Witnesses talk about Russell’s drinking
KELSO, Wash. – An Idaho woman who came upon the scene of a fatal Eastern Washington car crash and let Fred Russell stay warm in her car until an ambulance arrived testified Wednesday in his trial that the smell of alcohol on his breath was so strong she had to leave the vehicle.
Other witnesses testified about Russell’s alcohol purchases and consumption just before the June 4, 2001, crash that killed three Washington State University students.
A liquor store clerk who sold Russell a half-gallon jug of vodka the afternoon of the fatal wreck said Russell purchased alcohol from the store at least once a week. A young woman who drank with Russell hours before the collision said he brought the vodka to her Moscow, Idaho, home, where it was polished off by seven people, including Russell, before the defendant left for a bar in Pullman.
However, Russell’s passenger that night, Jacob McFarland, and an ex-girlfriend, Cristin Capwell, each testified that Russell could “hold his liquor.”
“I don’t recall him ever stumbling or slurring,” the night of the collision, Capwell said.
Russell, 28, is on trial on both vehicular homicide and vehicular assault charges. He’s accused of being drunk, speeding, and trying to pass in a no-passing zone when his vehicle slammed head-on into another car on state Route 270, the highway between the two college towns of Pullman and Moscow.
Killed were Brandon Clements, 22, of Wapato, a Washington State University senior; and fellow WSU students Stacy Morrow, 21, of Milton, and Ryan Sorensen, 21, of Westport. Three others were badly injured.
Capwell also told jurors that Russell’s SUV – a Blazer with a custom lift and bigger tires – was difficult to steer the couple times she drove it but that Russell told her he was used to driving it.
Jurors have been told that Russell’s medical blood test taken the night of the collision showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.128. The legal intoxication threshold in Washington is 0.08.
The jury heard earlier this week from the three people in the students’ car who were badly hurt. A seventh occupant of that car suffered less serious injuries.
Russell was on the U.S. Marshals Service’s “Most Wanted” list after he fled to Ireland following his arrest and release in 2001. He was found in 2005 and later extradited to the United States.
Whitman County Superior Court Judge David Frazier is presiding over the trial, moved to southwest Washington’s Cowlitz County from Whitman County in southeast Washington because of extensive news coverage. The trial began last week and is expected to take at least three weeks.