The passenger in Jamie Petterson's pickup when it crashed head-on into a Jeep on the Seward Highway in 2002 in which an Anchorage couple died, told jurors Monday that he never said he and Petterson were watching a DVD movie at the time of the crash.
Erwin "Jamie" Petterson Jr., 29, of Kenai, is on trial in Kenai Superior Court, charged with four counts of second-degree murder for allegedly causing the deaths of Robert Weiser, 60, and Donna Weiser, 56.
In opening arguments in the trial, assistant district attorney June Stein told jurors Jonathan Douglas called his ex-wife, Marty Zoda, from an Anchorage hospital and told her, "We were zoned out. We were watching a DVD."
"No. I didn't say that," Douglas told the court Monday when Stein asked if he recalled telling his ex-wife that he and Petterson were watching the movie.
"Do you know of any reason why she would attribute those statements to you?" Stein asked.
"No. I am not positive why she would say something like that," Douglas said.
According to an Alaska State Trooper report, Petterson and Douglas were watching an in-dash DVD movie, and Petterson's northbound Ford F-150 crossed into the southbound lane, hitting the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
The Jeep burst into flames, and passersby were able to pull Donna Weiser's body from the wreck, but not Robert Weiser's. Both died at the scene.
Petterson and Douglas were injured. Their injuries were not life-threatening.
According to Douglas' testimony Monday, he and Petterson were listening to a music CD, not watching a DVD movie.
He said he and Petterson often rode together in Petterson's truck as the two worked together as carpenters. They listened to music when driving, and only watched movies or played games on the on-board Play Station 2 while the vehicle was parked waiting for a client or waiting for early morning frost to clear before beginning their work.
On Oct. 12, 2002, Petterson and Douglas were traveling to Anchorage to do some shopping, Douglas told the jury, and moments before the collision, he remembers "just sitting ‹ zoned out."
He said he remembers having a conversation with Petterson, staring at the trees, at the floor and at a graphic equalizer display, also in the dashboard of the vehicle.
He recalls looking at the floor and moving the Play Station controls so as not to step on them and damage them, when he heard Petterson say, "Oh God."
He said he looked up and saw the Jeep coming right at them. Petterson swerved to avoid the Jeep, but it swerved in the same direction and he knew the collision was inevitable.
Douglas also said he remembered Petterson asking, "What happened? Where are we?"
The two went to the van of a motorist who had stopped to help and learned that the couple in the other vehicle had died.
Douglas and Petterson were then flown to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage.
Douglas said he phoned Zoda from the hospital so his children, a 7-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl, who lived with Zoda and her husband, Christopher, would know he was OK after the crash.
He usually called the children in the evening around 7 or 8 to visit with them on the phone.
On that particular day, Zoda also had been in Anchorage and saw Petterson's wrecked truck alongside the Seward Highway on her way back to the Kenai Peninsula.
During her testimony Monday, Zoda said that when Douglas called her from the hospital, "He told me they were going down the road, he was zoned out on the DVD, and he heard Jamie say, 'Oh s‹-,' and they were in the wreck."
Eric Derleth, one of Petterson's defense attorneys, asked Zoda if Douglas ever said, "We were watching the DVD thing."
"No. He said he was," Zoda said.
Now in its third week, the trial is scheduled to resume today at 8:30 a.m. in Judge Charles Cranston's courtroom.
