MOBILE, Ala. — Prosecutors showed jurors body camera video from multiple officers Tuesday depicting a fatal crash at the center of the reckless murder trial of Aubrey Aaron Pate, a Wilmer man accused of drinking and smoking marijuana before a head-on collision on the bridge on Rangeline Road over the Industrial Canal early on Sept. 25, 2022. The videos showed the badly damaged vehicle of Victor Birch, a popular postal worker and running enthusiast who did not survive the crash.
Witnesses Alexander Bordelon and James Gibson, who saw the crash or arrived shortly after, testified that Pate appeared badly injured and disoriented. "He was bleeding from his mouth," Bordelon said. "It looked like he broke his leg, or his ankle. He was very disoriented and stressed out." Both witnesses said they heard Pate asking about a passenger, even though no one else was found near his truck. "There was no other passenger in the truck," Bordelon said.
Gibson testified Pate was hard to understand because of blood in his mouth: "I remember him saying he fell asleep." The defense maintains that the amount of drugs and alcohol in Pate's system was too low to have impaired his driving. The trial was set to resume Wednesday.
What Reckless Murder Means in Alabama
Under Alabama law, a person can be convicted of murder without intending to kill anyone if, under circumstances showing extreme indifference to human life, he recklessly engages in conduct that creates a grave risk of death and causes someone’s death. Prosecutors have used the charge in fatal crashes involving impaired driving. Murder is a Class A felony in Alabama, punishable by 10 to 99 years or life in prison; jurors can also consider lesser offenses such as manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide if the evidence does not support the murder charge.
