Trial starts for former prosecutor

CLARK COUNTY, Ohio (WDTN) - On the first day of the trial of the former Clark County prosecutor, the judge watched video of the fatal crash in question.

The camera showed 37-year-old James Pierce stumbling onto Springfield-Xenia Road and then falling backward, just getting out of the way of an on-coming car.

Moments later, he wasn't so fortunate. The grainy video from the nearby Wayside Tavern made it hard to see Pierce in the middle of the road as James Berry's car approached.

But the video shows Berry's car jolt from the impact.

Berry says he didn't know he'd hit a person.

One man 2 NEWS talked with who drives that stretch of road everyday says it's generally a smooth ride.

"If you hit something you would know you hit something," Geoff Lewis says.

But Lewis also told us it would have been difficult to see Pierce that night.

"A lot of people like to walk down the middle of the street and they wear dark clothing and sometimes you're almost on them before you see them," Lewis says.

The video shows that Pierce, who had drugs and alcohol in his system, was having problems even standing up as he left the tavern.

He even stumbled into the side of a van at one point.

Aside from a look at the video on day one of the trial, an investigator from the Ohio State Highway Patrol showed pictures of the damage done to Berry's car by the crash.

The front bumper had been jarred loose, the rear wheel had been replaced, and the rear door on the passenger side had scratches on it.

Berry could face up to five years behind bars if he's convicted.

The decision of guilt will be left to a visiting judge because Berry waived his right to a jury trial.