Charge dropped in trial of Frahm

A judge on Wednesday dismissed the manslaughter charge against a Vancouver man on trial in Clark County Superior Court for causing a sequence of crashes on Interstate 205 that led to the death of a good Samaritan.

Judge Scott Collier made his ruling in Joshua C. Frahm’s case after the defense filed motions to dismiss the first-degree manslaughter charge and a charge of vehicular homicide. Collier ruled that the case would still go forward on the vehicular homicide charge.

Frahm, 29, is additionally charged with vehicular assault, hit-and-run, false reporting and conspiracy to commit first-degree perjury. He is accused in the Dec. 7, 2014, hit-and-run crash on I-205 and subsequent death of Richard G. Irvine of Camas.

Irvine, 63, was mortally injured after he stopped to help the victim of the hit-and-run crash, and was struck when a minivan driven by Fredy Delacruz-Moreno hit the disabled vehicle, pushing it into him. Delacruz-Moreno is not facing charges in the death.

On Wednesday, associate defense attorney Hannah McCausland with Vancouver Defenders argued, in part, that Frahm’s driving and alleged failure to stop after the first crash did not cause Irvine’s death. Even if Frahm had stopped to render assistance, there’s still a chance that Irvine would have also stopped to help. She said, if anything, they both could have been struck when the minivan smashed into the disabled vehicle.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu argued that Frahm’s driving and the resulting crash triggered the sequence of events. He said Irvine’s death may have been prevented if Frahm had stopped to help. Irvine felt compelled to help, he said, because Frahm fled the scene.

Collier heard the arguments and made his ruling outside the presence of the jury.

Both the state and defense rested their cases Wednesday. The jury will likely hear closing arguments and begin deliberating today.