Truck Driver Charged in 7 Bikers' Deaths Gets Trial Delayed Over Expert's Questionable Past

The trial of a truck driver charged with seven motorcyclists' deaths has been delayed because of concerns about a crash reconstruction expert's prior job history with the Massachusetts State Police.

Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 25, was charged with multiple counts of manslaughter, negligent homicide, driving under the influence, and reckless conduct for a crash that occurred on June 21, 2019, in Randolph, according to The Associated Press. Zhukovskyy pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The victims were members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club, an organization comprised of U.S. Marine Corps veterans and their spouses, MassLive reported.

During the final pretrial hearing Tuesday, a motion was filed by the defense stating they could no longer present Stephen Benanti, their accident reconstruction expert. The decision was based on information given to them by prosecutors about Benanti's previous employment with the Massachusetts State Police. Benanti was questioned by prosecutors during a Sept. 30 deposition.

The motion stated the defense was provided a "large volume of confidential materials" by the prosecution.

The motion described Benanti as "an established reconstruction expert with more than thirty years experience in the field, including more than a decade as superintendent of Massachusetts State Police reconstruction unit." Benanti had been working with the defense since August 2019.

Presenting the Benanti would have been detrimental to Zhukovskyy's case, defense attorneys stated in the motion reported by WMUR9. The trial was supposed to begin Nov. 29, but will now begin in March.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.

Lawyers were scheduled to start picking jurors on Nov. 16 for what was Zhukovsky's Nov. 29 trial.

At what was scheduled as a final pretrial hearing Tuesday, lawyers argued over Zhukovskyy's timeline leading up to the crash and witness accounts of a truck hauling a flatbed trailer, as well as anticipated testimony from expert witnesses on drug and alcohol impairment. Zhukovskyy, who has been jailed since the crash, appeared in court wearing a suit, and was not handcuffed.

The defense said based upon their review of the information, they no longer believed they could present Benanti "without substantially compromising" Zhukovskyy's rights "to present all proofs favorable to his defense." They said they would not be able to go to trial in time without the help of a similar crash reconstruction expert.