May found not guilty of all charges

The Aurora woman who was charged with three misdemeanors in connection with the traffic death of Dave Schwartz of Aurora last October has been acquitted of all charges by a Hamilton County Court jury. The jury trial of Sara May, 46, began on Monday morning and concluded mid-afternoon on Tuesday when the three man, three woman jury returned a verdict of not guilty to misdemeanor charges of motor vehicle homicide, failure to use caution when passing a stopped emergency vehicle and driving too fast for the conditions. 
After the jury was impaneled Monday morning, County Attorney Douglas Dexter called five witnesses in support of his case including Dr. Erin Linde, the physician who conducted the autopsy on Schwartz's body; Deb Duncan, a witness to the accident; Deputy Chad Lentz, who was also at the scene when the accident occurred; NSP Trooper Christopher Slocum and Trooper Zachary Lorang, a traffic crash reconstructionist for the NSP. The jury was also shown a video of the accident captured by the dash cam of Slocum's vehicle. 
After Dexter rested his case shortly before noon, defense attorney Benjamin Murray told the court he had no witnesses to call and rested his case. Following closing arguments by Dexter and Murray the case went to the jury which deliberated for about two hours before returning with the not guilty verdict on all charges. 
Schwartz, a 42-year employee of the Nebraska Department of Transportation, was assisting local law enforcement and workers from the county highway department at the scene of a spill involving distillers corn mash at the intersection of Highway 34 and the Giltner Spur west of Aurora on October 17, 2023, when the accident occurred. Schwartz was hit by a GMC Yukon being driven by May who had been traveling westbound on Highway 34. Witnesses said May's vehicle slid on the slippery corn mash striking and killing Schwartz.