SANDPOINT – A jury found Jose Franco Sosa Jr. not guilty of vehicular manslaughter after deliberating for four hours on the trial’s third day.

The jury found the state failed to meet its burden in proving Sosa was driving recklessly or under the influence of drugs when he was involved in a fatal 2017 crash.

On May 15, 2017, Sosa was driving northbound on Spirit Lake Cutoff Road near Peregrine Road going 57 mph in a 45 mph zone, according to an Idaho State Police crash reconstruction. The road was straight, level, and dry with daytime lighting at around 7:31 p.m. on the day of the crash. The vehicle crossed over into the oncoming lane, and then into the southbound ditch, striking several mailboxes. Sosa’s Subaru Legacy slid broadside in the soft ground before it started rolling, eventually coming to rest on its top, according to court documents. A teen passenger in the vehicle, Joseph T. Neumann, was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the car.

A warrant was issued for Sosa's arrest in the case in 2018, after a toxicology exam revealed the presence of methamphetamine and THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, in Sosa's bloodstream.

Neumann died from blunt head injuries from the rollover crash. Sosa became pinned in the wreckage and had to be extricated, court documents indicate. A toddler, who was restrained in a forward-facing safety seat in the back of the vehicle, was treated for minor injuries, the affidavit said.

Sosa was on felony probation at the time of the crash, prompting his probation officer, Haley Rose, to respond to Kootenai Health in Coeur d'Alene to determine if Sosa had violated the terms of his probation.

Sosa was admitted into the intensive care unit at Kootenai Health. He was handcuffed to the hospital bed equipped with seizure pads to prevent him from harming himself. He was held under emergency detention because officials were uncertain how Sosa would react upon learning the teen was fatally injured in the crash, court documents indicate.

Rose informed him that Neumann had perished in the crash, and according to court documents, Sosa became very upset and hit his head against the seizure pads.

"He admitted driving the vehicle," Rose testified during a preliminary hearing in October 2020.

However, under cross-examination, Rose admitted Sosa had not been read his Miranda rights.

Public Defender Luke Hagelberg argued any incriminating statements his client made to Rose should be suppressed because he had not been advised of his rights, nor did he sign a statement indicating that he was waiving those rights.

"The court finds that the questioning did not constitute 'interrogation' because these are not questions that Ms. Rose should have known were reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from Mr. Sosa," First District Judge Barbara Buchanan said in a five-page document responding to the motion.

On the last day in the three-day jury trial in August, Sosa’s legal defense, Luke Hagleberg, made a motion for a mistrial. Hagleberg made the argument that the state misrepresented the defense’s testimony and made improper comments attacking Sosa’s character during closing arguments the previous day. Buchanan denied the motion on the grounds that Hagleberg didn’t object while the statements were being made. She agreed that some statements were inflammatory, but not fundamental errors that would mislead a jury.

After deliberating for four hours on Aug. 11, the jury unanimously found Sosa not guilty of vehicular manslaughter. They ruled that there was lack of proof Sosa was driving under the influence of controlled substances due to an error from the toxicology lab. The jury also found Sosa not guilty of reckless driving with gross negligence.

Despite the not-guilty verdict, Sosa remained in custody with the Idaho Department of Corrections to serve the remainder of sentencing from previous cases. Sosa is currently serving a five- to 10-year prison term for felony driving under the influence in Kootenai County dating back to 2010. He is also serving concurrent sentences for a 2015 felony eluding charge and a 2016 felony drug possession charge, according to Idaho's iCourt database. He becomes eligible for parole this year.