GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The attorneys for a 15-year-old charged in a high-speed fatal traffic crash have asked for the case to be dismissed.
Sienna Pecore is charged with first-degree reckless homicide, hit & run involving death, and driving a vehicle without owner’s consent for the Oct. 30 crash at Oneida & Mason streets which killed Cruz Beltron, 17. Pecore was allegedly driving more than 100 mph at the time.
Pecore is scheduled to return to court Thursday for a preliminary hearing. In a somewhat usual move for a case in Brown County, that hearing will be before the circuit court judge assigned to the case instead of a court commissioner, after a defense request for that change was granted.
In a 10-page motion, Pecore’s attorney lay out several arguments.
First, the attorneys argue the criminal complaint does not state how the victim died.
“The reader is left entirely to speculation. Perhaps (Beltron) suffered injuries during the crash. Perhaps he suffered from a disease or illness. Perhaps he suffered from an overdose of prescription or nonprescription drugs. Without factual allegations regarding the identified medical cause of his death, the criminal complaint does not establish probable cause of the causation element,” the motion states.
Second, the attorneys argue the facts do not meet the statutory definition of conduct with “utter disregard” for human life, as required by the reckless homicide count.
“The criminal complaint alleges that Sienna swerved to avoid colliding with the first vehicle, and that the resulting lack of control caused the collision with the second vehicle. This allegation alone, and in context with other allegations in the complaint, is insufficient as a matter of law to demonstrate probable cause of utter disregard,” the motion states.
According to the criminal complaint, Pecore told police she had her mother’s car without permission.
“(The officer) asked Pecore why was she driving so fast and she said that she did not know and that she just was. (The officer) asked Pecore if she was racing another car, weaving in and out of traffic or being encouraged to drive that fast and she said she was not. (The officer) informed Pecore that a preliminary speed estimate was that she was traveling in excess of 100 MPH and Pecore said that she did not think that was right,” the complaint states.
“Pecore stated that she saw that the light was green, but then it turned yellow so she thought she could make it through the intersection. Pecore did state that she did remember seeing a vehicle stopped northbound on S. Oneida St. just south of W. Mason St. Pecore recalled the vehicle enter the intersection as she approached. Pecore stated that she then really did not remember what happened,” the complaint states.
Police used security cameras to estimate her speed.
“My analysis of the Walgreens video concluded that the Corolla was traveling an average of 170.9 feet per second or 116.5 MPH over the last 188 ft or 1.1 seconds prior to impact. My analysis of the Shell video concluded that the Corolla was traveling an average of 181 feet per second or 123.4 MPH over the last 362 feet or 2 seconds prior to impact. The posted speed limit here is 35 MPH,” the complaint states.
Pecore is being held on a $100,000 cash bond.
In Wisconsin, those ages 10 and older charged with certain homicide counts are prosecuted in adult court. At a later stage of the case, the defense can ask for the case to be moved to juvenile court, but such requests are not automatically granted.
