Vehicular homicide trial verdict pending

Jurors will resume deliberations in a Moxee man's vehicular homicide trial after considering their verdict for more than five hours Wednesday.

Attorneys for both sides gave closing arguments Wednesday morning, wrapping up a week of testimony in Zach Sluder's trial in Yakima County Superior Court.

Sluder is accused of being the driver in a one-car rollover crash that killed 30-year-old Ryan Holwegner of Yakima in February 2007.

The Chevrolet Lumina crashed on State Route 24 near Deeringhoff Road outside of Moxee. Holwegner's body was not discovered for more than 36 hours.

Sluder's mother returned to the scene and found the body with a friend, deputy prosecutor Erika Soublet recounted in closing arguments.

Prosecution experts testified that the body was found roughly 140 feet from the vehicle -- outside the "ejection cone" where occupants or debris should have been found. That suggests the body was moved, although defense attorney Chris Tait of Yakima said the estimated 20 emergency personnel should have seen it if it was there that night.

Soublet said the evidence points to Sluder being the driver, but Tait said the state's theory would require the jury to make unprovable jumps in order to reach a guilty verdict.

Among the points raised in support of charging Sluder:

* A witness identified Sluder and Holwegner as the two men leaving the Silver Creek Tavern in Moxee minutes before the crash.

* Sluder told troopers at the scene that he was the only one in the car and that he had swerved to avoid hitting a dog, which was never found.

* Both defense and prosecution experts testified that Holwegner's injuries were consistent with a rollover.

But Tait countered that the witness was not well acquainted with the pair, gave a bad description of the vehicle and thought it was parked elsewhere at the tavern.

Also, Sluder's statements at the scene were influenced by his injuries, Tait said.

Tait suggested that no one could rule out the possibility that there was a third, unspecified person in the car. Sluder's seat belt injuries would have been consistent with his position in the left back seat, Tait said.

Soublet said that the driver's left seat belt was the only one that showed any collision-related defect; the damage to the vehicle was so extensive that Sluder would have been forced to crawl out through the back door.

Tait also highlighted the fact that there was no blood or other physical evidence to tie Holwegner to the vehicle.

However, the pathologist who performed the autopsy said injuries to his head and thumb may not have deposited blood as his body left the vehicle. The defense maintained that was unlikely.

The jury is scheduled to resume deliberations today.

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