Man acquitted in car crash homicide charges

William Joe Skidmore was acquitted after a four-day trial in state Disrict Court in Havre of a homicide charge stemming from a 2017 car crash.

Skidmore was charged following an investigation into the crash.

Jason Skidmore died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash, which occurred about midnight Aug. 14, 2017.

The jury returned its verdict after more than 9 hours of deliberation, finding William Skidmore not guilty of the lesser included offense of negligent homicide.

The jury was instructed to enter a verdict on that charge or on the original charge of vehicular homicide while under the influence but only to one of those charges.

The vehicular homicide charge was filed June 20, 2020, following an investigation of the incident.

The charging documents alleged that William Skidmore called police Aug. 15, 2017, shortly after midnight, reporting a crash on Ninth Street West.

Officers found a gray 2011 Chevrolet Impala which had struck a tree.

A woman, to whom the car was registered, and Jason Skidmore were in the vehicle, a document said.

William Skidmore was lying several yards away from the vehicle.

Officers saw a large amount of alcohol inside the Impala, the document said.

The document said Skidmore told the officers an unkown female had been driving the car and “started driving crazy,” spinning in a circle, after which he jumped out and then the car struck the tree.

Skidmore said the woman then left the vehicle and ran away, the document said. He later gave the name of the woman he said had been driving.

Charges were not filed until DNA analysis indicated the woman Skidmore named could be excluded as the driver.

William Skidmore and Jason Skidmore were taken to the hospital Aug. 15, 2017, and then flown to a Great Falls hospital, where Jason Skidmore was pronounced dead at about 10:10 a.m., the document said.

The woman in the car had to be extracted using a hydraulic rescue tool to open the door.

The four-day trial included the defense using the Chevy Impala from the crash as an exhibit, having Skidmore enter and sit in the driver’s seat as well as the rear left passenger seat directly behind the drivers seat to support its argument he was not the driver of the vehicle.