June 03, 2011, 10:00 AM
McNamara never saw man before fatal crash
By Lisa Coryell/For The Times
EWING – A Robbinsville man charged with death by auto in the Route 29 crash that killed a New Hope, Pa., restaurateur last summer simply didn’t see the man before he plowed into the back of his motorcycle last year, his defense attorney said yesterday.
Robert McNamara, 27, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted in the crash that killed 44-year- old Enrique Patino, who owned the Blue Tortilla on Main Street.
McNamara was traveling south on Route 29 when he hit Patino’s motorcycle, which was stopped in the southbound lane at the light at Lower Ferry Road in Ewing in the early morning hours of July 31.Patino’s foot was off the brake, leaving only a small running light on the back of the motorcycle to illuminate his presence, said Jerome Ballarotto, McNamara’s attorney.
“It was dark. The motorcycle was black. (Patino) was dressed in black and was wearing a black helmet,” Ballarotto said. “It was an accident. A terrible, unfortunate accident.”At a hearing before Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier yesterday, Ballarotto made a motion to suppress evidence that McNamara was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash.
“There was no evidence (at the crash scene) of my client being drunk,”Ballarotto said. Tests show McNamara had a blood alcohol level of 0.066, “well below” the 0.08 level that marks drunk driving in New Jersey, he said.
The judge is expected to rule on the motion June 30.
Meanwhile, Ballarotto plans to recreate the conditions of the crash scene on the highway so that an expert can determine the visibility on the road the night of the crash.
“We had to wait until this time of year to do this study so the conditions would be the same,” Ballarotto said.
Prosecutors have offered McNamara a deal that carries a sentence of seven years in prison. Under the deal, McNamara would be required to serve 85 percent of that sentence — just less than six years — before becoming eligible for parole.