Trial to begin for man in deaths of 3 friends
9/20/2011The trial for a 22-year-old Toledo man charged with causing the deaths of three friends during a car crash is to begin Tuesday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.
Noel Papenfuse is charged with three counts of aggravated vehicular homicide. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in jail.
Cousins Bryan Richardson, 20, and Bradley Richardson, Jr., 21, both of Toledo, and Noah E. McFadden, 23, of Sylvania, were killed Oct. 21 in a crash on Detroit Avenue south of Alexis Road. The three were in a car driven by Mr. Papenfuse.
Authorities said Mr. Papenfuse was southbound at a high speed on North Detroit about 2 a.m. when he collided with a vehicle that was pulling out of a parking lot.
Both drivers were charged.
The second driver, Paul Never, 69, of Ottawa Lake, Mich., pleaded guilty in July to three counts of aggravated vehicular homicide. He is to be sentenced Sept. 26.
Five men and eight women, including one alternate, were chosen Monday as the jury in Mr. Papenfuse’s trial, over which Judge Stacy Cook presides.