GRANTS PASS, Ore. — New developments in the trial of a 23-year-old accused of killing a teenage boy in Grants Pass last year.
It’s day two of the trial that is expected to wrap up by the end of this week.
We’re now learning that Christopher Faibish, the man who hit and killed Malachi Batty, may have been asleep when he hit the teenager.
“He might have been… I don’t, he wasn’t, I mean it’s all a blur right now man…,” said Christopher Faibish.
That’s the voice of Faibish minutes after he hit and killed Batty on March 10th, 2017.
“My car, I don’t want to say lost control, but swerved that way,” said Faibish.
The recording is one of the many pieces of evidence the prosecution presented in court Wednesday.
They’re arguing the 23-year-old was criminally negligent for driving into a school bus stop in Grants Pass and killing Malachi.
Faibish admits to smoking heroin the night before.
“Controlled substances in general will affect either the sympathetic nervous system or parasympathetic nervous system…,” said Detective John Lohrfink, Grants Pass Dept. of Public Safety.
The prosecution used photos and videos to reconstruct the scene, showing Faibish’s route of travel, where exactly he hit Malachi, and even the direction of his tires.
All of it, part of an effort to show the heroin use contributed to the accident.
“I’m not in disagreement with them that he fell asleep, but the reason is not as sinister as the state may believe it to be,” said Faibish’s attorney, Donald Scales.
Scales is instead arguing the accident, was just that – an accident – and doesn’t rise to the level of criminal negligence.
“This was not something that he was swerving and driving all over the road for ten or fifteen minutes,” said Scales.
The judge will ultimately decide.
“So, I hit him… and then I looked back so I didn’t hit the brake right away,” said Faibish. “It took me a second to comprehend what happened.”
The judge is expected to rule on the charges possibly as soon as Thursday.
It’s unclear if Faibish will be sentenced that day.
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