County DA: Legal cause in fatal accident not proved

The District Attorney for York County said on Tuesday that the judge in the manslaughter case against a Lebanon man and his business focused on the legal cause of the accident in his decision to acquit.

Kathryn Slattery, who oversees the prosecution of criminal cases in York County, called the four-day bench trial that ended with a not guilty verdict on Monday “full and fair.”

Both Mark Stuart and his company, Stuart, Torno and Stuart, were acquitted in the fatal accident that killed a Sanford teenager in July 2012.

Cory Cabana died after being struck by Stuart’s heavy equipment dump truck on Lebanon Street near Sleeper’s Market.

Slattery said that Justice John O’Neil agreed that the truck was in “deplorable” condition but that it didn’t necessarily constitute the legal cause of the accident.

Stuart’s truck did not have a valid inspection sticker at the time of the accident and the state’s position was that inferior brakes were at least partially to blame.

Slattery said that to be found guilty of manslaughter, it would have to have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the behavior of the defendant caused the fatal accident to occur.

The defense, meanwhile, maintained that even if the truck were in perfect condition, it is likely the accident could not have been averted.

Slattery commended the work of the Sanford Police Department in the investigation.

Attorney Thad West, who prosecuted the case, was unavailable for comment.