His blood-alcohol content was .16, more than twice the legal limit.
Yet Todd Spangler testified this morning 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. Attorneys presented closing arguments this morning -- and the jury was to begin deliberating before noon.
In contentious testimony, Spangler stuck by his story, first presented Wednesday, that the women skipped off of the tube that Spangler had been pulling behind the boat.
Kuhse asked how the women ended up on the other side of the dock if they had skipped across the water for three to six seconds – as Spangler testified Wednesday.
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 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 drank two large Mai Tais -- the equivalent of about 6 to 8 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, Jennifer 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 the fact that his blood alcohol content was .168, twice the legal limit for driving.
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.
In direct testimony Wednesday, Spangler testified, that the alcohol did not impair his depth perception.
He said he had driven the boat — as it towed the tube on its 50-foot-long rope — through that cove hundreds of times. He said he had more than enough room as he swung his boat hard to the left in order to whip the women across the water.
Witnesses have testified that the women 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."
One of Spangler's passengers – Heidi Lichtenberg – was watching the tube from the boat. She testified that she and Spangler were having a conversation about centrifugal force when Spangler said, "watch this." She said she couldn't believe that Spangler was cranking the boat with the tube that close to shore.
"I remember thinking, ‘Surely he's going to see that dock there,'" she testified.
John Dwyer, Jennifer's widower, and another woman testified that they watched in horror as the women held onto the tube and the tube hit the dock.
One of the women, Heidi Lichtenberg, said the two were smiling and laughing and holding on for dear life, unaware that the tube was about to whip into the dock. From his house, neighbor Jeff Nielsen testified that he also could see that the tube was on course to hit the dock — so much so that he hollered for his son to call 911 before the tube even hit the dock.
A coroner's physician testified that the collision fractured several of Finke-Dwyer's ribs and crushed her liver, causing her death.
Dr. Robert Bowen said her severe, internal injuries were similar to the trauma suffered by someone who has jumped off of a high-rise building.
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