Home > The Events Unfold
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Home > The Events Unfold |
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Conley and Ollie stopped by Conley's apartment at around 9:30 PM that night. Tony Matthews testified in the civil trial that his roommate and Ollie sat down at the kitchen table and ate their take out food from Wendy's. Conley was about to get into the shower at 9:30PM. The collision occurred at approximately 11:00pm. The question, which was not asked by Jim Lane's lawyer, was had these boys been drinking that night? Tony Matthews has told Jim Lane personally that they had not been drinking at all. We believe John Oliver Sutherland and Conley Lane were out that tragic night looking to find John a job, and may have been meeting someone that night. We believe that Conley was helping John in this task, although this is purely speculation on our part. Information has led us to believe that Tony Matthews’ neighbor, Bruce Clark, may have been the last person to see the two men alive, and could provide invaluable information as to the men's state-of-mind prior to the collision. Let it be known that we have tried to find out, but the people of Jackson Hole will not speak to us concerning this crime. We do know for a fact that neither man had been drinking that fateful night, although local authorities would have you believe otherwise.
Yearsley Construction Company was having their Christmas Party at the Mangy Moose Bar that night. They had been drinking all the while. Supposedly the party ended around 9:30pm. They all dispersed, deciding to continue the party in town at the Rancher Bar. In Judith Erby's own words "We were rushing back to town to continue the party at the Rancher Bar". David Yearsley, Darrell Beck, Wendi Yearsley (Phelps), and Heidi Anderson hopped into the Yearsley Company Chevy pickup and headed for town. By the way, four persons in the front seat of a pickup are illegal. The rest of the gang at the party followed. According to the passengers, David Yearsley was driving. They passed a couple, Wayne and Cindy Williams, after Pratts Road in the straight close to the ponds and before reaching Skyline Hill. Cindy Williams has stated that she was driving at approximately 38 -40 mph. She also stated that the Yearsley vehicle passed her going approximately 10-mph faster than she. Once she came over Skyline Hill she saw a glimpse of the collision. Her husband, Wayne, saw nothing and also stated in an interview in 1998 that neither saw much. We figured that at her position, she was approximately 7/10th's to 8/10th's of a mile away from the collision, in the dark that night.
Conley Lane and John Oliver Sutherland were killed instantly when they were struck by the oncoming Yearsley Construction Company Chevy pickup truck. The four occupants in the Yearsley vehicle walked away with mostly minor injuries.
From here things are a bit sketchy but we know that there were many EMS workers, Trooper James Wilson, Trooper Delane Baldwin, and Sheriff's deputies at the scene, as well as the Yearsley's partygoers who were following. Then, assistant prosecuting attorney Steve Weichman was called at home. He showed up at the hospital. Reportedly, Reconstructionist John Daily was there and drove officer Allen Johns’ squad car back to town. Officer Allen Johns recanted his statement later. Yearsley's father and countless others were also at the scene, coming from the party. Coroner Bob Cambell testified he went to Ollie's motel room that night searching for evidence of alcohol. Why were these prominent members of Jackson Hole at the scene or involved that night? We have our suspicions, but will let you decide once you read the contents of this web site.
The road was so slick that night that
sanding trucks were called to clean and scrape the road for public safety
reasons prior to an in depth investigation of the site. Any evidence on the
roadway was destroyed. Why in this unrelated accident was the road
closed for over 7 hours when there wasn't even a fatality? Why?
The Asst. Prosecuting Attorney Steve Weichman, currently Prosecuting Attorney of Teton County, was called out to the hospital to assist in, and guide the investigation, which is highly irregular. He also told the State Troopers not to take blood samples until he arrived, which is highly irregular.
Asst. Prosecuting Attorney Steve Weichman would only allow the troopers to take one vial of Yearsley's blood, when two is the norm for an intoxicated driver. He knew Yearsley was intoxicated!
Asst. Prosecuting Attorney Steve Weichman made the decision not to file charges against anyone in this tragedy. David Yearsley was intoxicated with a BAC of .11, which in the State of Wyoming is considered legally intoxicated. David Yearsley was never charged with this crime. There were four occupants in the front seat of the Chevy pick up truck that David Yearsley was driving, which is illegal. David Yearsley was speeding in hazardous conditions and inattentive.
In coroner Bob Cambell's subsequent testimony in court, he stated he had found liquor bottles, beer cans, and other "evidence'" of drinking when he searched Ollie's room the night of the accident.
On the morning following the accident, John Sutherland and his wife Alice were told specifically and directly by Bob Campbell (who volunteered the information) that there was no evidence of alcohol as a factor in the accident. Why would he tell them specifically, directly, and voluntarily that there were no alcohol containers found in neither the Bronco nor other evidence of drinking by the driver or passenger? Why did he make a point of telling them this during their initial long-distance telephone contact with him following the accident? Was he or was he not aware that each member of the Yearsley party had been drinking, and that Yearsley's drinking was a suspected factor in the accident?
Bob Campbell and Deputy Sheriff Gene Ferrin reported to the parents of Ollie that the accident victims in the other vehicle were an older couple. He described the injuries to those victims (crushed foot, facial injuries, scalp injuries, concussion, etc.) in some detail.
Coroner Bob Cambell destroyed all of Conley & Ollie's clothes.
Trooper Baldwin searched Ollie Surtherland's motel room and reported that there was no sign of drinking in the room, and certainly no alcohol containers. Immediately following John Sutherland's meeting with Mr. Campbell, he met with Officer Delane Baldwin and another highway patrol officer, who told him essentially the same story Mr. Campbell told him. They emphasized black ice, inappropriate equipment, and uncommon bad luck--but they volunteered to him that alcohol did not seem to be a factor. They did not indicate to him that Ollie had been operating his vehicle unsafely, inappropriately, or recklessly and they certainly did not state or suggest or speculate that Ollie was rounding that curve, on black ice, at nearly 70 mph, as Mr. Dailey's reconstruction would have it.
Officer Baldwin told Conley's uncle, Jack Boothe, - and he presented a sworn statement - that it looked like the Yearsley vehicle was in the wrong lane, and was traveling at the higher rate of speed, Officer Baldwin also told him that there was no sign of alcohol on or about the Bronco, or Conley and Ollie.
Then came the blood sampling and mix up.
BAC Result of Darrell Beck,
Alleged passenger, Chevy .01 Conley's father, Jim Lane asked many questions concerning the collision. He didn't understand why the occupants of the Yearsley vehicle were never charged with DUI, at minimum. He didn't understand how one day it was Yearsley's fault and the next, Ollie's fault. He asked more questions and began to uncover many inconsistencies throughout this case. Things just didn't add up the way local authorities had said they did. There are too many inconsistencies and unusual behavior by authorities. Evidence destroyed. No charges ever filed. No statements, reports or interviews from the occupants or eyewitnesses. Many letters have been written to the local authorities trying to find answers to his questions concerning the collision. Authorities have yet to answer.
Jim & Jeri Lane sued David Yearsley in April of 1996. See Civil Trail. Most of the statements that you will read on this site were obtained from a private investigator hired by Jim Lane to investigate this incident. Steve Weichman, prosecuting attorney for Teton County, never had this case investigated at all. The trial turned out in favor of David Yearsley, the defendant, and the blame was placed solely on Ollie Sutherland. The venue for the civil trail was in Jackson, where an impartial jury could not be obtained. The jury seemingly was partial and biased in favor of the defendant. Jim Lane’s attorney, Richard Wolf, was ill prepared and inadequately represented his client, failing to respect the wishes of his client.
There are many pieces to this puzzle that are still unknown and questions to be answered in this tragedy. The questions have been asked, yet local authorities have evaded them. Silence seems to be their answer. Several personnel at the outset made mistakes, whether knowingly or not. Things snowballed from there. Their motives appear to be somewhat intentional, but we are unsure of this and we can only speculate on their reasoning. Whichever the case, putting the blame on the deceased, who can't defend themselves, is beyond reproach. Again, we seek a Federal Grand Jury investigation into this matter. We do feel that the documentation provided within this website will exonerate those found at fault. There are just too many inconsistencies between authorities’ conclusions and the facts. The facts tend to point in the opposite direction from authorities conclusions, and we are determined to make these inconsistencies public, so that the world can see the injustice done here in Jackson Hole Wyoming.
The first
step in righting a wrong is exposing it to the light of day.
Mahatma
Gandhi
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