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Tampa judge denies bid to suppress Bayshore crash evidence

Defense attorneys asked to bar data seized from a Ford Mustang’s navigation system after a crash that killed a mother and daughter.
 
Tampa police investigate the scene of a fatal May 23, 2018, collision on Bayshore Boulevard. The driver of a black 2018 Mustang GT is accused of driving recklessly and colliding with a mother and her 21-month-old daughter as they crossed the road. [JAMES BORCHUCK | Times]
Tampa police investigate the scene of a fatal May 23, 2018, collision on Bayshore Boulevard. The driver of a black 2018 Mustang GT is accused of driving recklessly and colliding with a mother and her 21-month-old daughter as they crossed the road. [JAMES BORCHUCK | Times]
Published Dec. 3, 2020|Updated Dec. 3, 2020

TAMPA — A judge has ruled that key evidence will not be suppressed in the case of two young men accused of causing a 2018 crash that killed a mother and her young daughter on Bayshore Boulevard.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Christopher Nash announced in a brief court hearing Thursday afternoon that he would deny a request from defense attorneys to throw out data seized from a navigation and entertainment system aboard the Ford Mustang that struck and killed the pair.

The judge’s written ruling was not immediately available.

Defense attorneys for Cameron Herrin and John Barrineau had asked the judge to bar the digital evidence, arguing that police obtained it through an improper search warrant application. A favorable ruling likely would have hampered the state’s ability to prove its case against the defendants, who stand accused of vehicular homicide and racing.

Prosecutors have said that data shows the Mustang was moving at speeds in excess of 100 mph moments before the crash.

A trial is set for January.

Lillia Raubenolt and her mother, Jessica Raubenolt are seen along with Jessica's husband David Raubenolt in this undated family photo from Facebook. [ FACEBOOK.COM | Facebook.com ]
Related: Lawyers dispute that teens in Bayshore crash were racing, want evidence tossed

Jessica Reisinger-Raubenolt, 24, and her 21-month-old daughter, Lillia, were from Ohio and visiting relatives in Tampa when they died on May 23, 2018. The mother was pushing her daughter in a stroller across the busy thoroughfare that hugs the South Tampa waterfront when they were struck by a Ford Mustang GT.

Reisinger-Raubenolt died at the scene. Her daughter died at the hospital.

Related: Another Christmas without them: Family of mom and girl who died in Bayshore Boulevard crash speak out in court

Herrin, then 18, was driving the Mustang, which hit the pair. Barrineau, then 17, drove a Nissan Altima, which witnesses described as racing the Mustang moments before the collision.

Both young men were arrested and later released on bail.

But as the case against them came to span more than two years, defense attorneys scrutinized the state’s evidence and probed the crash investigation through pretrial depositions.

Attorneys John Fitzgibbons and Anthony Rickman asked a judge to suppress evidence seized through what they said was a flawed search warrant application. Police had used the warrant to obtain data from the Mustang’s navigation and entertainment system.

The warrant affidavit did not specifically mention seizing the data, which was stored on what’s known as an Infotainment system.

The affidavit also contained a number of what the defense said were factual misrepresentations and omitted facts about the early investigation. These included what the defense said were false statements that witnesses to the crash described the vehicles as “at times” parallel to each other and “switching places in front of each other,” and that they were racing “up to the point of impact.”

No witness could say where, specifically, the vehicles had been racing or where, precisely, the collision occurred, according to the defense. The warrant application also failed to mention that there were no skid marks or other roadway evidence establishing the speed of the vehicles.

Ryan Jacques, a detective who investigated the crash, testified in a deposition that he believed the crash was a “low-velocity collision,” that occurred at a speed of about 30 to 35 mph, the defense wrote. This also was not mentioned in the warrant affidavit.

Assistant State Attorney Aaron Hubbard defended the sufficiency and integrity of the warrant, noting in a response that witnesses all described reckless behavior just before the mother and daughter were struck. He also said the defense was “nitpicking” the words the detective used to summarize the investigative findings.