By GORDON DRITSCHILO
STAFF WRITER
Craig Mosher is “a good person” who “made a terrible mistake,” according to Judge Cortland Corsones.
Corsones made the comments in Rutland criminal court Wednesday as he sentenced Mosher to two years on probation and a $500 fine. Mosher had just pleaded guilty to a single charge of reckless endangerment stemming from a fatal collision on Route 4 in Killington involving one of his bulls.
Mosher offered his “deepest condolences and prayers” to the family of Jon Bellis, 62, who died on July 31, 2015, in a high-speed collision with Mosher’s 1,800- pound Scottish Highland bull, which had gotten loose and had earlier been spotted in the middle of the road.
“I know what it’s done to me over the years,” he said. “I live it every time I pull in and out of my driveway. … It’s kind of broke, broke my heart, here. I live it every day.”
The plea was part of a deal in which the state dropped a manslaughter charge leveled after a grand jury indicted Mosher last year.
The bull had gotten out repeatedly, according to prosecutors, and Mosher was aware it was out the night of the crash, but he gave up and went back to sleep after failing to locate it.
State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy said Mosher’s criminal error was in not doing anything to protect motorists from the road hazard his bull constituted.
“He could have called 911 himself from his landline,” Kennedy said. “He could have … put out flares.”
He also could have parked a vehicle with its blinkers on by the side of the road, the prosecutor said, or tried to flag down and warn passing drivers.
“If he had done anything to warn anybody, we would not be here,” she said.
Kennedy also played a series of 911 calls from different occasions the bull got out, and in most of them the caller expressed concern a motorist might hit the bull.
“There’s a giant bull on the loose and I almost hit it,” truck driver Jeffrey Herrick said in the final call, which took place the night of the crash. “If that thing wanders out in the road again, somebody’s going to die.”
It was Herrick who had gone to Mosher’s house and warned him the bull was loose. Kennedy said while a state trooper was en route to the area, the call came in about the crash that killed Bellis.
Kathryn Barry, Bellis’ widow, who was in the car and said she considered it a miracle she survived the crash, read a statement to the court describing who Bellis was, what he meant to her and her perspective on the case.
Barry said she and Bellis, of Woodbridge, Connecticut, had two children and had been together for 40 years — since she was a senior in college.
“Losing Jon has been like losing a limb,” she said. “The physical pain is constant. … All Jon and I ever wanted to do was grow old together. … We worked hard. We worked so hard. … All the hard work was almost behind us and we had begun joking that we would soon cross the finish line to fun.”
Barry told the court she decided to attend the hearing alone, despite the desire of many family and friends to accompany her in support. She said it was the desire of those who knew her husband that the case go to trial on the manslaughter charge, and their belief that Mosher would be convicted.
“It is not about agriculture, farming, Vermont, or the community of Killington,” she said. “It is about one man with questionable intelligence and no common sense who kept doing the same thing the same way. … Craig Mosher chose not to do the right thing. If he had, we would have seen him walking along the side of the road with a flashlight.”
Kennedy praised Barry, saying she had initially supported the plea deal when it was first offered to Mosher, adding that Barry had been vilified on social media and in letters to the editor.
“This is a beautiful person,” Kennedy said. “She has shown nothing but grace and stamina. The state is aware we are letting her down today, and I am sorry for that.”
Kennedy said it was never her attention to see Mosher behind bars, just to get him to acknowledge his criminal wrongdoing.
“The state has no doubt the defendant is a good man and had no intent to harm Jon Bellis,” Kennedy said. “Nonetheless, Jon Bellis is dead.”
Mosher’s defense attorney, Paul Volk, noted Mosher’s lack of any criminal record and that Mosher was considered a hero locally for his work on the recovery effort following Tropical Storm Irene. The bull, he said, had gotten out where an electric fence had been breached by a fallen apple tree.
“The foreseeability of that is problematic,” he said.
Volk also said that, had the case gone to trial, they would have pointed to the onboard computer in Bellis’ car showing he had been speeding — driving between 60 to 64 mph — and that Bellis did not brake before the crash. Outside the hearing, Barry’s attorney, Jerome O’Neill, called that information irrelevant.
“There wasn’t any braking because there wasn’t any time to brake,” he said. “Jon Bellis was stone cold sober.”
O’Neill said Barry’s civil case against Mosher was settled for a “confidential” amount.
Kennedy said that speaking to law enforcement in deciding what to do about the case, she learned that calls for errant livestock take up a significant amount of police time. However, she also said Mosher was one of only two animal owners about whom police got repeated calls, and since the publicity surrounding the court case, the other owner has done a much better job of securing the animals.
“If charging the defendant saves one life, it is worth it,” she said.
Corsones asked Mosher if he agreed his actions constituted reckless behavior. Mosher paused for several seconds before nodding his head and saying, “Yes, sir,” drawing gasps from some of the supporters seated behind him.
Corsones called Barry’s speech “one of the greatest, most eloquent expressions of a loss of a love one I’ve heard in this courtroom” and apologized to Barry “on behalf of all Vermonters” for the online vilification she suffered.
“We are all extremely sorry for your loss,” he said. “I do not consider in any way that your husband was at fault in the accident.”
The latter comment drew a second gasp from Mosher’s supporters.
Corsones said he saw no benefit to anyone from jailing Mosher.
“It was a criminal act, but it was an accident nonetheless,” Corsones said.
Mosher will also have to pay $222 in “surcharges” and perform 50 hours of community service.
gordon.dritschilo @rutlandherald.com
Comment: So the original story was the Bellis' were going between 35-40 mph and couldn't see or stop in time to avoid the bull. Now the story is they were going 60-64 mph and had no time to brake. Why the misrepresentation in the first place?
I certainly understand Corsones treading lightly because of the victim's emotional trauma but to say that Bellis was in no way at fault when he was speeding makes one wonder what the hell is going on.
The Corsones states, “It was a criminal act, but it was an accident nonetheless,” All I can say is, ?????????????????????
And what is this about?
"Kennedy praised Barry, saying she had initially supported the plea deal when it was first offered to Mosher, adding that Barry had been vilified on social media and in letters to the editor."
First of all there was plenty of vilification of Mosher by Barry's supporters on line and in Letters to the Editor - and plenty of vilification by Barry of Mosher in her persecution tour wherein she went around and scorned Mosher in any and all venues - she even attended a Killington Select Board meeting to vilify him. Interview articles were in all the local papers as well.
And what does this quote tell you, "Barry’s civil case against Mosher was settled for a “confidential” amount.", and that a was before she relentlessly pursued a criminal conviction because, "it was the desire of those who knew her husband that the case go to trial on the manslaughter charge, and their belief that Mosher would be convicted."
Bottom line is, thank god its over without anymore needless suffering on either side.
