An Idaho judge has ruled that Idaho has thrown out a murder case involving a 19 year old Alaska female who had been fatally injured in a crash of a Humvee in the year 2000 at the ROTC event.
The judge found the Idaho laws did not apply in this case due to a technicality in jurisdiction the crash occurred at a bombing range for military use which isn’t open for public access.
Military investigators flagged an unidentified civilian Air Force employee and a major as a suspect for crimes that could be connected to the death earlier however, the military hasn’t revealed if they were actually charged or disciplinary actions.
Eagle River residents Jessica Swan, the mother of the murdered Air Force ROTC cadet Mackenzie Wilson has called the absence in accountability “unconscionable.”
“Mackenzie was killed, and there’s no consequence,” she said Tuesday following an in-court hearing to conclude the case. “Like what could that be? How do you make that legal? For instance, how could this be legal? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Wilson was among 19 students from colleges across the country who were part of the Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps chosen to attend an educational course for four days located in the Idaho’s Mountain Home Air Force Base in June 2022. ROTC cadets, who are civilians, train to serve as military officials.
The accident happened on the day before that was a gravel road in the Saylor Creek Bombing Range. Military investigators have detailed the lack of oversight as well as a string of untrue rules that ledup to the accident. As per their findings the range’s officials allowed the untrained cadets access to drive older Humvees that had been used as bombing targets, and were not supposed for driving.
Idaho authorities have charged the driver, who was a student who hails from Minnesota identified as Cole Harcey, with manslaughter.
Harcey’s attorney and the county prosecutor had a heated debate about how to interpret the syntax of the reckless driving law and the law of the case.
Reckless driving is the primary requirement in the manslaughter charges for this particular case. The judge in the end determined that that it wasn’t applicable on public land that’s not accessible for public access.
In an earlier court hearing Harcey’s lawyer, Aaron Hooper, summed up the accident in the form of “an tragic accident.”
Swan The mother of the victim Swan, the mother of the victim, does not agree with. Swan, the victim’s mother, is not happy. was open with her frustration and anger earlier in the year because she was seeking accountability and she was worried that her daughter’s death could be interpreted as one more tragic incident.
Hooper has shifted blame to the military by citing its report of its investigators.
“The Hummers were sent to the range in order to be targets, which is to be bombed onto them” He said. “They weren’t kept clean enough and driven about. They weren’t properly maintained. They were not equipped with the correct type of tires. They were, in essence, not controlled in the way that most army equipment. They were not, in essence, suitable for driving.”
In the present, Swan said, it seems like the judge’s decision could mean that other people could escape the law by killing an innocent civilian for military reasons.
“What’s to prevent this from repeating itself?” she said. “This is actually a way to make the cadets more vulnerable, because there’s a legal precedent. It’s the complete contrary to what wanted to shield other Cadets.”
None of the lawyers involved in the matter responded to inquiries for comments. Air Force officials have not stated whether their personnel were subject to sanctions following the accident.
Swan claimed that the prosecutor was talking to her in recent times and told her the prosecutor plans to appeal.
