The Jury Trial of George Nicholas Parsons began Tuesday Morning, February 14th, 2023 in the Circuit Court room of Judge Anita Harold Ashley. Parsons’ attorney, David Richardson attempted, at the request of his client, to receive another continuance stating that Mr. Parsons had hired a private investigator that had failed to produce witnesses. The Judge denied his motion telling Parsons that it was his job to get his witnesses and that he had the power to request subpoenas in such matters.
Before the trial began the Judge asked if there had been offers to resolve the cases. Prosecuting Attorney Nigel Jeffries told that Judge that there had been an offer for the defendant to plea to charges and receive a sentence of 4 to 11 years. If the State proceeded as planned and received a conviction Parsons would face life in prison due to the recidivism of his criminal history. Parson refused the plea offer stating that he couldn’t do 4 to 11 years in prison, he’d just gotten out. The Judge asked him if he understood he could face life if convicted instead, to which he responded that he understood and the trial moved forward.
Jury selection was made by Clerk Shelia Garretson and after a few dismissals for various reasons a complete jury was paneled, sworn and instructed.
State Witnesses for consideration were:
Gary Smith
Casey wood
Steven Beecher
Michael Yeager, Dispatcher e911
Wiley Raines, Former Calhoun Deputy and current Roane County Deputy
Charles Miles
Warren Basnett, Sherfiff
CJ Weekley, WVSP
JB Hunt, WVSP
Defense Witnesses:
Gary Ferrell
Sherry Ferrell
Michael Richards
Amanda Gibson
Prosecuting Attorney Nigel Jeffries made opening statements for the purpose of instructing the jury about the matters of the case. He informed the jury that on April 18, 2021 Deputy Wiley Raines, clocked in at 4 p.m. traveling north on Calhoun Highway when he observed a silver Volkswagen Jetta with a distracted driver. He got behind the vehicle and had the license plate ran through the WV State Police Data base which came back to another vehicle, a Ford Truck. In addition to the false tags, the rear tail light had been broken out. At approximately 4:36 p.m. Deputy Wiley attempts to pull the car over but it doesn’t stop immediately. The Jetta pulled into a wide spot and then does a u-turn almost hitting another vehicle. Wiley knows that in the 8000 block of North Calhoun Highway there are two other police officers that are currently off duty. As he continues to follow the Jetta, it is running at estimated speeds of 70-80 miles an hour. Pleasant Hill resident Mike Smith heard the car coming before he seen it. He sees the car traveling at an excessive speed and knows that it is eluding Deputy Raines seeing him following. It eventually breaks off on to a side road and couldn’t be found. At this point Wiley Raines has been joined in the pursuit by Deputy Jason Chang and WVSP officer Cpl. Jeff Hunt who are offering mutual aid on their day off. The trio had split directions with Deputy Raines ending up on Leading Creek Road, at which time he runs into the vehicle of George Nicolas Parsons who is driving the Volkswagen Jetta. Parsons is pinned in the vehicle. Wiley Raines contacts Calhoun Control at 4:51 p.m. He cannot render aid to Parsons because of the entrapment. All this occurred from start to finish within 15 minutes.George Nicolas Parsons is life flighted for care following extraction by the Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department. Parsons has been convicted in prior cases two times of driving suspended for DUI.
Opening Statements by the defense were made by Attorney David Richardson. He informed the Jury that Deputy Raines could not identify the driver however he notices that the driver is distracted and that the rear taillight is broken. He (the Deputy) will describe his attempt to pull over the driver of the car, taking off in a high speed chase and calling in reinforcements. All were driving reckless, Richardson tells the jury that Raines does not know the driver but he does have a license number. He further says to the jury that the high speed chase should not have been done. The end result is an accident and no phone is found in the car. He then tells the jury that his client, George Nicholas Parsons will confess to driving the Jetta on a revoked license, they will later explain how he came to be driving and where he was going. The jury was told to require the State to prove that when the crash occurred, Nick (George Nicholas Parsons) was driving recklessly. Who hit whom. And that the accident could have been avoided.
Prosecuting Attorney Nigel Jeffries called his first witness, Deputy Wiley Raines. Deputy Raines reiterated the story as the Prosecutor had in the opening statements, but with much more detail. He provided times, witnesses and locations of the high speed pursuit that led to a very serious collision between he and Nick Parsons. He described the time of the accident, how he attempted to avoid Parsons’ car but the speed and narrow road made in unavoidable. He had lost sight of Parsons prior to the accident, but through their knowledge of location and deductive reasoning figured out the path Parsons would have possibly taken.
The State’s questioned Deputy Raines as to his identification ability of George Nicolas Parsons in such a short period of time. While he could not for certain know who it was, he stated that he knew from what he did see that it was a white, male driver and the approximate build. Following their collision Parsons was life flighted with serious injuries, Wiley received damage to his knee and other areas but was not considered serious.
Cross examination of Deputy Raines by Attorney Richardson focused primarily on the necessity of the pursuit, and the protocol for the Sheriff’s department regarding pursuits. Raines was asked if he could have simply just cited the driver for his offenses rather than pursuing him as he did. Raines informed the attorney that could not have. He turned the questioning to the way he pursued, was it with light and siren, was his adrenaline up when the pursuit began? Attorney Richardson asked if Raines had ever considered during his pursuit that he was driving so reckless for a distracted driver. The indication continued to spotlight whether or not the high speed chase was avoidable.
Witness two for the State of West Virginia was Gary Smith. A resident of Pleasant Hill who witnessed the chase when it passed by his house. Gary and Steven Beecher were just feet from the road when the Silver Volkswagen Jetta raced out the ridge. Mr. Smith said he heard it long before he actually seen the car which was driving erratic and crossing the center line. He said the Volkswagen Jetta didn’t slow down but rather sped up when it exited the turn at his house.
State witness three was e911 Dispatcher Michael Yeager who was on duty the night the event happened. He too recalled the event in great detail and without reluctance providing the same information that Deputy Raines did. Through his call logs he confirmed Wiley’s times, the dispatching events and other parties in the case.
Fourth witness by the State was Cpl. JB Hunt of the WV State police. A 24 year veteran of the West Virginia State Police, Hunt was not on duty but was visiting Deputy Chang’s residence for a cookout. When he heard the call from Wiley Raines for mutual aid, he alerted his headquarters that he was going on duty. The VW Jetta involved passed Hunt and Chang, who were in the same car, at an estimated speed of 80-100 miles per hour, describing the car as floating on the highway. They too lost sight of the vehicle not long into the chase and determined a possible route to check and see if the car was there. They shortly thereafter heard the radio traffic about the crash and headed toward that location.
Mr. Richardson cross examined Cpl. Hunt focusing again on the need and protocol of the high speed pursuit. Asking Hunt if he believed the pursuit ever reached a “too dangerous point?” Hunt responded with scenarios that could have been and why there was a reason that Wiley Raines pursued.
The trial was continued to Wednesday Morning.
The first witness of the day was Sgt. C. J. Weekley of the West Virginia State Police. A 23 year veteran of the West Virginia State Police. He recalled the events involving George Nicolas Parsons and Wiley Raines after being notified of the pursuit through radio traffic. He too went out to search for the vehicle, driving toward Ritchie county but did not see it.
Prosecuting Attorney Jeffries asked the Sergeant to describe what he seen on Leading Creek Road when he arrived at the accident scene. Through photographs entered as evidence and verbal descriptions, Sgt. Weekley described the accident scene and how he determined who hit who and an approximate speed. He had taken pictures for insurance and for evidence sake. He Weekly got his camera, marking paint and fire extinguisher.
Attorney Richardson cross examined asking “Were you ever made aware of what was the reason for the high pursuit was? Weekley did not recall. “You don’t need to know the reason, right?” Richardson asks. He then questioned the Sergeant on the West Virginia State police’s policy on pursuit to which Weekley responded that their policy could be different, each agency had their own. Further questioning was made of how they determined when to call off a pursuit with Sgt. Weekley describing that evidence of the vehicle such as road dust moving, or tire marks were all reasons to continue on.
Attorney Richardson mentioned several times a black box that newer vehicles have that operates like those on aircraft, and if the officers were aware of a black box on the Jetta, yet no evidence was provided that it had one. He questioned Weekley and answers were made regarding the damage to the vehicles and what his investigation proved.
The final witness for the State was Sheriff Warren Basneburtt who investigated the accident. The Sheriff told Prosecuting Attorney Jeffries that when he arrived on seen, his deputy was visibly shaken over the crash. Basnett took statements and investigated the accident making the determinations mentioned by the previous officers as well as the discovery of former charges against Parsons such as a prior DUIs and Driving Suspended Revoked twice. Basnett also interviewed the owner of the stolen plate who lived in Parkersburg, as did George Nicholas Parsons.
Sheriff Basnett was cross examined by Attorney Richardson about the investigation of the collision and if it was determined who hit who. Basnett’s testimony was much the same as the previous officers saying that speed was certainly a factor because of the impact on the Sheriff’s SUV which was a much larger vehicle than the Jetta. Questioning was also directed toward Basnett as to whether the chase was necessary and if his department had a policy in place. Basnett’s response was “If you run, we will chase you.” He also said that it was an officer’s judgment call at the time of the incident. More questions about the black box were raised.
The State rested their case and the defense requested a dismissal citing that it could not be proven that Parsons was driving the car at the time of the chase. Judge Ashley declined his request and the defense called their only witness, the defendant George Nicolas Parsons, to testify on his own behalf.
Parsons testimony is not on the chase, but rather he denied being apart of the chase, saying that the chase was actually between Officer Wiley Raines and Parsons’ cousin, Quentin Paul Ferrell, who is now deceased. Parsons explained that he came to drive the car because he happened to be on Seth Fork when his cousin Quintin Ferrell appeared at that scene in a state of panic being chased by an officer. It was at that point that Parsons decided to trade vehicles with Ferrell and return the Jetta to it’s owner for fear it was about to be impoundeda It was then that he ended up on Leading Creek Road and in the accident with Deputy Raines.
Prosecuting Attorney Jeffries began his cross examination by stating that Attorney David Richardson had forgotten to ask the defendant the current status of Quinton Ferrell, to which George Nicolas Parsons answered that he was dead. He explained that at the time of the accident Quinton had lived with him in Parkersburg.
Jeffries commented that that was a convenient story, “Dead men don’t tell tales” he said. Parsons responded by saying that it didn’t look good that his cousin wasn’t there to defend himself. Parsons continued to deny that he was involved in the chase, but confessed to driving while his license was revoked.
Closing arguments by both the Prosecution and Defense was a recap of the aforementioned details. The Jury was given their instruction and left for deliberation. Less than one hour passed when the Jury returned with their verdicts on Parsons. Not guilty on count one of fleeing with reckless indifference, Guilty to the charge of Driving Revoked for DUI 3rd offense.
If Parsons had been convicted on the fleeing charge it would have been an enhanceable sentence allowing for life in prison. He now faces only a 1-3 year sentence for the driving on a revoked license 3rd offense. Sentencing will be done following a pre-sentence investigation by a Alicia Lawson, Probation officer.
