No verdict in boater's trial

His blood-alcohol content was .168, more than twice the legal limit for driving.

Yet Todd Spangler testified Thursday that he was not impaired when he drove a boat June 21 just before a crash that killed Spangler's friend Jennifer Finke-Dwyer.

That testimony came as prosecutor Matt Kuhse grilled Spangler on his version of what happened that Father's Day on West Shores Lake in western Douglas County.

Jurors deliberated for 4½ hours Thursday afternoon without returning a verdict. They will resume deliberations Friday morning.

In contentious testimony, Spangler stuck by his story, first presented Wednesday, that the women skipped off the inner tube that Spangler had been pulling behind the boat.

Kuhse asked how the women ended up on the other side of the dock if — as Spangler testified — they had skipped across the water for three to six seconds.

Spangler said he didn’t see the women hit the dock, so he couldn’t say how.

His wife, Kimberly Spang­ler — who was in the tube and was seriously injured in the crash — took the stand and said she remembered letting go of the tube, seeing the sky, skipping across the water and blacking out.

The next time she woke up, she said, she was in the hospital.

In cross-examination, Kuhse pointed out that she told sheriff’s deputies 10 days later that she didn’t remember anything about the crash.

Kuhse: “Is it fair to say that your recollection of what happened might have been impacted by your conversations with your husband about this case?”

Kim Spangler: “No.”

In closing arguments, Kuhse said Todd Spangler clearly is guilty of manslaughter — the unintentional death of another person during the commission of an unlawful act.

Kuhse said the defendant committed two unlawful acts: driving the boat while intoxicated and driving it recklessly close to the shore. Spangler admitted that he had drunk two large Mai Tais — the equivalent of about six to eight shots of rum.

“He was double the legal limit,” Kuhse said. “For him to get up here and tell you that he wasn’t impaired, that he was fine, is ludicrous.

“He was drunk. He was too close to the shore. He was too close to that dock. He was showing off, and now someone’s dead because of it.”

Spangler’s attorney, James Martin Davis, said the tube never hit the dock. Instead, he said, Finke-Dwyer’s death was caused by a wake that launched the tube in the air, not by Spangler’s drinking.

“It’s a long ways from Mai Tais to manslaughter,” Davis said. “These ladies were bounding on a tube and hit a wake. If a water skier crashes and dies, did the boat’s driver cause his death?”

Davis said the case boils down to one thing: “If that tube did not hit that dock, then he’s not guilty.”

Earlier, Kuhse had pressed Todd Spangler on his blood-alcohol content.

Kuhse: “You’re aware that your blood-alcohol content was .168?”

Spangler: “I’m aware of that, sir.”

Kuhse: “Legally, you were drunk?”

Spangler: “Yeah, we have stipulated to that.”

Kuhse: “So you were drunk?”

Spangler: “I disagree with the wording — drunk.”

Kuhse: “You were impaired to drive a boat?”

Spangler: “No.”

Witnesses have testified that the women on the inner tube hit the dock close to the shore.

“Did your (drinking) make you any less capable of determining distances to shore or the dock?” Davis asked.

Spangler: “No.”

Davis: “Did you believe you were far enough away from shore?”

Spangler: “Wholeheartedly.”

Davis: “If those girls had not skidded off of that tube, would they have hit the dock?”

Spangler: “No. The tube would have followed the boat.”

John Dwyer, Finke-Dwyer’s widower, and another woman testified that they watched in horror as the women held onto the tube and the tube hit the dock.

A coroner’s physician testified that the collision fractured several of Finke-Dwyer’s ribs and crushed her liver. Dr. Robert Bowen said her injuries were similar to the trauma suffered by someone who has jumped off a high-rise building.

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