It took jurors just over an hour and a half to find James Stanich, the Brown City man alleged to have caused a fatal crash after huffing a keyboard cleaner, guilty of second-degree murder, operating while intoxicated and tampering with evidence.
The jury, having heard closing arguments, was asked to consider manslaughter instead for Stanich’s part in causing 30-year-old Graham Wiltse’s death. Prosecutor Jennifer Deegan noted during trial that Stanich had purchased 62 cans of Dust-Off, a keyboard cleaner, in the month leading up to the crash, and had been intoxicated enough that, when he discovered he had missed his intended Capac exit home, he made a U-turn while still on the highway and began to drive the wrong way to try and fix his mistake. Not only had he huffed Dust-off in the hours before, but he had cocaine and marijuana in his system at the time as well.
Still, Stanich’s defense attorney, Joseph Lavigne, insisted his client didn’t know that his actions could have caused such harm, having huffed and driven before without consequence, and thus the charge should be manslaughter instead. He also said there is no evidence to support the evidence tampering charge Stanich faces for allegedly throwing cans of Dust-off, saying that there was a lack of witnesses and that Stanich would have been too injured to have moved the airbag, collect the cans and throw them from the rear window. However, as the prosecutor pointed out, the location of the cans at the scene were inconsistent with the crash’s debris field.
Jurors seem to have agreed, returning at 3:00 p.m. with the three guilty counts. Stanich is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13 at 1:30 p.m. before St. Clair County Circuit Court Judge Michael West.
