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Alicia Alampi leaves court during her trial. She was acquitted this evening of two felonies.

(Douglass Dowty | ddowty@syracuse.com)

Syracuse, NY -- An Onondaga County jury this evening acquitted Alicia Alampi of vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatal crash without reporting it.

But the jury found that Alampi was drunk on Dec. 13, 2013, the night her Jeep Grand Cherokee struck and killed Robert BeVard on Park Street. She had just left Destiny USA with an off-duty deputy following behind her in another car.

The split verdict resulted in Alampi being exonerated on the felony charges: that her drunkenness caused the crash and that she knew, or should have known, that she had hit someone.

But Alampi will still be sentenced on two misdemeanor drunken driving charges. The jury heard evidence that her blood-alcohol content was above the legal limit hours after the crash.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Chris Bednarski said he was "very disappointed" on behalf of BeVard's family that Alampi was not found to be cause of the crash.

But the prosecutor said "a host of factors" made proving her fault in the case "very, very difficult." And defense lawyers Emil Rossi and Michael Spano pounded those home throughout the trial.

Here are some of those factors:

• The crash happened along a darkened road shortly after midnight



During trial, lawyers quibbled over whether the road was "pitch dark" or "poorly-lit," but it was clearly very difficult to see. Testimony showed there were no streetlights and no houses or businesses on either side.

In addition, the stretch of road was described as a ramp of sorts, connecting the area by Destiny USA to Buckley Road. There were no sidewalks and small to non-existent shoulders.

• The victim was drunk, wearing dark clothing and in the center of the road

Robert BeVard had been escorted out of Destiny USA earlier that night, security video played for the jury showed. He was seen leaving the mall walking down the middle of an access road.

He was wearing blue jeans and a dark jacket. He was walking close to the middle of the darkened Park Street. Alampi's Jeep struck him in the center of the vehicle's bumper.

Experts disagreed as to what position BeVard was in when the Jeep struck him. It was generally agreed upon, however, that he was not lying in the road and that he was not fully upright. It appeared his head was above the grille of the Jeep, but perhaps by only a very little.

The defense suggested he was crouching; the prosecution argued that his head was at least at hood level.

BeVard's blood-alcohol content was 0.25, considered intoxicated under driving laws (he was not driving).

• Alampi told police she stopped, looked around and didn't see anything

Alampi told Syracuse police who interviewed her that she would have never left the scene if she knew someone had been hit. She said she got out and saw what appeared to be a piece of a tire in the road.

Alampi said her companion that night, off-duty sheriff's Detective Dan Myers, also got out and looked around. Seeing nothing, he told her to continue home.

Spano, the defense lawyer, pointed to this during his closing arguments: "She relied on Dan Myers," he told the jury.

• Myers called a fellow deputy after arriving at Alampi's former residence on Surrey Lane in Clay

Alampi told police that as soon as she saw the extent of the damage to her vehicle, she told Myers to call police. That happened about 10 minutes after the crash in the driveway of her former residence.

Myers called a friend and co-worker, who had already been sent to investigate.

The deliberations

The jury worked one hour Friday and all day Monday and today before arriving at the verdict a few minutes before 6 p.m.

About noon Monday, the jury asked to have part of Alampi's videotaped police interview played back. In that section, Alampi repeats that she didn't know she'd hit someone. She said Myers told her to get back in the car and go home.

Alampi's demeanor is hysterical. She speaks softly at times, while swearing between sobs in other parts of the interview.

"I'm not drunk. I wasn't drunk. I have nothing to hide," Alampi tells the officer.

In addition, the jury asked to have the testimony from Deputy James Redshaw read back to them. Redshaw is the deputy who Myers called from Alampi's house.

The jury also asked to have the exact legal definitions of vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene read back to them. The jury's interest in the wording of the law would carry into today, as well.

The jury returned this morning and deliberated until about noon.

Then they asked to have an earlier portion of Alampi's police interview played back. That portion is where Alampi struggles to decide whether or not to give a statement. She also name-drops prominent law enforcement officials.

They also asked to hear again the testimony from Deputy Dan Klasen, who was the first to respond to Surrey Lane that night. He described Alampi as having slurred speech and alcohol on her breath.

Around 4 p.m. today, the jury began wrestling with one final definition. They asked state Supreme Court Justice John Brunetti to explain to them part of the vehicular manslaughter law.

Specifically, the jury was hung up on this element of the charge: "Operate a motor vehicle in a manner that causes death."

After conferring with the lawyers, Brunetti asked the jury to be more specific as to what they were looking for.

An hour later, around 5 p.m., they sent another note, asking for the definition of "manner."

After more discussion, Brunetti described it to the jury this way: "Drove the car in a way that caused the death of the deceased under all the circumstances as you find them to be."

Less than half an hour later, the jury sent a note: it had reached a verdict.

After the verdict was announced, Alampi began to weep and put her head briefly on her lawyer, Emil Rossi, as she collected herself.

Alampi did not comment as she left the courtroom a free woman. She will be sentenced for the misdemeanor drunken driving charges in April.

Rossi said afterward that "the verdict was of incredible relief for the Alampi family." He added that in cases where there is a loss of life -- but there are explanations for it -- that the verdict is something that everyone can live with.

"I hope this is a verdict that everybody can live with," Rossi said.