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Teen driver kills young mom

(Court TV) — One afternoon in her quiet Tampa suburb, Michele Calta strapped her infant into a safety seat, put her in a stroller, and took her out for her very first walk.

But for Calta, it would be her last.

Richard Delrio, 17, drove around the corner onto his street — with Calta in his path. The young mother had only a split second to try to save her daughter, turning the stroller away from the oncoming sports car. The baby landed on nearby grass, with only a small bruise to her face. The 26-year-old mom, however, died as she hit the street.

Delrio says he negotiated the turn carefully and did nothing wrong. The reasons for the accident, he claims, were a large bush and a van blocking his view. The defense also says that Michele Calta herself was jaywalking, and therefore, at fault.

But Florida prosecutors disagree. They say Delrio made the corner his personal raceway, pushing his gas pedal harder each day as he ignored the stop sign on his street and sped around corner, and that he was in fact on the wrong side of the street when he struck Calta.

The teen could faced 15 years in prison if convicted of vehicular homicide.

The accident

Michele Calta met her husband, John, in college. John was raised in Staten Island, N.Y., but his family relocated to Florida. After he and Michele got married, they bought a home in the Country Way subdivision just north of Tampa.

Four years later, on October 30, 2000, Michele gave birth to their daughter, Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn was the first grandchild in the family and the Caltas were thrilled to plan the holidays, stocking up on presents for the little girl. John and Michele had put up a Christmas tree, and taken their very first holiday picture as a family.

On the afternoon of November 28, 2000, Michele Calta carefully strapped her daughter into an infant safety seat, attached it to her stroller, and went for a walk. The baby was only 29 days old, and it was the first time Calta had taken her out. She'd talked to her husband John about it on the phone earlier in the day and he told her to be very careful, because "they drive like maniacs in the neighborhood."

Calta walked the same route she and her husband had walked their dog many times. As usual, the suburban streets were quiet. She was approaching the three-way intersection of Branch Mooring Drive and Whispering Hollow Drive when 17-year-old Richard Delrio's Mitsubishi turned onto the street in front of her.

According to accident reconstruction evidence, there was just enough time for Calta's maternal instincts to kick in. She was in the process of pushing down on the stroller to get it out of the way as she was hit.

Little Kaitlyn was catapulted out of her stroller and thrown onto a patch of grass, landing face down, still securely strapped into her safety seat. The baby suffered only a small scratch to the face. Her mother crashed against the car's windshield, shattering it, before hitting the street. The impact of the pavement fractured Calta's skull, and she died almost immediately.

Delrio jumped out of his car and checked on Michele Calta. When she didn't respond to him, he ran down the street to get his girlfriend, who at the time was staying with Delrio and his family. He also grabbed a phone, and while calling 911, ran from house to house to find help. During the call, a frantic Delrio says he didn't even see Calta until she landed on his hood, and had no idea what he hit until he got out of the car. In fact, Delrio didn't even know a baby had been involved in the accident until he came back out with the phone. He stated several times that he was going only "five miles an hour." Delrio's girlfriend held the baby while they waited for police.

The investigation

Deputy Dwaine Parker arrived as the first officer on the scene. He found Michele Calta dead on the ground with a severe injury to her head, but was unable to locate any identification on her body.

Officers took Calta's key chain, which held an automatic garage door opener, and went from home to home along the street pressing the opener until they found the right house. Inside the kitchen, they found the telephone number for her husband John's place of work, and called to ask him to return home.

After the area was secured, Parker took the baby from Delrio's girlfriend and carried her down the block to break the news to her father. Parker says John Calta was frantic and already crying when he opened the door. "Tell me anything, but don't tell me she's dead," he said as he held his baby daughter. "She was the best wife and mom a man could have."

Their brand new Christmas family picture sat on the table beside him. Parker, whose youngest child is Kaitlyn's age, says that moment was, hands down, the worst of his career. "This man lived my own worst nightmare."

Returning to the scene, Parker asked Delrio to get into his patrol car for a chat. With his mother present and a tape recorder rolling, Delrio described the moments leading up to the crash. He was going at a normal speed, he said, and stopped at the stop sign. Parker says Delrio seemed to be at ease during the talk, and that the two had good eye-contact.

At one point in the interview, though, Delrio's attention seemed to focus on something over Parker's shoulder. Delrio had just mentioned a car turning in front of him, blocking his view right before the accident. He then said it was "a white van."

Parker says he turned to see what Delrio was looking at. Backing into a driveway behind him was a white van with "Action Garage Doors" painted on the side.

Delrio's mother, the daughter of a police captain, says she never hesitated to let investigators speak to her son. Parker even told her and her son, "I am here to help you," she says, and she had no reason not to believe him. Davis welcomed Parker into her home, and did everything she could to cooperate with the investigation.

Her attitude soon changed, however, as investigators seemed to become increasingly intent on proving that her son had done something wrong. The final straw came after Parker and Detective Herbert Metzgar asked that Delrio take a lie detector test. The test was administered by Metzgar, who administered lie detector tests during his time with the FBI.

The three test questions dealt with whether Delrio had stopped at the stop sign and whether a white van had in fact turned in front of him. Parker says Delrio showed up to the test holding a rosary. Delrio's test results indicated that he lied on all three answers.

During the conversation that followed, Parker and Metzgar yelled at her son, says Davis, throwing accusations at him and saying he was lying to them. Her cooperation with the police ended right then and there — and she called her former co-worker at the State Attorney's office, defense lawyer Joe Episcopo, who took on Delrio's case.

The prosecution's case

Richard "Rickochet" Delrio refused to learn, says prosecutor Art McNeil. He'd gotten in trouble driving before, but didn't wise up. His license was restricted, but that didn't help either. Neighbors yelled at him when he sped around the corner onto Branch Mooring Drive, but he didn't listen.

Parker says neighbors told him they'd seen Delrio race around the corner many times, apparently trying to go faster each time. So many neighbors wanted to talk to Parker about Delrio's driving that while he was interviewing one, several others would leave notes on his car. Some said they'd yelled at Delrio to slow down, without result, and one man says he'd made a complaint to the homeowners' association.

In less than two years since obtaining his license, Delrio accumulated points on his record for driving without lights, running a red light, and improperly changing lanes. Because of his age and the number of points on his record, Delrio was deemed an "unsafe driver" and his license was restricted, allowing him only to drive between his home, school, work, and church.

There were no eyewitnesses to the actual crash, but the prosecution says none are needed to support the claim of Richard Delrio's recklessness, since there is plenty of scientific evidence.

Parker, who headed the investigation, says he was able to determine both the speed and point of collision. He estimates that Delrio's speed was between 23 and 26 m.p.h. This is conclusive evidence Delrio did not stop at the stop sign, says Parker, because he could not have accelerated to that speed so quickly after coming to a stop.

With respect to the point of impact, Parker say that the final locations of the car and the victim indicate that Delrio apexed the turn — cutting across diagonally to maintain maximum speed — and hit Michele Calta on the wrong side of the street.

Parker also says that the bush, which the defense claims blocked Delrio's view, would not have been an obstruction if he had taken the turn properly. In addition, it was familiar to Delrio, who had made the turn many, many times. The white van was nothing but a desperate creation by Delrio during his interview, say prosecutors. The police in fact canvassed the area looking for the van, and made a media announcement, without luck.

Considering that Delrio ran the stop sign and was travelling on the wrong side of the street, there is no question that he was driving recklessly, McNeil contends.

Although the Calta family supports the prosecution of Richard Delrio, the victim's brother-in-law Michael Calta says that jail time is not what's important. What his brother needs is for a jury of strangers to validate what he's known since the day his wife died — that Richard Delrio is responsible for the tragedy.

The defense's case

Defense attorney Joe Episcopo says that the only reason his client was charged — eight months after the crash — was intense pressure on the state attorney by the victim's family and their supporters. There isn't a shred of conclusive evidence that Delrio failed to stop, was speeding, or was in the wrong side of the road, he says.

The defense argues that Parker's tests are inaccurate, at best. He did not use Delrio's own vehicle in his "reenactment" of the crash, but used a newer Mitsubishi — without the modifications to the vehicle made by Delrio.

Episcopo also charges Parker made incorrect assumptions about the point of impact and the point of coming to a stop, which would skew any results indicating speed and path of travel. Parker was simply an over-eager new cop who tried to make the evidence fit his own theory, says Episcopo.

The defense's expert witness, Gary Stephens, one of the nation's leading experts in the field of accident reconstruction, reenacted the accident and showed how a large bush wrapped around the street sign and a white van both blocked Delrio's view of Michele Calta.

The video places Calta closer to the middle of the road than the prosecution's theory does, which would mean Delrio wasn't necessarily on the wrong side of the road when the crash occurred. Stephens also disagrees with the prosecution's calculation of Delrio's speed.

Stephens claims that although Delrio may have been pushing the speed limit, which is 25, he could very well have been going as slowly as 14 miles an hour. A lower speed is not only possible, but probable, in light of the fact that there were no fractures on Michele Calta's legs, says Stephens.

As for the neighbors who allegedly told Parker they'd seen Delrio recklessly zoom through the intersection before, Episcopo says their statements are irrelevant, for one thing, because Delrio's habits are not at issue. Also, he promises that a string of neighbors will take the stand to say the exact opposite, calling his client a cautious and good driver.

The bush, which grew around the street sign on the corner, was in a fact in violation of the county requirements for intersection sight distance, says Episcopo. Michele Calta was also jaywalking, apparently crossing or walking in the roadway, making it impossible for Richard Delrio to anticipate a pedestrian in his path. Episcopo tried unsuccessfully to introduce the county guidelines and jaywalking statute at trial.

In the months that followed Michele Calta's death, the bush was removed, and speed humps were eventually installed. Also, the sidewalks in the area have been extended to round corners, which they previously did not.

Delrio, characterized as a computer whiz by his friends, and a quiet but confident kid by his mother, faced 15 years in prison if convicted of vehicular homicide by a Hillsborough County jury.

The verdict

On July 31, 2002, the jury of two women and four men took just over an hour to convict Delrio of vehicular homicide. The victim's husband, who showed little emotion through the trial, broke down in tears after the verdict was read.

But only days later, on August 5, Judge J. Rogers Padgett granted a motion by defense attorney Joe Episcopo to overturn the verdict. Padgett called the event an accident, and said that nothing in the evidence had shown that Delrio was reckless, even if he did run the stop sign.

The ruling has been appealed.

Richard Delrio says he is in therapy to deal with the fact that he was part of an event that cost another person their life. He says he understands the Calta family's anger and has all the sympathy in the world for little Kaitlyn, but still maintains he did nothing wrong.