Rich Hit-and-Run Driver Avoids Felony Charge because Prosecutor Says It’s Bad for Business

> Martin Joel Erzinger, a billion-dollar money manager from Colorado, hit a bicyclist from behind with his car and drove away. However, he will not face felony hit-and-run charges…because the local district attorney said such a conviction could jeopardize Erzinger’s job. Instead, the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney financial expert will face only two misdemeanor traffic charges for injuring Dr. Steven Milo last July.

> Milo says he suffered spinal cord injuries, bleeding from his brain and damage to his knee and scapula from the accident. His attorney filed an objection to the prosecutor’s decision to drop the felony charge.

“Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger’s profession, and that entered into it,” DA Mark Hurlbert told the media in explaining his move. “When you're talking about restitution, you don’t want to take away his ability to pay.”

After receiving more than 1,000 emails regarding the case, Hurlbert explained his decision in the Vail Daily by pointing outthat if he had gone after a felony conviction, “Mr. Erzinger would plead to a felony leaving the scene of an accident, and the judgment would be set aside.

“In either two or four years, as long as Mr. Erzinger met certain conditions, the case would drop off his record and he would be allowed to seal this case. Since there was no alcohol or drugs involved, the only conditions I could legally ask for were that he pay restitution and stay out of trouble.

“Given that he had a clean history, Mr. Erzinger would essentially have been able to write a check, and the case would then be dismissed. On top of that, while Dr. Milo was still probably recovering from his injuries, Mr. Erzinger would be able to say that he had no criminal history and even deny that anything had happened. That is not something I could stomach.

“I therefore offered that Mr. Erzinger plead guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and careless driving causing serious bodily injury.

This means that for the rest of his life, Mr. Erzinger will have on his record that he carelessly drove, caused another human being serious bodily injury and left the scene.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky