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Friday, September 27, 2002

By Steve Twedt, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

One day after homicide charges from an earlier accident were refiled against Jack M. Smith, the Bethel Park man with a history of blackouts while driving, faces new charges stemming from a collision last month in South Park.

District Justice Robert C. Wyda yesterday ordered Smith to face four counts of reckless driving and reckless endangerment as a result of an Aug. 18 incident that injured two. The trial is set for Dec. 4 in Common Pleas Court.

Smith, 50, has been involved in at least four accidents since December 1998 in which he blacked out behind the wheel. In one of them, on Oct. 18, 2000, he rammed a car near Century III Mall, killing Patricia Schick, 54, of Baldwin Borough, and her pregnant daughter, Sherri Ann Zeis, 27, of West Mifflin.

Last month, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Bob Colville dismissed vehicular homicide charges against Smith in that case, saying Smith held a valid license at the time so he could not be held criminally responsible.

Days after Colville's ruling, Smith hit another car on Corrigan Drive, injuring Frances E. Szeman, 55, and her mother, Elizabeth Meisinger, 79.

Assistant District Attorney Nicola Taylor argued that given his medical condition and history of accidents, Smith's decision to continue driving represented "a conscious disregard of a known risk.'

"These accidents are causing people to be injured, they are causing people to die, and others continue to be at risk," she said.

Following that accident, the state Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Smith's license. In holding Smith over to trial yesterday, Wyda reiterated to Smith that he is not allowed to drive. "The history involved here is frightening," Wyda said.

Smith was present at yesterday's preliminary hearing but did not testify.

In refiling the homicide charges, District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said Smith had "misrepresented and underrepresented" to physicians whose recommendations PennDOT relies on in deciding whether a driver poses a hazard. Smith's attorney, William Bishop, Jr., yesterday vehemently denied that.

"Jack will tell you he answered every question thoroughly and truthfully," Bishop said. Smith has acknowledged he has a seizure disorder, and he has been receiving treatment for that and for sleep apnea. Bishop said Smith has never withheld information about his condition.

"They [prosecutors] are reasoning backward. They want to find someone criminally responsible for an accident. We don't minimize the pain and grief to the family. Jack is sincerely sorry. This will be on his shoulders for the rest of his life. What I can't acknowledge is that this is a crime."

The coroner's inquest on the fatal accident has been rescheduled for Oct. 10.

In the affidavit of probable cause for the refiling, police said Smith had more than $5,000 in auto body work done in 1994 or 1995 which he did not report to his insurer or the police. It also said family members had recounted seizures suffered by Smith going back to his childhood. According to police, Smith "was deceitful with physicians attempting to treat the condition, and police investigating the collisions."

Bishop countered that police and the district attorney's office already knew Smith's extensive medical history. "It was researched by the district attorney during the course of the original investigation. I don't think they have anything new."

While the auto body work eight years ago had not been previously disclosed, Bishop said there's no evidence it was caused by a blackout. He said the damage was caused after Smith hit a pole. Bishop views the refiling as double jeopardy for his client.

"There's a compelling need to find a bad guy. But we have to step back and ask ourselves, 'Is this a crime?' "