Wilcox guilty on all charges related to 2022 fatal crash

A 12-member jury convicted a Millsboro man in Delaware Superior Court Nov. 4, on all 10 charges related to a Christmas Eve 2022 fatal crash near Lewes.

Jason Wilcox, 49, was convicted of three counts of manslaughter, three counts of first-degree assault, one count of third-degree assault, speeding, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and failing to report an accident. The jury deliberated on the case for a little more than two-and-a-half hours. 

Prosecutors argued that Wilcox’s speeding caused him to slam into a 2008 Honda Odyssey that was attempting to turn from Minos Conaway Road onto Route 9. Following the crash, prosecutors say Wilcox made no attempt to provide aid or call 9-1-1, and instead, he left the scene. 

Wilcox’s defense was that the driver of the Odyssey, Jason Wright, illegally pulled out into the roadway before Wilcox could react and that Wright was at fault for the crash.

On the night of the crash, Wilcox was driving a 2016 Range Rover on Route 9. Prosecutors say he was driving the car at nearly 80 mph, nearly 30 mph over the posted 50 mph speed limit. In his testimony, Wright said he looked both ways to make sure traffic was clear and did not see Wilcox’s car coming. As Wright pulled the Odyssey out onto the roadway, Wilcox collided with the Odyssey on the rear driver’s side. 

After impact, Gerald Huss, 74, and Jovie Wright, 9, were both ejected from the car and died. Jessica Guida, 35, died as a result of her injuries. Fellow passengers Wright, Debra Huss and Christian Guida were treated for serious injuries and survived. A seventh passenger, Cole Wright, sustained minor injuries. 

Wilcox was charged with manslaughter for each of the three people who died, and three counts of first-degree assault for the injuries to Huss, Jason Wright and Guida. The charge of third-degree assault covers the injuries to Cole Wright. 

The jury had the option of considering lesser offenses on each count. For the manslaughter charges, the jury had the option of considering charges of criminally negligent homicide or operating a motor vehicle causing death. On the assault charges, the jury had the option of considering the lesser offenses of second-degree assault or second-degree vehicular assault or, in the case of Cole Wright, a lesser charge of third-degree vehicular assault.

After a one-week trial, the jury heard closing arguments in the case Nov. 4. 

In his closing, Deputy Attorney General Barzilai Axelrod said, “Jason Wilcox made his choices. He chose to speed. He chose to accelerate. He chose not to brake, ever. He did nothing to mitigate his speed, ever. He chose to leave. Others stopped. Mr. Wilcox did not. While others rendered aid, Mr. Wilcox did not.”

Axelrod said the collision would not have happened if Wilcox had been going the speed limit. In addition, Axelrod said that when police initially reached out to Wilcox about the accident, he told them he was at Striper Bites in Lewes at the time of the accident. Axelrod said that when police came to Wilcox’s home the day after the accident, he fled out the back door, showing a consciousness of guilt. 

Wilcox’s attorney, Michael Abram, pinned fault for the accident on Wright pulling into the roadway, and criticized the Delaware State Police investigation of the crash. Abram recalled testimony from Cpl. Kenneth Argo, of the DSP crash reconstruction team, and said while Argo investigated the restraint control module for the Range Rover – a device that helps control the car’s safety mechanisms such as the airbag – he did not conduct a similar investigation on the Odyssey, leaving what Abram called a hole in the investigation.

“They did not do their job,” Abram said of the police.

Abram said Wilcox had no time to react to the Odyssey pulling out in front of him and that investigators had a theory for how the crash occurred and only pursued evidence that would prove that theory. He said the tenor of the police investigation was based on reaction to Wilcox’s actions after the crash. 

“They didn’t like Mr. Wilcox for his behavior that night,” Abram said.

While he asked the jury to find his client not guilty on nine of the 10 charges, he did concede that his client was guilty on the charge of failing to report an accident.

Wilcox previously pleaded guilty in October 2023 to two counts of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and drug possession charges, for which he was sentenced to 12 months’ probation. The jury in the manslaughter case did not hear evidence on when or how Wilcox ended up behind the wheel of the Range Rover, as the evidence was determined to be prejudicial.

Judge Mark Conner set a Friday, Jan. 17, sentencing date. Wilcox faces a two-year minimum mandatory sentence on each of the manslaughter and first-degree assault charges, with a sentence possibly up to 25 years on each charge.