Stasko trial now in the hands of jurors

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The case of a 23-year-old charged with three counts of murder after a deadly drag racing accident is now in the hands of the jury. 

Jurors spent a little more than three hours deliberating Monday afternoon.
          
Police say Tyler Stasko was racing when he slammed into the car of a Winthrop Professor.  That car was driven by Cynthia Furr. The crash killed her and her two year old daughter who was riding in the backseat.

Even though the defense admitted Tyler Stasko was speeding, this may be a complicated deliberation for jurors.  If they find him guilty, they have choices.  They could come back with a verdict of murder, involuntary manslaughter or misdemeanor death by vehicle.

The prosecution says Tyler Stasko is a murderer, urging the jury not to find the 23-year-old guilty of a lesser charge.

“Folks, it just wasn't an accident.  An accident can be anticipated, an accident can be avoided. Folks, what this is, is murder,” said Clayton Jones.

The state argued Stasko acted with malice when he sped down south Tryon and slammed into Furr and her daughter in April of 2009.  Hunter Holt, a 13-year-old passenger in Stasko’s car was also killed.

Jones told jurors, “What that is, is racing on a major thoroughfare when there’s traffic ahead of you and you're going up to 100 miles an hour as you approach cars”.

But defense attorneys argued Furr was partly to blame, that as the choir director, she was in a hurry to get to church.

“There is evidence that she may have been distracted and there is evidence that the child may not have been strapped into the child seat,” said Deke Falls.

Stasko's attorney also told jurors police investigating the crash never looked into the possibility Furr might have been partly to blame.

“Once they heard the words racing it’s kind of like tunnel vision came on and they didn't consider anything else. They just got a focus of racing, racing, racing,” Falls said.