NEWPORT -- A jury could begin deliberating the fate of Michael Cabral today after lawyers argue whether the 24-year-old Bristol man caused a car he was racing to crash, killing two teens and seriously injuring another.
In April 2003, a car driven by Brendan Lombardi smashed into a tree on Metacom Avenue (Route 136) in Bristol, causing the deaths of Steven Bothelo and Justin Nunes and severely injuring David Arruda. Lombardi has pleaded no contest to charges including conspiracy and reckless driving, death resulting, and is serving 12 years in prison.
Cabral faces the same charges in his second jury trial in Superior Court, which began last Monday. The first one, also before Judge Edwin Gale, ended in a mistrial in March.
During the current trial, witnesses testified that Cabral and Lombardi raced each other at speeds between 80 to 100 mph -- and repeatedly passed each other by crossing over double-yellow lines -- from Swansea to Bristol on Route 136. The two drivers met while hanging out at a Shell Station in Swansea and one witness said they talked about meeting up again at the Stop & Shop in Bristol.
Instead, Lombardi lost control of his on Pontiac Grand Prix along a two-lane stretch of Metacom Avenue, just north of Bristol Toyota and the intersection of Tupelo Street and Michael Drive. A state trooper who investigated the accident testified last week that Lombardi's car was traveling 73 mph when it left skid marks on the road and hit the tree at an estimated 58 mph.
Passengers in Cabral's car said they were ahead of Lombardi and pulled over a short distance away, at Bristol Fitness. Witnesses indicated that Lombardi's car sped through the intersection at Tupelo in the opposing lane of traffic at a high rate of speed.
On Friday, Elizabeth DeFreitas, Cabral's off-and-on girlfriend, said Cabral left her messages on her cell phone after the accident.
"He said there was an accident and that he killed his friends," said the 22-year-old, who has moved from Bristol to Attleboro, since 2003.
They weren't a couple at the time, she said, but she met Cabral the morning of the accident. He told her that he and Lombardi had been driving fast and that he had looked back and seen the crash. She described him as "hysterical." They later bought flowers together and placed them at the crash site.
She and Cabral, who dated for about six years, resumed seeing each other after the accident but broke up again within a year, she said.
Maria Mello, a nurse, said she was returning to her home in Bristol on Route 136 in Warren the night of the accident. She said she was traveling at or less than the speed limit and praying. Suddenly, one car passed her "very fast." When she saw another car coming behind her, seemingly following the other and also speeding, she pulled to the right side of her lane.
"I said, 'Oh God, where are the cops when you need them? Something is going to happen to these cars,' " she testified. "I got nervous."
She said she continued driving and praying until she reached the accident scene. After dialing 911, she grabbed her stethoscope, got out of her car and used her 25 years of nursing expertise in what turned out to be a futile attempt to resuscitate one of the victims thrown onto the ground from the car. After rescuers arrived, she said she spoke with Cabral.
"I was trying to console him," she testified. "He told me, 'Maybe it was my fault because we were racing.' "
Reporter Richard Salit can be reached at (401) 277-7467 or by e-mail at rsalitXXXXprojo.com.
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