AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy — More than two years after crashing his vehicle into the perimeter wall of Area 1, Airman Ryan Hayden’s entanglement with the law appears to be over.
Hayden, an Air Force firefighter assigned to the 31st Civil Engineer Squadron, was found not guilty of reckless driving with injury during a general court-martial that ended Thursday. The eight-member military panel issued its verdict at around 9:45 p.m. after about 10 hours of deliberation and four days of hearing the case.
Hayden was charged with causing the serious injuries of one of the passengers — but not with the death of Vanessa Russo, 18, an Italian and senior at Aviano High School who was also in the car. He went through the Italian court system and served time for that case separately.
Hayden was driving his silver BMW on Via Pedemonte shortly after midnight on Jan. 7, 2007, when the accident occurred. Three other people were in the vehicle.
Three witnesses testified they had seen Hayden drinking alcoholic beverages that night either at a party in the Area 2 dorms or at the nearby California Bar. An expert witness whose job is to reconstruct vehicle accidents testified that he believed the vehicle was traveling between 76 and 82 kilometers per hour — or 47 to 50 mph —when Hayden lost control of the vehicle as it entered a sharp turn.
The car crashed into a wall on the opposite side of the road, slid along it until it struck a light pole, and spun around and hit the perimeter wall of Area 1, where it slid to a stop.
Airman 1st Class Travis Gonder and Vanessa Russo, riding in the back of the vehicle, were ejected. Russo was killed. Gonder sustained injuries to his kidney and spleen, a fractured hip, broken pelvis, nerve damage and severe brain injuries. He was in a coma following the accident, but testified at the trial. He has had to leave the Air Force due to the severity of the injuries he sustained and their lasting effects. He was presented as the main victim in the government’s case.
But David Court, Hayden’s civilian defense attorney, said during his closing arguments that the government hadn’t proved its case against his client in three areas.
He suggested that the airman riding in the passenger seat, Airman 1st Class Ryan Larson, who suffered a concussion, could have been the driver instead of Hayden. Larson — the only surviving witness who says he remembers the accident — was the only person to place Hayden in the driver’s seat. Hayden didn’t testify and Gonder said he doesn’t remember anything from that night.
Court also said it was possible his client’s car was in poor repair and that contributed to the accident. He pointed to the fact that the government didn’t present any evidence stating the vehicle was working properly.
And he implied that Gonder, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt and might have been telling Hayden to go faster, could have been somewhat responsible for his injuries.
Hayden was praised for his work ethic by two of his former supervisors during testimony. He also was supported throughout the trial by more than a dozen fellow firefighters and other members of the 31st CES.
No testimony about fatality presented at court-martial
Military jurors hearing a case against Airman Ryan Hayden never learned about several key details.
Hayden was charged with reckless driving with injury for the injuries suffered by Airman 1st Class Travis Gonder. But Hayden wasn’t charged in military court with the death of another passenger, Vanessa Russo.
Russo, an 18-year-old Italian and senior at Aviano High School, was reportedly Gonder’s girlfriend. She was ejected from the vehicle and killed during the accident. But though her name was mentioned a few times as a passenger, the jury was never presented any evidence about her injuries. They also never heard any information regarding Hayden’s conviction in her death.
Italian authorities tried Hayden for negligent homicide and for drinking and driving and found him guilty in 2008, according to carabinieri detachment commander Giorgio Ferracin. Hayden spent 27 days in jail and received a suspended one-year sentence. He was also fined about 860 euros, Ferracin said.
The Italian accounts of the accident vary a bit from those mentioned at the court-martial. Italian authorities allege the vehicle was traveling at a higher rate of speed — up to 100 kilometers per hour — and that the legal speed on that stretch of road is 30 kilometers per hour (as opposed to the 50 mentioned at the court-martial).
Ferracin also said the three military passengers had blood-alcohol content levels about three times the legal limit in Italy. Testimony during the court-martial included witness statements about seeing Hayden drinking and a stipulation of expected testimony by an Italian doctor who said the accused’s blood-alcohol level was "consistent with the consequences of a large amount of alcohol."
But jurors who asked about the alcohol level of the accused were told by the military judge, Lt. Col. Jennifer Cline, that it could not be presented "for various reasons."
The Air Force asserts that trying Hayden in a court-martial for driving under the influence or Russo’s death would essentially be double jeopardy.
"The Italian authorities exercised their right related to Vanessa Russo," according to a statement issued by the 31st Fighter Wing Staff Judge Advocate’s office. "That case has been finalized and the U.S. respects that outcome. The host nation waived its right to jurisdiction over the incident as it relates to the injuries sustained by A1C (retired) Gonder. The Air Force proceeded with this action against the accused in full compliance with U.S. and international law and procedures."
— Kent Harris
