Dying Last Words Trial — FL v. Leigha Mumby — Full Opening Statements

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Good morning, everyone. Daniel Waterman died on October 8th of 2025, at his 22 years of age, of injuries he sustained from a car crash on February 8th of 2025. And the evidence will show you that on February 8th of 2025, the defendant in Lummi, his girlfriend at a time was driving that car. You will hear that she was driving on I-95 Northbound, and at times, it speeds over 100 miles an hour. And at about three and a half seconds before the crash occurred, she was driving 94 miles an hour, and made an abrupt left-hand turn at 45 degrees. Jerking the wheel at 45 degrees at 94 miles an hour, causing her to lose control of the car, and careening into the woods, just next to I-95. You're going to hear that crash resulted in catastrophic injuries to the end of the world. You will hear that his neck was broken, that he suffered from paralysis as a result of that, from the neck down, and that he was in a coma for a period of time, and even when he woke, he was unable to bring him on his own, required a ventilator for a period of time. He required a feeding tube because he couldn't feed himself. He couldn't control his bowel movements because he was completely paralyzed. And you'll hear that he fought to survive eight, four months before he ultimately succumbed to those injuries, having bilateral pneumonia, and dying on October 8th of 2025. And you're going to hear that on February 9th of 2025, that was actually Super Bowl Sunday, at that time, India Mumby, the defendant, David Waterman, had been dating about six months on and off. By the time of February 9th of 2025, they were living together at Herba residence in Flagler Beach. And on that morning, Ms. Mumby actually found out, excuse me, that she was pregnant with Agent Mumby's child. And you're going to hear that early on in the day, that Leah Mumby had made plans with her best friend, Sarah Steffenbach, who happens to be Daniel Waterman's cousin. And that the women had decided to spend the day at the beach. Daniel Waterman remained at Mumby's residence. And so just the global place with each that person through the day. You'll hear that while at the beach, they discussed the recent discovery that Ms. Mumby was pregnant. And Sarah Steffenbach will tell you that Ms. Mumby also discussed her concerns that Daniel made a cheating on her, that receiving text from other women, and that she wasn't going to put up with that. You'll hear that Sarah Steffenbach and Dan Mumby spent most of the day at the beach and they returned back to Ms. Mumby's house around 5 o'clock that afternoon because they had plans to go to the Steffenbach house to watch the Super Bowl that night. You'll hear that they got back to the Mumby residence, that Leah Mumby made some dip for the party, um, and that she drove herself, Sarah Steffenbach and Daniel Waterman, over back to the Steffenbach house in Palm Coast to watch the game. You're going to hear it was much like anything else. It was just a small gathering of family, uh, food, beer, um, and watching the game, playing cards, all of what you would imagine would suit the whole, um, game night. You'll hear though that Leah Mumby and Daniel Waterman left before the game was over and you'll hear that within about 15 minutes of leaving the Steffenbach house, Leah Mumby calls Sarah Steffenbach. And Sarah Steffenbach will describe to you that when she answered the phone Leah Mumby was high point. That she was screaming that Daniel Waterman was cheating on her and that she had seen a text from another woman. And that she said that she was going to bring Daniel Waterman back to the Steffenbach house. Sarah Steffenbach will tell you that she was trying to calm Leah down and Leah abruptly pains up the problem. You'll hear that Sarah Steffenbach doesn't hear anything more from Leah Lumby. And then the next thing she hears is she gets notified that Leah Lumby, Leah Lumby and Daniel Waterman had been involved in a very serious car crash on I-95 and were being taken to the hospital. You'll hear that Daniel's injuries were so severe, that he was actually never going to help us. Um, you're going to hear from the first responders that responded to I-95 and found Leah Lumby's on the passport in the woods. Uh, that Ms. Lumby was found in the driver's seat. She was conscious and injured. She had a broken leg, a broken foot, and some lacerations. Daniel Lumby was found in the front passenger seat, slumped over, completely unresponsive with adequate breathing. And you'll hear, as I said, he's men flighted at Halifax. Now you're going to hear, um, also from Deputy Butler. He was flying behind the sheriff's office, just so happy to respond out to the scene to assist. You'll see that he was wearing body camera, um, on that particular line. So you'll get to watch the body camera footage yourself. And you'll get to see the crash scene from yourself. You'll see the vehicle in the woods, deep in the woods. You'll see some of the the skin marks or yaw marks in the grass. You'll see the trees that have been broken as a result of the crash. Um, you'll see, uh, both of them, at least one of them being extricated from the car. Most of that is, uh, without sound. But you will hear a portion of the back of the ambulance. where paramedic Malzahn is talking to Ms. Mumby about what happened. And you're going to hear Ms. Mumby describing that she was fighting with her boyfriend just before the crash. You'll also hear from Trooper Harper. He was the He was the Florida Highway Patrol trooper that was assigned to investigate this particular crash. He'll describe to you that he responded out that very night while everything was still happening. Um, you'll see the photographs he took of the scene. You'll hear that, um, what they call an EDR data box was ultimately recovered from Ms. Mumby's vehicle. You'll hear about what that is as well. You're also going to hear from, um, Dr. Troberzian. He's a medical examiner in this particular case. And he's going to describe for you, um, how, how, while Daniel Waterman may have died eight months after the crash, that his death is directly related and caused by this crash. He's going to explain to you that the blood force trauma from the crash is what caused the broken neck. The broken neck caused the paralysis. Because of the paralysis, he will explain to you that Daniel Waterman was not able to cough up his own body secretions. And as a result, those secretions gather up gather up in the lungs, which makes it more prone for him to get pneumonia. And that's exactly what happened. And he ultimately died on October 8 of 2025. And he'll explain all of that to you. And he'll explain to you that but, for the crash, Daniel Waterman would be alive today. Now, you're also going to hear from, um, Chip O'Toole. He's an expert accident-free constructionist. And he's going to explain to us the data that the data that was recovered from that EDR data box. It's like a black box for a car. Kind of like you hear about black boxes for airplanes. But they crash and that's what they go into to find out what's going on with the plane. So this is just like that, except for the car. He's going to explain to you that it gives you a five-second snapshot of what that car was doing up until the crash. You're also going to see data from a progressive mobile back that this car. Which is going to give us a bigger snapshot. It's about a two-minute window leading up to the crash where you're going to see speeds over 100 miles an hour. Now, I expect Chip O'Toole is going to explain to you when you look at the black box data. As I said, it's a five-second snapshot. And then about three and a half seconds. That's where this whole crash starts to occur. And he will explain to you at that time, Ms. Mumby is riding at 94 miles an hour. And then the wheel is suddenly jerked to the left at 45 degrees. And he'll explain to you how significant that turn is at those speeds. I expect he'll explain to you that you would expect a vehicle traveling at those speeds would not be more than one, two, three, upwards at most of five degrees. Turning to either change lanes, maintain lanes, so 45 degrees is significantly more. And that's why Chip O'Toole loses control of the car. Because that is such a dangerous and reckless maneuver. And that resulted in that car creeping into those woods and those catastrophic injuries to Dana Clark, excuse me, Dana Clark. Now, ladies and gentlemen, she's been charged with two counts. Reckless driving, serious weapon injury, and any given homicide. The judge is going to explain the law for both of those. And I am hoping and expecting after you've heard from all the witnesses, you will see that, in fact, Ms. Mumby's conduct that night, the way she drove that night, directly caused Daniel Walden's severe catastrophic injuries, and then ultimately his death. And I'll be asking if you find her guilty as charged. Thank you. [00:08:34] Speaker 2: Thank you. Counsel? Can you guys please support? Yes, sir. I want to start by recognizing the results of the accident and the trials that happened in this case are pure and utter tragedy. The family lost a son, a grandson, a cousin. This woman lost the love of her life and the mother of her child. It's an incredibly difficult time for all family involved. This trial is one of the most important events in this woman's life and the people I have to dictate how next the rest of her life proceeds. I also completely understand and recognize that what we're asking you to do in this case is not easy or to be taken lightly. But I want to be clear from the outset that your verdict in this case is not a show of support for either side. This case is not about taking sides. Rather, we're just simply asking you to listen to the testimony, consider the evidence, and determine what facts make the most sense under the circumstances presented. Now, as the state kind of alluded to during its opening statement, I expect you're going to learn that the crux of this trial effectively comes down to one steering wheel of input. And ultimately, one question. Does it make sense, based on the testimony and evidence that will be presented to you, that Ms. Lumby chose to drive her vehicle in the manner described? Or does it make more sense that something happened within that vehicle that she did not expect, she did not anticipate, and she did not control? And despite her best efforts to avoid that car creating into the woods, once the river wheels were set in motion, there was nothing that she could do to stop it. Now, I suspect you know which one we're going to suggest to you make some more sense at the end of this trial, but I truly believe that the only reason for that is that after all is said and done, the only verdict that truly fits the facts of this case is the verdict of my contract. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Clark? [00:10:34] Speaker 1: Yes, the table calls.