Photos by Erica Yoon | The Roanoke Times
Marina Snyder weeps as the accident that killed Zach Parsons is recounted by Franklin County Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Patrick Nix on Thursday.
Franklin County Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Patrick Nix points to a photograph of the roadway that was taken on the day of the Jan. 23 wreck.
Marina Snyder listens to Judge William Alexander ask a series of questions as she stands next to her attorney, Scott Austin, on Thursday morning at the Franklin County Courthouse.
The crash
- Snyder was driving her mother's 2000 Mercury Cougar north on Booker T. Washington Highway near Beechdale Road about 3:45 p.m. on Jan. 23 when she lost control. The car went across the center line and struck an oncoming 2008 Toyota Scion and a 2004 Dodge Dakota pickup truck, police said.
The passengers
- Zach Parsons , the 17-year-old killed in the crash, was in the front seat of Snyder's car. Cole Kinsey and Christian LaPrad, also both 17, were in back and were injured.
ROCKY MOUNT — On Sunday, Marina Snyder marked her 18th birthday.
On Thursday, the slightly built young woman pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in a January wreck that killed another high school student.
Under the plea agreement she struck with prosecutors, Snyder could receive a 10-year suspended sentence and be committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice, where she could be held until she turns 21.
"We look at this as an appropriate plea for this young lady," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Patrick Nix told the court.
But Judge William Alexander told Snyder he would not rule on her guilty plea until after he receives a presentence report on Aug. 6.
"I do not know whether I will accept it or whether I will not," he told her.
In the interim, under the conditions of Snyder's house arrest, she is to leave home only for visits with doctors, lawyers and her probation officer.
Snyder was driving her mother's 2000 Mercury Cougar north on Booker T. Washington Highway near Beechdale Road about 3:45 p.m. on Jan. 23 when she lost control. The car went across the center line and struck an oncoming 2008 Toyota Scion and a 2004 Dodge Dakota pickup truck, police said.
A 17-year-old killed in the crash, Zach Parsons, was in the front seat of Snyder's car, and Cole Kinsey and Christian LaPrad, both also 17, were in back and were injured.
Nix said in court that just before Snyder turned from Virginia 40 onto Booker T. Washington Highway, she was stopped at the traffic light at that intersection and asked the driver in the vehicle beside her, Mike Simmons, if he would let her merge in front of him.
Nix said Parsons called across the distance to Simmons: "You might as well. She is going to pass you anyway."
Simmons complied, but not long after came upon the Mercury inexplicably parked on the side of the highway. It later passed him again, illegally, this time at approximately 70 mph, and came within one car length of striking an oncoming car before Snyder cut back into the proper lane, Nix said.
Snyder lost control of the car as she navigated a curve farther down the road, Nix said, adding that witnesses estimated the Mercury was moving between 70 and 100 mph when that collision occurred. Snyder's Mercury sideswiped the Toyota and then hit the Dodge pickup head-on.
After the Mercury and the Dodge collided, Nix said, the truck came to a complete halt. The Mercury, meanwhile, careened forward, its broken axle leaving a mark in the pavement that extended 120 feet until Snyder's vehicle struck two pillars of the storefront of a nearby market. Those pillars, which Nix said weighed between 200 and 300 pounds, traveled nearly 30 feet after the impact and struck parked vehicles. The store was not open for business and no one in or around it was injured.
Snyder became emotional as the prosecution presented the details of the crash, but she declined Alexander's offer to take a recess during the hearing.
Nix said there was no evidence of drugs or alcohol in the vehicle and said that although Snyder's blood was drawn when she was taken to the hospital, the state did not have probable cause to check those records.
But Alexander questioned that rationale, saying: "It wasn't obtained not because you didn't have probable cause. It was just not obtained."
In an interview after the hearing, Nix defended his position on probable cause, adding, "It's my understanding that prior to that [crash] she was not using alcohol or drugs."
Nix also told the court he will call only one witness to speak at the sentencing, Zach Parsons' father.
"He is in agreement with us, your honor," Nix told Alexander. "He believes the defendant needs help and there needs to be a deterrent in the community.
"He also wants to make sure no one else has to suffer what he has."
Zach Parsons' estate and Cole Kinsey's father, Anthony Kinsey, have filed separate suits against Snyder totaling about $5.25 million. Jonathan Hall, the driver of the Dakota, also filed a $500,000 lawsuit alleging Snyder was negligent.
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