Man found not guilty in car accident death of principal
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By SUSAN SPENCER-WENDEL

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, February 28, 2008

WEST PALM BEACH — Was the death of a popular middle school principal an accident or was it vehicular homicide?

An accident, a jury has now decided.
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Jurors returned not-guilty verdicts this afternoon in the case against Cesar Mejia, a 32-year-old driver who prosecutors say blew through a red light striking the vehicle of Western Pines Middle School principal Margaret Campbell, killing her.

Mejia's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Shawnee Lawrence, had argued before jurors that Mejia was driving the speed limit and in no way, shape or form wanted to run a red ight and kill another human being.

"Tragic? Yes. Sad? Definitely. Homicide? No, no," Lawrence said.

Lawrence had acknowledged to jurors that Mejia, an undocumented alien from Mexico, had no valid drivers license in the United States. Mejia also was charged with driving without a valid license causing death.

Jurors acquitted him of both charges.

At Mejia's two-day trial, traffic homicide prosecutor Ellen Roberts argued that he was more than 400 feet away from the light at Bee Line Highway and Seminole Pratt Whitney Road — a football field and a third —when it changed to yellow.

"He saw that light start to change... that's when he made the decision he was not gonna stop," Roberts said in closing statements this morning. "This crash on March 8, 2006 didn't have to happen. That's all there is to it."

susan-spencer-wendel@pbpost.com
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Related Subjects

* Cesar Mejia
* Shawnee Lawrence
* Education
* Elementary Education
* Elementary and High School Education