After hearing the attorney’s final arguments and receiving the judge’s instructions, the jury in the case of a 2016 fatal hit-and-run crash retired to the jury room to begin deliberating on Wednesday in Broward County.
Jurors listened to five days of testimony including from Gerard Baldie, the defendant accused of causing the April 29, 2016 crash that killed Steven Olivert and Danielle Baldwin.
Baldie argued he was not to blame. He said he was an avid marijuana smoker and the tainted weed he smoked out of a bong that night made him paranoid.
“I just remember driving and then the next thing I know there is like something hitting my face ... I didn’t know I was in an accident, so I was just trying to go home,” Baldie said on Tuesday in court.
Witnesses near the crash scene reported Baldie was naked and running in and out of businesses. He was treated at Imperial Point Medical Center and released. Olivert, 35, died the night of the crash. Baldwin, 32, was brain dead and taken off life support on May 1, 2016.
The crash was on the night of their 12th anniversary and Olivert was going to propose to Baldwin. His mother, Rose Olivert, and Baldwin’s mother, Glorida Dudley, decided to bury them together with the engagement ring.
Baldie didn’t surrender to authorities until 2018. He is facing charges of vehicular manslaughter, DUI manslaughter, and leaving the scene of a fatal crash.
This is a developing story.
Coverage of the case
Steven Olivert, 35, died on April 29, 2016. Baldwin, 32, was brain dead and taken off life support on May 1, 2016.
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Jurors listened to five days of testimony including from Gerard Baldie, the defendant accused of causing the April 29, 2016 crash that killed Steven Olivert and Danielle Baldwin.
Baldie argued he was not to blame. He said he was an avid marijuana smoker and the tainted weed he smoked out of a bong that night made him paranoid.
“I just remember driving and then the next thing I know there is like something hitting my face ... I didn’t know I was in an accident, so I was just trying to go home,” Baldie said on Tuesday in court.
Witnesses near the crash scene reported Baldie was naked and running in and out of businesses. He was treated at Imperial Point Medical Center and released. Olivert, 35, died the night of the crash. Baldwin, 32, was brain dead and taken off life support on May 1, 2016.
The crash was on the night of their 12th anniversary and Olivert was going to propose to Baldwin. His mother, Rose Olivert, and Baldwin’s mother, Glorida Dudley, decided to bury them together with the engagement ring.
Baldie didn’t surrender to authorities until 2018. He is facing charges of vehicular manslaughter, DUI manslaughter, and leaving the scene of a fatal crash.
This is a developing story.
Coverage of the case
Steven Olivert, 35, died on April 29, 2016. Baldwin, 32, was brain dead and taken off life support on May 1, 2016.
- April 19, 2022: Man admits to smoking marijuana, feeling paranoid before fatal hit-and-run crash
- April 12, 2022: Tainted marijuana was to blame for fatal hit-and-run crash, lawyer says
- July 21, 2021: Medical Examiner’s Office chief toxicologist faces criminal probe with potential legal ramifications in years of cases
- April 29, 2021: Families say wheels of justice have been slow for couple killed in Broward
- April 5, 2018: Man surrenders to authorities 2 years after fatal DUI crash
- May 11, 2016: Double memorial service held for couple killed in crash
- May 1, 2016: Woman dies days after fatal chain-reaction crash in Fort Lauderdale
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