Houston criminal defense attorney Brent Mayr secured an acquittal for his client.
On April 24, 2014, a Montgomery Jury found a Dobbin man not guilty of two counts of criminally negligent homicide for a motor vehicle crash back on December 14, 2010.
Merle Pritzkau, 66, was charged with causing the deaths of Michael and Addie Buttercase after he allegedly ran a stop sign at the intersection of FM 149 and Lone Star Parkway. Defense attorney Brent Mayr argued during the four-day trial that there wasn’t any evidence he was speeding, intoxicated or using his cell phone.
If convicted, Pritzkau would have faced up to ten years in prison and fine up to $10,000.
The defense presented that the stop sign allegedly run by Pritzkau had been hidden by another sign as he approached the intersection, and thus the accident did not rise to the level of criminally negligent.
“This was a tragic accident, and nothing more,’ Mayr said. “We are incredibly pleased that the jury saw it that way and chose not to convict him of this felony.”
After deliberating for approximately ninety minutes, the jury found Pritzkau not guilty on both counts of criminally negligent homicide.
Within months of the crash, a four-way traffic light was installed to replace the two-way stop signs.
Read more about the case on The Courier and FindLaw.com.