Father testifies about toddler's severe injuries from 2013 crash

Christopher Denny started tearing up as he told jurors Wednesday about the night he found out his wife died and his 3-year-old daughter Izabella would never be able to breathe on her own and it's unknown how long she will live.

In emotional testimony, Denny described his daughter's injuries from the 2013 crash, where Brandon Schaul is accused of crossing the center line and hitting the van his wife Rachel Denny was driving as she was bringing Izabella, then 21-months-old, home from an emergency room visit for an ear infection and fever.

Denny said after the accident Izabella was in the hospital for two months. She had severe spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injury. She is paralyzed and will be on a ventilator the rest of her life.

'There is potential to lose my daughter every day,' Denny said with tears in his eyes.

Schaul is charged with homicide by vehicle, serious injury by vehicle and driving while barred. He is accused of unintentionally causing the death of Rachel Denny, 26, and causing serious injury to Izabella by driving a vehicle while under the influence of a combination of alcohol and drugs or while intoxicated by any amount of a controlled substance that was present in Schaul that day.

According to testimony, Schaul was driving a pickup shortly before 1 a.m. May 18, 2013 when he hit a van driven by Rachel Denny, near the intersection of Highway 13 and Valley Farm Road near Central City.

The prosecution rested and the defense starts its case 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Linn County District Court.

During Denny's testimony, Schaul was tearing up, as he did Tuesday at different times. His attorney, Al Willett, declined to cross examine Denny.

Linn County Sheriff's Sgt. Richard Yoder, who specializes in accident reconstruction, testified the crash evidence indicated Schaul, headed southbound, crossed the center line and hit the van head-on as it was in the northbound left lane. He used vehicle fluid trails, tire marks, and gouge marks in the road to determine point of impact.

Yoder also used the sensor data modules from each vehicle to find out what happened. The modules are like black boxes to show functions like braking and speed of a vehicle. The modules showed Denny was traveling at 57 mph and then her speed increased about two seconds before impact. Schaul was also going 55 mph. Neither car braked before impact.

Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden asked Yoder if Denny would have had time to correct to avoid a head-on collision.

Yoder said she wouldn't.

The modules also showed Schaul wasn't wearing his seatbelt but Denny had hers on. It also showed no other seatbelt was in use in Denny's van, meaning Izabella's safety seat wasn't strapped in.

Deputies testified earlier that Izabella was strapped in by the safety seat belt. The safety seat was forced forward when the van was hit and it propelled her seat into the front dash and windshield.

Dr. Alan Lundberg, of Medtox laboratory in St. Paul, Minn., testified Schaul's blood tested positive for a metabolite of THC or marijuana but it was taken over four hours after the crash and he couldn't determine how it would have affected Schaul.

Schaul's blood had no detectable amount of alcohol, Lundberg said.

Witnesses and deputies testified to seeing numerous beer cans, there were photos of nine empty cans, in Schaul's car that night. One of the deputies said they smelled alcohol on Schaul and some witnesses said they smelled alcohol in his pick up.