A Pennsburg man is on trial for his alleged role in a high-speed drag race that caused a fatal crash

Was a Pennsburg man locked in an illegal drag race in May 2023 when the other driver caused a high-speed, fatal crash, as Montgomery County prosecutors asserted at the start of his trial Tuesday?

Or was Evan Buckman simply following his friend, struggling to keep up with him as he sped along roads unfamiliar to him, as his attorney said?

Buckman, 20, is on trial this week in Norristown on charges including homicide by vehicle and aggravated assault by vehicle for his involvement in the crash on Bethlehem Pike in Hatfield that caused the death of Ida Lillo.

Buckman’s attorney, Matthew Quigg, told jurors in his opening statement Tuesday that his client was not responsible for Lillo’s death: Another man, Aidan Jarrett, lost control of his Mitsubishi Lancer while traveling double the speed limit on Bethlehem Pike and T-boned a car driven by Lillo’s husband, Louis.

Ida Lillo, 62, sustained catastrophic injuries, including shattered ribs and a punctured lung, and was taken to Grand View Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. Her husband also suffered serious injuries in the collision, and died earlier this year of unrelated causes.

Jarrett, 20, pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault by vehicle, illegal racing, and related crimes in August. He is scheduled to be sentenced in November.

Quigg described Lillo’s death as a tragic accident and urged the jurors not to judge Buckman for his friend’s actions that night.

The two were not racing, he said, and had made no plans beforehand to drive recklessly together. They had been hanging out earlier that day and planned to drive to the Montgomeryville Mall, meeting up halfway at a Sunoco gas station in Sellersville after being separated by construction on Bethlehem Pike.

“Make no mistake … there is not one shred of evidence that Evan was the cause of Ida Lillo’s death or Louis Lillo’s injuries,” Quigg said. “There is not a shred of evidence that they shared any intent to commit a crime.”

But Assistant District Attorney Blair Rohlfing said Buckman was equally at fault.

“They were together every step of the way,” Rohlfing said. “This case is about the responsibility of a non-crashing driver who nonetheless participated in this breathtakingly dangerous crash.”

Rohlfing said that evidence from the scene and eyewitness accounts showed both men were “hurtling down” Bethlehem Pike at similar speeds, and that only luck had prevented Buckman from crashing into the Lillos’ vehicle.

When officers from Hatfield arrived at the crash scene on May 17, 2023, they found Jarrett’s Mitsubishi Lancer severely damaged, with its engine on fire, according to testimony Tuesday. The Nissan SUV driven by Louis Lillo had been pushed onto its side and rolled through the intersection of Bethlehem Pike and Bergey Road.

The Mitsubishi had slammed into the Nissan’s passenger-side door as Lillo was making a left turn onto Bergey Road. An airbag sensor taken from the Mitsubishi showed that the car had been traveling at 110 mph at the time of the collision, according to prosecutors.

The posted speed limit on that stretch of road is 55 mph.

John Harden testified Tuesday that he was on his way to a doctor’s appointment when Jarrett sped past him in his Mitsubishi “like [he] was standing still.” Not long after, he witnessed the fatal collision and pulled over to help free Louis Lillo from his ruined vehicle.

Harden told Rohlfing that he also had been passed by Buckman, and that the two “looked like they were racing.”

Another witness to the crash, Charlotte Freed, testified that Jarrett had aggressively weaved in and out of traffic and passed her moments before the crash. She stopped to help Harden free Lillo, she said, and noticed that Buckman and Jarrett were standing nearby. They did not assist in the rescue efforts, she said.

The trial before Montgomery County Court Judge Wendy Rothstein is expected to last through Wednesday.