Jury finds woman texted before fatal crash

By: Associated Press//July 29, 2012//

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A jury has convicted a Wisconsin woman of homicide by negligent driving for writing a text message before a fatal crash.

Twenty-one-year-old Stephanie Kanoff, of Sun Prairie, was convicted Friday. Kanoff had slammed into a University of Wisconsin-Madison student as he stood behind his broken-down car in 2010.

Kanoff contended she was driving behind a car that had blocked her view of 21-year-old Dylan Ellefson and Ellefson’s car.

Key to the case was deciding whether Kanoff was writing one last text message to her boyfriend when she struck Ellefson.

Prosecutors argued that had Kanoff not been distracted, she would have seen and avoided the victim. The defense accused prosecutors and police of “a rush to judgment.”

The Wisconsin State Journal reports Kanoff will be sentenced in about two months.

Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj

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