Testimony commences in Etna man’s OUI trial

BANGOR – A Carmel man seriously hurt last year in a motorcycle-car accident testified Tuesday in Penobscot County Superior Court that even more than one year later, he continues to suffer from his injuries.

Barri Babcock, 35, was called as a witness in the trial of Jeffrey Harvey, 44, an Etna man charged with criminal operating under the influence and operating after suspension in connection with the June 2004 accident.

“I have to wear lifts in my shoes,” Babcock said Tuesday, explaining that one of his legs is now shorter than the other as a result of his injuries. “There’s a lot of pain.”

Babcock was one of eight witnesses who testified before Justice Andrew Meade and a jury of 10 women and three men, including an alternate, on Tuesday, the first day of the trial. The proceedings will continue at 9:30 a.m. today, and the trial is expected to conclude by the end of the day.

Babcock was thrown from his motorcycle last year when he collided with Harvey’s vehicle on U.S. Route 2 in Etna. Among his injuries, he had pelvis, thigh and shin fractures.

Harvey’s record includes at least three OUI convictions, including one that resulted from a 1987 accident, also on Route 2 in Etna, in which four people from Lincoln were killed. Harvey was acquitted of vehicular manslaughter in that case and sentenced to 11 months in jail.

Babcock limped as he approached the witness box. He was hospitalized for one month after the accident and underwent approximately 10 operations, with another one scheduled soon, he said.

“I have to do a lot of things different in my life than I did before,” he said.

Assistant District Attorney Greg Campbell is arguing that Harvey was intoxicated at the time of the accident and struck Babcock as he attempted to turn left into a driveway off Route 2.

The results of an Intoxylizer test that Harvey took the day of the accident were not allowed in court, though Campbell argued that police field sobriety tests indicated Harvey was too impaired to drive.

The jurors leaned forward to watch as Deputy Sean McCue of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department demonstrated two of the tests he administered to Harvey. The officer testified that during the tests Harvey swayed from side to side and failed to follow instructions.

Defense attorney James Beardsley of Bangor tried to show through cross-examination that the field sobriety tests were invalid because police failed to follow standard procedure in administering them.

Babcock also admitted to consuming two drinks in the hours prior to the accident, but said he felt safe to operate the motorcycle.

Martha Parlee, a clerk at a convenience store near where the accident occurred, testified Tuesday that Harvey purchased alcohol at the store four times on the day of the accident.

“He was unsteady on his feet,” Parlee testified. “I could smell the alcohol on him.”

Harvey, wearing a white shirt and black pants, did not testify Tuesday, and Beardsley declined after the proceedings to comment on the case.