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Lutz Biker's DUI-Manslaughter Trial Begins

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By TODD LESKANIC

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 21, 2008

  Michael Rose

NEW PORT RICHEY - After the crash that killed 34-year-old Lucinda Reapp, Michael Rose pulled his damaged motorcycle to the side of the road before asking about his passenger, prosecution witnesses said.

By the time passers-by stopped to help, Reapp, a wife and mother of three, was underneath a pickup on the other side of State Road 52, prosecution witnesses said Wednesday.

That's what prosecutors say happened Dec. 8, 2003. Wednesday was the first day of Rose's DUI-manslaughter trial. Rose, 51, of Lutz, is also charged with DUI with culpable negligence. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.

The jury is expected to begin its deliberations today.

Rose has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His attorney, Geoff Cox, argued that Rose wasn't driving the motorcycle when it clipped a median, crossed into oncoming traffic and slid to a stop just east of Shadow Ridge Boulevard. Rose wasn't seriously hurt, but Reapp was thrown from the bike and run over by the truck heading west.

Rose's blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.17, said Assistant State Attorney Jim Goodnow. In Florida, drivers are considered legally intoxicated at 0.08.

He had spent the evening drinking beer at the Frosty Mug bar in Hudson, according to testimony. Reapp and her sister, Sheri Jones, were bartenders there. About 6 p.m., Jones had come in to take over for Reapp. Erica Allen, a friend of Reapp, also stopped at the bar that night.

Jones testified that Reapp told her she needed to go to a store to get Tylenol for one of her children, who was sick. Rose volunteered to drive her.

Jones and Allen testified they begged Reapp not to get on the motorcycle with Rose because he had been drinking. Both said they watched Rose drive out of the bar's parking lot with Reapp riding on the back of the bike.

In his cross examination, Cox brought out that Allen didn't become a witness in the case until recently. Allen and Jones, who met just weeks before the wreck, are now best friends and live together.

"Apparently, Sheri failed to mention my name" to investigators, Allen told Cox. "If she didn't mention my name, it was because she was emotionally stressed and just forgot. Maybe she didn't want to involve me in it. I don't know."

In his opening statement to the jury, Cox said Jones' testimony isn't credible because she is angry at Rose and blames him for her sister's death.

Three motorists who saw the accident pointed to Rose as the driver but said the wreck happened in a matter of seconds.

Timothy Bean, who was driving the pickup that killed Reapp, said Rose appeared to be in front as he and Reapp fell from the motorcycle.

Amy and Robert Wilson testified they were driving their car on S.R. 52 in the middle of the three westbound lanes and saw the motorcycle speed by to their right, then cut over to the left lane.

After the motorcycle crash, the Wilsons stopped to help. Both testified that Rose told them he was driving.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (727) 815-1084 or tleskanic@tampatrib.com.

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