Gelzinis: Driver’s gamble on trial could pay off

The video tore everyone’s heart out 14 months ago.

It showed Kevin Cellucci, a strapping young carpenter, deliriously romping with his two toddler sons on Christmas morning. A few minutes later, we saw the same man imprisoned in an elaborate wheelchair, barely able to move in the aftermath of a traumatic brain injury.

Kevin Cellucci’s life changed forever on the afternoon of Sept. 6, 2013, when the Mazda Tribute that Nikolas Papadopoulos was driving hurdled over a concrete divider on the Arborway in Jamaica Plain and bounced off the driver’s compartment of Cellucci’s Ford pickup truck.

Last year in West Roxbury District Court, Nikolas Papadopoulos, who was then 19, seemed poised to cop a plea to negligent operation of a motor vehicle. But after the video, made by Kevin’s wife, Tina, and shown in place of her victim impact statement, the judge agreed with the DA’s call that the Boston Latin Academy graduate spend a year in jail.

That’s when Nikolas and his family abruptly decided to take their chances with a jury trial. The decision seemed crazy a year ago, but yesterday not so much.

Before the trial began in Brighton District Court, Papadopoulos’ defense counsel, John Amabile, had managed to get the video excluded.

He also succeeded in convincing District Court Judge Debra Shopteese to scuttle the idea of having the remains of the two wrecked vehicles towed up to the court parking lot so the eight-person jury could examine them. Suffolk County DA Dan Conley filed an emergency motion yesterday with the SJC to have the vehicles entered into evidence, but that was also shot down.

On the first day of the trial, witness testimony was a mixture of analysis of skid marks and estimates of speed and impact points from state police crash analysts. There were also the recollections from the three Latin Academy students who were riding home with Nikolas Papadopoulos.

One of those students, Mark Delamere, was ejected from the car and testified from the wheelchair he is now confined to. In a calm voice, the 17-year-old told jurors that he was a four-sport athlete at the time of the accident. Other than being given a ride home, Delamere remembered little about the crash, beyond the fact that Papadopoulos said he was sorry.

It was much the same for Joseph O’Leary, who was also riding in the back seat. Thomas Mackinnon, who rode in the front seat, told jurors his last recollection was of the car going into a skid. But when pressed, he testified he thought Papadopoulos was traveling at a “moderate” rate of speed.

Peter Gelzinis

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