Texting-and-driving homicide trial: Keansburg woman found guilty

Kathleen Hopkins | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Driver charged in texting while driving death describes crash Alexandra Mansonet breaks down as she describes the crash that led to a pedestrian fatality. This is believed to be New Jersey's first texting-while-driving vehicular homicide trial.

FREEHOLD - A Monmouth County jury on Friday found a Keansburg woman guilty in New Jersey’s first texting-while-driving vehicular homicide trial.

After about two days of deliberations, the jury foreman announced shortly after 4 p.m. that the panel of seven women and five men had found Alexandra Mansonet, 50, guilty of recklessly causing the death of Yuwen Wang, a 39-year-old Hazlet woman.

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Wang's widower, Steven Qiu, was seated in the front row of the courtroom. He hung his head when he heard the verdict.

"Absolutely, it brings a lot of comfort to me and my family," Qiu said afterward.

Mansonet put her head down and cried. Some members of her family who were in the courtroom began weeping.

Mansonet, a chief executive officer of a nonprofit social service agency in Perth Amboy, now faces five to 10 years in state prison.

Superior Court Judge Daviid F. Bauman scheduled her sentencing for Jan. 31 and allowed her to remain free on her own recognizance until then.

"It's going to be very difficult for her to deal with the fact that at sentencing, she could possibly be incarcerated for something we are all guilty of on a daily basis," said her attorney, Steven D. Altman, referring to the prevalence of texting and driving. "I'm disappointed."

The case was the first in New Jersey to go to trial since the state Legislature enacted a law in 2012 saying that use of a handheld phone while driving is a reckless act that can form the basis for a vehicular homicide prosecution. There have been other people charged under the law, but some of those people resolved their cases with guilty pleas. In some of the other cases, charges were dismissed.

Christopher Decker, assistant Monmouth County prosecutor, alleged at trial that Mansonet was texting and driving her 2000 Mercedes Benz the morning of Sept. 28, 2016, when she crashed into the rear of a Toyota Corolla, propelling it into Wang, a pedestrian in the crosswalk at Laurel Avenue and Sixth Street in Hazlet.

Wang, who had gone for a walk on a break from her job at the nearby International Flavors & Fragrances plant, went airborne, and her head bounced off the pavement “like a basketball," Joseph Matich, a passenger in the Toyota, testified at the trial.

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The victim suffered severe brain trauma and died five days later at Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Center in New Brunswick.

Mansonet denied she was texting when the accident occurred and testified that she had looked down moments before the crash to turn on her rear defogger.

But Decker presented witnesses who testified that Mansonet received a text message, which had been marked as "read," a little more than a minute before the crash. The text message, from her former sister-in-law, said, "Cuban, American, Mexican - pick one," referring to their plans to go out to dinner in New York that evening.

Two letters — an M and an E — had been typed in a response that was never sent, according to trial testimony. Decker surmised that Mansonet was beginning to type "Mexican," before the crash interrupted her. Mansonet said she didn't remember typing the letters.

Prosecution witnesses testified there were no skid marks or any evidence to indicate that Mansonet applied the brakes before striking the Toyota. Decker argued to the jury that the case involved no allegations of speeding or use of drugs or alcohol, but he said texting while driving was worse because it was like driving "blindfolded."

Acknowledging that it was the first such case in New Jersey to go to trial, Qiu said, "I hope more people can realize the consequences of texting and driving."

He said he hopes New Jersey does more to prevent motorists from texting and driving so that his wife did not die in vain.

Qiu said he and his wife were hoping to start a family, but those dreams were dashed by her death.

Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues, unsolved mysteries and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com; 732-643-4202.