The latest hearing in the Kendra Lara car crash legal saga was a short and confused one that ultimately ended in yet another date to argue the latest motion to dismiss.
Councilwoman Lara was scheduled to lead a City Council hearing at the same time as the 2 p.m. hearing in municipal court in West Roxbury. While the court appearance lasted about 7 minutes, the city council hearing began 35 minutes late.
Lara faces charges related to a June crash into a Centre Street home in Jamaica Plain. In October, charges of speeding and reckless operation were removed from her charges, leaving her with charges of recklessly permitting bodily injury to a child under 14 years old, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, driving with a suspended license, driving an uninsured vehicle, driving an unregistered vehicle, and not placing a child under 8 years old and under 58 inches in a car seat. She pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Following the incident, the Herald reported that Lara had not been a licensed driver for a decade.
The confusion during Tuesday’s hearing lay with Lara’s latest motion to dismiss, which according to prosecutor Michael Luzzo was filed “sometime after the midnight hour Sunday morning,” leaving it several days short of the week’s notice required by law so the commonwealth can respond in writing. The motion was not immediately available for the Herald’s review in the clerk’s office.
It also apparently wasn’t enough time to get on Judge Kathleen Coffey’s radar.
“You didn’t follow the rules,” Coffey said to Lara’s defense attorney, Carlton Williams. “Tell me why.”
Williams, who is also a law school professor at Cornell in New York, admitted the mistake was his and said that it was the end of the semester, he was out of state and he simply didn’t have the time. Following the hearing, he thanked the prosecution and the judge for being “gracious” about it.
Williams said that the latest motion to dismiss is based on the facts of the June incident in which Lara, who represents Jamaica Plain as the District 6 councilor, crashed her car into a house in Jamaica Plain.
“I don’t think any reasonable person disputes that she was driving, either 27, 24 or 22 mph before the accident,” Williams said following the hearing. “It’s our position that that isn’t reckless. The other charge that we believe is overblown is … wantonly or recklessly causing bodily injury to a child.”
He said that charge has a very specific legal meaning that is far more severe than the cut suffered by Lara’s child in the incident.
“So we’re asking that those charges be dismissed,” he said, adding that all remaining charges are civil violations, like a speeding ticket.
Prosecutor Luzzo is a Worcester county assistant district attorney appointed along with fellow Worcester ADA Joel Luna as special prosecutors for this case involving a Boston City Council member.
The parties will reconvene in court the afternoon of Jan. 17 to argue the motion to dismiss.
Reporter Gayla Cawley contributed to this report. This is a developing story.