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Juror: Evidence not enough to convict Wolfe

The jury foreman says the state just didn't prove the father criminally negligent in his daughter's death.

By ALEX LEARY
Published March 5, 2005

	[Times photo: Cherie Diez]
	Todd Brown said he entered deliberations thinking Kevin S. Wolfe was guilty, but then he considered the facts.

ST. PETERSBURG - Todd Brown had no idea the man he freed from jail Thursday night had trouble in his past, including allegations he burned a child with cigarettes.

"It's distressing," said Brown, the jury foreman in the trial of Kevin S. Wolfe, who prosecutors said was responsible for the death of his daughter by letting an 11-year-old boy drive a car that ran her over.

"He may have been more of a bad apple than we knew," said Brown, who learned the details in a newspaper story Friday morning. Wolfe pleaded guilty to the cigarette allegation in 2002, and he was on probation for grand theft at the time of the accident.

But the 34-year-old insurance controller from St. Petersburg insisted that even if the history was admissible in court, it would not have changed the acquittal.

The evidence simply did not meet the charge of manslaughter by culpable negligence, Brown said. "I'm 100 percent confident in the verdict."

Wolfe, he said, was guilty but not of the manslaughter charge. "We all agreed he was guilty of stupidity and horrible judgment."

Prosecutor Janet Olney argued Wolfe's actions outside Longbranch Apartments on May 22 fit the legal definition of culpable negligence, showing "reckless disregard" for the safety of others. She told the jury Wolfe did not have a driver's license and the boy testified that Wolfe asked him to drive even though he said he was afraid.

"They gave us a mountain of evidence to prove the guy was negligent," Brown said. "But they didn't give us a shred of evidence to prove he was culpable negligent."

For three hours, the jury of five men and one woman struggled over whether Wolfe crossed the threshold of a criminal offense. Brown entered deliberations thinking Wolfe was guilty but then considered the facts and the legal outlines of culpable negligence, which involves gross and flagrant negligence showing reckless disregard for human life.

The overriding theme of the defense was 2-year-old Summer Wolfe's death is punishment enough for her father. "He's a prisoner of his mind now," attorney Donald M. O'Leary told jurors. Instead of dressing his client in a suit, O'Leary left him in a blue inmate uniform to press the point Wolfe had already spent 10 months in jail.

That sentiment came through in deliberations, Brown acknowledged, but did not play a prominent role. "We tried to put emotions aside."

To help them decide, jurors considered various hypothetical situations. If Wolfe had tossed the kid the keys and went inside to watch TV, then surely he was culpable. If he had allowed the boy to back up the car when other children were behind it, then he was culpable.

"There were some mitigating circumstances to what he did," Brown said. Wolfe showed some responsibility by sitting in the car (though prosecutors said he was limited in what he could do from the passenger seat) and by making sure the children were away from the vehicle, Brown explained.

"How many times have we looked back in our own lives and done something stupid that could have gotten someone hurt?" Brown asked. "Do we draw the line there and say everyone deserves to be in jail for being stupid?"

Deep into delibrations, one man was still holding firm to his belief that Wolfe should be held responsible. "He said, "I'm sorry but I can't get past the fact he gave keys to an 11-year old,' " Brown said.

"Wait a minute," Brown asked him. " "Do you believe this was gross and flagrant?' He said no. I said, "We're done then' and we went to a vote."

The verdict was announced shortly before 7 p.m. Wolfe, 30, cried as "not guilty" was announced, then let out a loud sigh. His decision to go to trial could have been costly. The manslaughter charge carried up to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors previously offered him a plea deal of five years with probation and he countered with three years and no probation.

Brown also found fault with the state's case, questioning the wisdom of putting an 8-year-old boy on the stand who seemed to know little about what happened.

"Regardless of whether the child testified - and he was very nervous on the stand - his testimony wasn't crucial to the case," Olney said Friday. What was important, she said, was Wolfe allowed an 11-year-old to drive.

Alex Leary can be reached at 893-8472 or leary@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 5, 2005, 00:49:47]