Attorneys for Lincoln Smith, the long-haul trucker accused of seven counts of manslaughter in a deadly Interstate 5 crash, revealed their defense Tuesday as trial began in Marion County Circuit Court.
Authorities have long claimed that Smith, 54, was driving high when his Freightliner semitruck swerved onto the shoulder of I-5 just north of Albany and rammed into the back of a van carrying 11 farmworkers, killing seven of them.
But defense attorney Tiffany Humphrey said Smith simply fell asleep at the wheel and was no longer feeling the effects of a chemical cocktail he’d inhaled with two unnamed hitchhikers the night before.
“Lincoln Smith got into the lane to exit to a rest stop, but he missed it because he fell asleep,” she said. “And when he woke up, he collided with the side of van.”
Prosecutors, however, say Smith lied repeatedly at the scene about using drugs — but then came clean from a hospital bed when a state trooper with his body camera rolling received permission to search Smith’s pockets.
The trooper found a black vial containing “speed” — slang for methamphetamine — and Smith’s blood tests turned up evidence of that drug, plus cocaine, fentanyl and morphine, according to Deputy District Attorney Jessica Spooner.
“He was driving on a public highway under the influence of intoxicants,” she said.
Circuit Judge Daniel Wren is presiding over a courtroom filled with family members of the seven farmworkers, including several who sobbed audibly as photos of the horrific roadside crash scene were displayed.
The crash about 2 p.m. on May 18, 2023 killed Juan Carlos Leyva-Carillo, 37; Gabriel Juarez-Tovilla 58; Alejandra Espinoza-Carpio, 39; Eduardo Lopez-Lopez, 31; Luis Enrique Gomez-Reyes, 30; Alejandro Jimenez Hernandez, 36; and Josue Garcia-Garcia, 30.
Three other workers were injured: Jose Eduardo Solis-Flores, Maria Flores-Martinez and Ibis Torres-Rangel. The group lived in the Salem area and were returning home from a day harvesting beets.
Smith, who lives in northern California and has three children, has remained in the Salem jail since his arrest in the hospital. Defense attorney Humphrey told the jury of nine women and five men, including two alternates, that Smith had been driving semis for 18 years.
Humphrey said Smith and his German shepherd, Bear, departed California like usual around 2 a.m. May 17 and drove north, picking up two strangers in Oregon and then stopping for that night about 5:30 p.m.
“Before they went out of the truck, they partied, they did some drugs,” the defense attorney said, describing his tolerance for intoxicants. “Mr. Smith does drugs on his own time, and he had been doing them off and on for many years.”
The next day, the defense attorney said Smith stopped in Sutherlin but grew tired earlier than usual and tried to park at several rest stops but found them full. The trucker nodded off and collided with another semi and the farmworkers van, the defense said.
Humphrey asked the jury to find Smith not guilty, or failing that, opt for the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide instead of second-degree manslaughter. For a first-time offender, the standard punishment for criminally negligent homicide is probation.
Prosecutors say both vehicles were legally parked on the side of the freeway near the rest stop offramp.
Spooner, the deputy district attorney, said the van’s driver, Adon Garcia-Garcia, had parked to check on a trailer carrying the workers’ tools and portable toilet.
Garcia-Garcia saw the white truck, hauling a 50-foot trailer with a Target logo, running at full speed as he dove for cover, according to Spooner. He survived, but his brother and nephew were killed.
The state’s first witness, home health nurse Julie McCrae, testified Tuesday morning that she saw Smith’s semi swerve repeatedly out of the right-hand lane over a few minutes, and grew so concerned she called 911 just seconds before the crash occurred at mile marker 241.
A recording captured her gasp while still waiting for a state police dispatcher to pick up.
“The first thing I saw was blood, smeared on the back of the truck,” she testified. Then a severed foot.
A juror dabbed her face with a tissue as McCrae spoke. Smith steepled his hands and pressed his forehead bowed to them as a monitor displayed the crumpled van.
Prosecutors said it was a clear-cut case of an experienced trucker knowingly driving while intoxicated. Second-degree manslaughter carries a minimum sentence of six years and three months in state prison.
“He was driving at highway speeds on the side of the road. Witnesses did not see brake lights,” the prosecutor said. “You are not required to leave your common sense on the courthouse steps.”
The trial is scheduled through next Wednesday.
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