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SUNNY Temp: 64 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Sunday, October 5, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine Joy Magazine Tempo A & E RogueValleyAutoFinder RogueValleyHomeFinder Real Estate Showcase Wellness Connection Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Employment Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend September 28, 2003 John Patrick Bush Friend’s death only led to drunken-driving conviction By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune With friend Davy Buchanan lying dead in the wrecked Jeep near Butte Falls, driver John Bush had no trouble clearly explaining to investigators what happened that night in 1994. Driving home from hunting, Bush said, he swerved to miss a deer on Obenchain Road. The Jeep careened down an embankment, with the 21-year-old Buchanan suffering fatal head injuries. With no conflicting evidence, Jackson County sheriff’s deputies believed the accident was just a tragic moment of driving in the woods. Then a deputy asked Bush to take a Breathalyzer test, for no other reason than to protect him in a possible civil suit, sheriff’s Sgt. Eric Fox recalls. Advertisement "If he would have said no," Fox says, "we wouldn’t have made him." Bush said yes. And to investigators’ surprise, Bush was legally drunk three hours after the wreck. Yet no one — neither several police officers nor medics who evaluated Bush at the crash scene — suspected alcohol was involved, Fox says. Though eventually facing homicide charges, Bush walked away with only a drunken driving conviction and no jail time from a fatal crash police now believe he repeated nine years later just a quarter-mile from where Buchanan died. "There were a lot of problems with that case, and getting him on DUII was as good as we could do," said John Bondurant, a former Jackson County prosecutor who handled Bush’s case. There was little or no evidence of drunken driving other than the Breathalyzer test, which Bondurant said was suspect because of procedures and the long time lapse. Law experts also say the circumstances of that crash, the laws at that time and some people’s attitudes about alcohol could have made it difficult for a jury to send Bush to prison for homicide. "Things just didn’t go the right way that night," Bondurant says. That night was March 26, 1994. Witnesses told police that David Edward Buchanan and John Patrick Bush were at a gathering on Geppert Butte southwest of Butte Falls, doing spin-outs in the mud with their four-wheel-drive vehicles. Witnesses also told police Bush had drank a few beers on Geppert Butte, but no one told police an exact number. Witness Melody Marley told investigators that she drove Bush and Buchanan down Geppert Butte on Obenchain Road. The brakes, she told police, were not working well — possibly because they had gotten wet. Marley then left the pair, with Bush driving the Jeep north on Obenchain Road toward Butte Falls Highway when the crash occurred about 12:50 a.m. March 27, reports state. Butte Falls Marshal Bill Johnson was the first officer on the scene and discovered Buchanan dead, his skull crushed by the Jeep’s roll-bar. Fox, who was just finishing his patrol training, arrived with Deputy Matt Thompson about 30 minutes later. When asked, Bush denied drinking and showed no visible signs of alcohol to several deputies and paramedics at the scene, reports state. Even as Fox drove Bush to the White City Substation for the breath test nearly three hours later, he did not notice an odor of alcohol in his patrol car. "There was no clear evidence from talking to him," says Fox, now 36. "There was no slurred speech, no alcohol smell. The type of things you look for just weren’t there." Bush signed a consent form and his test registered a blood-alcohol level of .10 percent, which is above the legal threshold of .08 percent for driving under the influence of intoxicants. Fox then read the Miranda rights to Bush. When questioned, Bush initially said he had just one beer but later said he had at least six that day, according to Fox’s 1994 report. A grand jury indicted Bush on second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and DUII. He later pleaded guilty to the DUII misdemeanor, receiving a $754 fine and three years’ probation but no jail time. The laws involving drunken driving are "quite complicated" and Bondurant’s worry of the test’s admissibility "doesn’t surprise me at all," says Laura Graser, a criminal defense attorney from Portland who specializes in appeals. Informed of the details of Bush’s 1994 case, Graser says a defense attorney in a trial could play to people’s "mixed feelings" about drunken driving, and raise issues about Buchanan’s drinking as well as the time lapse between the crash and the test. Also, Buchanan’s family wrote a letter saying they wanted Bush to get alcohol counseling and not prison, court records show. "I could see why a jury would have problems convicting him and sending him to prison," says Graser, who calls the DUII plea a reasonable outcome for such a case. In the similar April 7 one-car cash that killed 29-year-old Robert Andrew Baker, Bush’s blood-alcohol level was measured at .296 percent — a level retired Judge Mitchell Karaman said would make most people comatose. Karaman, who heard Bush’s case and hundreds of other DUII cases in 28 years on the bench, says a heavy drinker easily could lead police astray. "He can walk around with a .10 (percent) like you and I can with a zero-zero," says Karaman, who retired in 1997. Since the 1994 crash, deputies have received more intensive DUII training and have formed an accident reconstruction team to better investigate crashes, Fox says. That team investigated Bush’s fatal crash last April. Many of those deputies also worked Bush’s 1994 wreck. So did Fox — who went to the hospital for a blood sample to test Bush’s alcohol level. "I remembered," Fox says. "Definitely." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Rogue Valley Auto Finder Rogue Valley Job Finder --> Rogue Valley Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times