A Cody man who caused a fatal crash two years ago has pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and two other misdemeanor charges.

Steve Justin Novakovich Jr. turned in front of an oncoming vehicle on U.S. Highway 14A. The ensuing high-speed collision reportedly resulted in the death of 82-year-old Chuck Wentz of Powell, who was a passenger in the oncoming car, and serious injuries to his wife, Diana Wentz, who was driving.

Novakovich had been scheduled to go to trial this week on more serious felony charges, with the prosecution and defense set to argue over whether he was drunk at the time of the crash. However, instead of beginning jury selection on Monday morning, Novakovich took a plea deal offered by the Park County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of vehicular homicide (reduced from felony aggravated vehicular homicide), reckless endangering (reduced from a felony count of driving while under the influence of alcohol and causing serious bodily injury) and a turning violation.

The terms of the deal — which Park County District Court Judge Bill Simpson will need to finalize at a later sentencing hearing — call for Novakovich to serve one year in jail.

In court Monday, Novakovich gave a statement in which he apologized to Diana Wentz.

“My client thanked her for her mercy and hoped that everybody could heal,” said Brigita Krisjansons, who, along with Branden Vilos, represented Novakovich.

Novakovich and Wentz shared an embrace after the hearing, Krisjansons said, calling it “a very emotional, extraordinary scene.”

A fatal collision

The crash occurred shortly before 4:10 p.m. on Aug. 26, 2022, just north of the Corbett Bridge and about 7 miles outside Cody.

Diana Wentz was driving her 2005 Toyota Scion south, toward Cody, when the northbound Novakovich made a left-hand turn in front of her. The Scion, which was going around the 70 mph speed limit, collided with Novakovich’s 2007 Chevy Silverado.

The crash caused substantial damage to both vehicles and serious injuries to the Wentzes. Charles Wentz suffered extensive injuries and died several days later at a Billings hospital. Diana Wentz suffered a broken hip socket, many cuts and other injuries, charging documents say; she spent roughly three days in the hospital.

At the scene, Novakovich reported that “he did not see anybody coming towards him prior to conducting a left hand turn,” Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Brett Tillery recounted in an affidavit.

Signs of impairment?

Novakovich had been following his then-girlfriend, Sheila M. Worth, who’d safely made the turn in her own vehicle just moments earlier. Although Worth wasn’t involved in the crash, she was determined to have been driving under the influence of alcohol, and marijuana was reportedly found in her purse. Worth later pleaded guilty to DUI — her third offense in 10 years — and served a month in jail.

Tillery said he also “detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage” coming from Novakovich and noticed “bloodshot and watery eyes.” Novakovich reportedly said he had one beer and a couple shots of rum about five hours earlier.

He passed several sobriety tests — the walk-and-turn, the one leg stand and a countdown to a specific number — but Tillery said the suspect failed the horizontal gaze nystagmus test; the trooper found Novakovich lacked smooth pursuit in both eyes.

However, an expert hired by the defense contended the lights of the responding emergency vehicles might have caused the eye issues. Krisjansons and Vilos also contended that Tillery improperly administered the test and violated Novakovich’s constitutional rights by arresting him.

District Court Judge Bill Simpson rejected those arguments late last year, finding the trooper had probable cause to detain Novakovich, but the defendant’s apparent passage of the other tests was set to be a big issue at trial.

Alcohol levels and legal standards

A portable breath test administered at the scene pegged Novakovich’s blood alcohol level at 0.121% — above the 0.08% level at which a person is presumed to be impaired — but the results from those devices are not accurate enough to be admitted in court.

Novakovich refused to provide a blood sample for an official test, which led Tillery to obtain a search warrant. A sample was eventually drawn at 7:30 p.m. and subsequent testing put his blood alcohol level at 0.058%. (Testing also found traces of marijuana, court records indicate, but it was a small enough amount that prosecutors had agreed it was irrelevant to the case.)

Within the 0.05-0.08% range, a driver is not presumed to be impaired, but “it may be considered with other competent evidence in determining whether the person was under the influence,” state law says.

Prosecutors planned to present testimony indicating that, given how much alcohol Novakovich’s body would have metabolized in the three hours that passed between the incident and the test, his BAC must have been over the 0.08% at the time of the collision. However, the defense planned to present testimony that it was impossible to retroactively calculate Novakovich’s BAC with any accuracy.

“It was going to be a battle of experts,” said Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Eichele.

Even if Eichele proved that Novakovich was drunk, he still needed to show that the impairment caused the crash in order to convict him on the felony DUI-related charges, Judge Simpson said of state law. In other words, the prosecution would have had to prove it was Novakovich’s intoxication that led him to pull in front of the Wentzes.

However, beyond the disputed blood alcohol levels, “basically we had nothing to prove bad driving other than the accident,” Eichele said, saying the defendant had shown “very little signs of impairment.”

A sentencing hearing for Novakovich will likely be scheduled within the next four to six weeks.

(Editor's note: This version has been corrected to reflect that there will not be a pre-sentence investigation.)