Manslaughter conviction upheld in deadly Charlton crash

PHOTOGRAPHER: Justin Mason

Traci Briskin’s year hiatus away from her lengthy prison sentence on a second-degree manslaughter conviction is coming to an end.

Justices with the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court ruled that the 40-year-old Clifton Park woman convicted of killing a father of five was given a fair trial and provided with adequate council. The court also rejected Briskin’s claim that she “lacked the culpable mental state required for manslaughter” under the legal definition of the crime.

Briskin, free on $75,000 bail since December 2013, admitted she averted her eyes from Jockey Street for more than 30 seconds before colliding with a vehicle driven by 49-year-old Thomas Baker as he passed through the intersection with Route 67 in Charlton. Baker, who had the right-of-way, remained in the intensive care unit in Albany Medical Center hospital before succumbing to his injuries two days before Christmas that year.

Briskin was initially indicted on two counts of vehicular manslaughter, two counts of driving while intoxicated and one count of second-degree manslaughter, in addition to a violation charge of driving while ability impaired. At trial, however, jurors convicted her only of second-degree manslaughter and DWAI.

In the 13-page ruling issued Thursday, Judge John Egan — the same justice who allowed Briskin to remain free pending her appeal — indicated her acquittal on the DWI charge didn’t force jurors into overlooking her other reckless behavior on the night of the crash. In specific, Briskin acknowledged she averted her eyes from the road as she fumbled for a GPS system immediately before hitting Baker’s vehicle.

“Moreover, there was ample evidence before the jury that defendant was impaired by the consumption of alcohol on the night in question —indeed, the jury convicted defendant of driving while ability impaired — and such impairment, coupled with [Briskin]’s admitted conduct in attempting to retrieve her GPS unit and the overall manner in which she operated her motor vehicle on the night in question, established the recklessness necessary to sustain her conviction of manslaughter in the second degree,” he wrote.

Briskin, a former nurse at Conifer Park and mother of four, claimed she had two glasses of wine before jumping in her sport utility vehicle to drive to a friend’s home in early in the evening on Nov. 30, 2012. While driving on Jockey Road, she knocked the GPS system to the floor by her feet and then reached down to grab the device.

But in averting her eyes from the road, Briskin failed to notice the stop sign posted at the approaching intersection. Witnesses also reported that her vehicle was swerving across the dividing line as it traveled at a speed above the posted 55 mph speed limit.

One witness said Briskin’s brake lights never illuminated before she broadsided Baker’s car. Another said the three fields surrounding the intersection allowed for unfettered view of traffic on Route 67.

At the crash scene, Briskin initially blamed Baker for speeding through the intersection. At the scene, a preliminary breath test indicated her blood alcohol content to be at 0.11 percent.

Later in court, Briskin’s defense attorney brought in expert witnesses that placed her BAC between 0.04 percent and 0.07 percent. Prosecutors argued that her true BAC at the time of the crash was around 0.14 percent.

Briskin was found guilty following a 10-day trial in October 2013. She was subsequently ordered to serve up to 71⁄2 years in prison; at least 21⁄2 years before being eligible for parole.

But she was released about two weeks after starting her sentence, pending oral arguments in her appeal. Arguments in her case now exhausted, Briskin was ordered back to Saratoga County Court where she will be ordered to start serving her sentence.

Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen was pleased with the ruling, calling it “an affirmation” of the work her office did during the trial.

“The decision is rather lengthy and [the justices] spend a lot of time on each of the issues raised by the defense in the appeal, finding none of them such that they should overturn the conviction,” she said.