Jury to deliberate on Woods

The trial of a Huntington Beach man accused of killing a 14-year-old bicyclist is coming to an end, as closing arguments were heard today and the jury is expected to begin deliberation.

Jeffrey Woods, 22, is charged with one felony count of vehicular manslaughter by unlawful acts with gross negligence while intoxicated. The charge holds a maximum sentence of 10 years in state prison. Woods pleaded not guilty in December and has been out on $100,000 bail.

Danny Oates was riding his bike along Indianapolis Avenue and Everglades Lane around noon Aug. 29, 2007 with a friend when Woods allegedly swerved across the median onto the wrong side of the road and hit Danny with his Ford 150 pick-up truck.

Orange County District Attorney Prosecutor Susan Aramesh argued that Woods was driving aggressively and erratically because of the combination of drugs in his system — Xanax and Vicodin.

“There is no explanation for how he was driving other than impairment,” Aramesh said. “This person was driving down the road with two drugs in his system, sending text messages about drugs.”

Defense Attorney Scott Well said Woods had a epileptic seizure and was unconscious at the time of the accident. Well argued that Woods had undiagnosed epilepsy at the time. Woods allegedly had a seizure as an infant, one in April and one during the crash.

“Why would someone who was conscious do that?” Well argued. “The only explanation for that was because he was unconscious.”

After Woods hit Danny, he went over the curb and hit a tree before crashing through a wall. Danny was thrown more than 150 feet and died on impact.

Besides driving under the influence of Vicodin and Xanax, Woods was also allegedly distracted by text messaging at the time of the collision.

Woods sent a text message at 2:09 p.m., and the accident was called into 911 at 2:10 p.m. The defense said there was anywhere between a minute to a minute and 59 seconds between the time of the text and the accident —arguing that Woods wasn’t texting during the accident.

With the close of the trial, the prosecution asked jurors to “take an honest look at the evidence,” and the defense urged them to be reasonable.

After nearly a month of trial and more than two years after the accident, the jury is expected to deliver its verdict as soon as Monday.

Danny’s family and friends packed the courtroom, and some were turned away because of room.

The community still remembers Danny with paddle-out ceremonies on the anniversary of his death and birthday and a Christmas tree trimming around his grave. Friends decorated a cross at Indianapolis Avenue and Everglades Lane where Danny was killed.