Walker County vehicular homicide trial of college student begins
LAFAYETTE, Ga. (WDEF) – A trial began Monday in Walker County for the 2021 death of a college student in a car crash.
Eden Muina was only 20 years old when she tragically died in a car crash on her way back to school at Berry College in Rome. She was coming from her parent’s home in Fort Oglethorpe at approximately 5:45 a.m. on the morning of September 11, 2021.
She had been the valedictorian at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School.
Eden Muina, the Berry College student from Fort Oglethorpe who was killed in a 2021 crash in Walker County.
The accident occurred just south of Lafayette at the intersection of U.S. Highway 27 and Georgia State Highway 337.
Monday, the other driver involved in that crash, Larry Cargle, began his trial for misdemeanor vehicular homicide and failure to yield.
Cameras were not allowed in the courtroom.
One of the main points of contention is whether or not the lights on Muina’s 1978 Volkswagen Beetle were on at the time of the crash.
An investigator with the Georgia State Patrol’s Crash Incident Response Team said that he concluded, due to the alignment of her non-LED lights, that they were on.
He said in older vehicles, lights that are on during a crash are bent versus being straight when off, due to the heat created by the light.
Additionally, they presented video from a business a mile before the crash scene on Highway 27 that shows her lights on.
However, the defense argued that none of the witnesses saw her lights on at the time.
One witness who saw the crash in front of them said he did not see lights on the vehicle but could not definitely say if they were on.
They said there was a starter kit located in the backseat of the Volkswagen Beetle that suggests the car had electrical issues and could have caused the lights to go out.
This question of the lights may determine whether or not the grand jury finds Cargle guilty. His defense says, if the lights were out, he would have been unable to avoid the incident.
The defense also pointed out that the intersection where this occurred had no lights.
A memorial to Eden Muina sits at that intersection today.
Her mother was the first to take the stand and she detailed the immediate aftermath of the crash. She said her daughter had no chance of surviving the crash and was airlifted to a local hospital.
Day one of this trial wrapped up shortly before 4 p.m. on Monday afternoon, and the prosecution has not rested their case.
