As the vehicular homicide case against Elizabeth Jewkes-Danielsen for the death of John’s Island resident Christopher Ingraham in a 2022 crash on U.S. Highway A1A winds along in felony criminal court, the 62-year-old Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club resident and her lawyer husband are set to face a jury trial in early December in civil court for negligence and wrongful death.
Numerous John’s Island residents and friends of the victims are expected to testify, as well as experts in field traffic reconstruction, 28 medical doctors who treated the late Christopher Ingraham, hospice personnel, two doctors who treated Jewkes-Danielsen, plus an expert trained in “human factors.” More than two dozen law enforcement officers from local Indian River Shores Public Safety officers and Indian River County Sheriff’s Office deputies to the Florida Highway Patrol officers who conducted the vehicular homicide investigation may also be called to testify. Also on the list is the local medical examiner, a forensic toxicology expert and paramedics who transported the injured from the scene.
Jewkes-Danielsen was arrested in January 2023 while lounging by the pool at her Orchid condominium, but after spending less than two days in jail has been out on $150,000 bond on pre-trial community control supervision ever since. She is accused of driving drunk at a high rate of speed through the Town of Indian River Shores and smashing into the Ingrahams’ vehicle, killing Christopher Ingraham and seriously injuring wife Frances Ingraham. Since the widow Ingraham is well in her 80s, the Ingraham family requested both cases be expedited, as is permitted under Florida law when the victim is an elderly person and would be a key witness at trial.
Paul Danielsen, a longtime federal appeals court attorney from California, is accused of “acting in concert” with his wife, racing her home north on U.S. Highway A1A, contributing to the cause the crash. Police say the Danielsens were enjoying drinks at the Polo Grill prior to driving home.
Jewkes-Danielsen, who was also injured in the crash, had blood taken at HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital, resulting in a blood alcohol level well above the legal limit for driving in Florida. When approached by police, Jewkes-Danielsen initially said her husband had been driving her black Mercedes, but police found evidence that she was driving as her makeup was reportedly on the deployed airbag.
Police body-worn camera footage showed Paul Danielsen, in a swimsuit with a towel wrapped around his waist, telling Indian River Shores Public Safety officers he did not know where his wife was when the officers came to arrest Jewkes-Danielsen, but minutes later the officers found her at the condo pool.
Circuit Judge Cynthia Cox put the case on a strict management plan back in February, with deadlines for all the steps required to prepare for trial. The Feb. 20 case management order calls for a trial the week of Dec. 2 spanning five to seven days. But if the court gets behind in hearings or trials scheduled during the busy period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, it’s always possible that the trial could be rescheduled.
One of the required documents the parties must file with the court is a detailed list of potential expert and fact witnesses, with credentials of the experts and a brief summary of what each witness is expected to testify to on the stand. The plaintiffs filed their witness lists in September, but the defendants have yet to file theirs.
Since this will be a civil trial and not a criminal trial, the burden of proof is only the preponderance of the evidence regarding which party was more at fault – not proof beyond a reasonable doubt – so the outcome will likely boil down to whose attorney, experts and witnesses the jury deems to be the most credible.
Attorney Dane Ullian of the beachside Gould Cooksey Fennell law firm is representing Frances Ingraham, daughters Madeline Chamberlain and Tasha Dickinson, as well as Christopher Ingraham’s estate in the suits against the Danielsens. Jewkes-Danielsen and her husband are being represented by separate attorneys, with two Miami attorneys appearing for Paul Danielsen and Jewkes-Danielsen opting for a West Palm Beach law firm.
Based upon the interrogatories that have been filed and answered, the defendants hope to convince the jury that Christopher Ingraham was in exceptionally poor health, which contributed to his death in the crash, and that Frances Ingraham was also in poor health prior to May 2022.
Jewkes-Danielsen’s attorney also asked for five years of the Ingrahams’ IRS tax returns, presumably to present those to the jury as evidence that the family does not need the money from a court judgment, but Ullian objected and did not provide the tax returns.
For the Ingraham family, numerous John’s Island residents and other friends “who will or may provide testimony regarding Mr. Ingraham’s physical condition prior to the subject accident, how the decedent’s death has impacted Frances Ingraham’s life, and other issues pertaining to liability and damages.”
Rosemary Haverland, widow of former Indian River Shores Town Councilman Dick Haverland, is on the Ingraham family’s fact witness list, as the Haverlands and the Ingrahams had been close friends for many years. Other potential witnesses include Gaynor Casner, Frank and Elizabeth Schroeder, Robert and Carol Lincoln, and Joyce Bullen Gay.
Also expected to testify are several island residents who witnessed the crash, or who observed the Danielsens’ speeding vehicles passing drivers in the middle turn-only lane on U.S. Highway A1A, and a security guard who was staffing the Bermuda Bay guard gate at the time.
Cox has asked for Clerk of Court Ryan Butler to summon a larger-than-usual jury pool for the trial due to the number of witnesses involved who might be known or related to potential jurors, and because the case has gotten a decent amount of coverage in Vero Beach 32963.
Jewkes-Danielsen’s criminal case is still in the discovery phase and was recently continued for the seventh time, with a hearing scheduled for Nov. 22 on a motion filed by defense attorney Andrew Metcalf to subpoena information on the quality control procedures of the laboratory which handled his client’s toxicology tests.
