined that that “a change in venue is unwarranted.”
Bourgoin’s attorney argued that media coverage has been prejudicial because it displays his client in an “unsympathetic light,” appeals to emotions and reveals prejudicial details without context.
Following an extensive review of coverage, the court rejected those claims, also noting that reports and articles are available online throughout the state.
“For the most part, though, the court finds that the reporting was fair, largely duplicative, and not inflammatory […] Some reports included sympathetic information from defendant’s friends regarding defendant’s background and recent struggles,” the decision states.
Griffin’s wrote that the ruling does not prevent the court from revisiting the issue at trial.
The five victims of the crash were teenagers on their way home from a concert at Higher Ground in South Burlington. Bourgoin, heading northbound on I-89 South, crashed his Toyota Tacoma into them going an estimated 79 mph, police said. The car the students were in burst into flames on the median.
Bourgoin then stole a vehicle from Williston police who had arrived at the scene of the crash, according to officials. He drove south toward Richmond and then headed back to the scene, colliding with several other stopped vehicles while going 107 mph.
The students killed in the crash were Mary Harris, 16, and Cyrus Zschau, 16, both of Moretown; Liam Hale, 16, of Fayston; Eli Brookens, 16, of Waterbury; and Janie Chase Cozzi, 15, of Fayston. Four of the five were students at Harwood Union High School and Cozzi was a student at Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire.
Bourgoin, of Williston, has pleaded not guilty to five-counts of second-degree murder, each with a possible sentence of 20 years to life.
Bourgoin’s attorneys said he suffered from PTSD and had wracked up medical debt, in a notice filed in March, and Bourgoin spent the morning before the crash going in an out of the emergency room for unknown reasons. His attorney’s plan to use an insanity defense for their client when the case goes to trial.
A toxicology report from police shows that Bourgoin had 10 nanograms of active THC in his system eight hours following the crash. The report showed he also had taken fentanyl, an opioid pain medicine, and midazolam, a depressant — a potentially fatal combination.
