Jan 24, 2007 By Jennifer Harr 6 min read

WAYNESBURG – A panel of Greene County jurors heard the balance of the involuntary manslaughter case lodged against a bar owner who is accused of turning a blind eye toward underage drinking at his establishment. Michael Koratich, 40, of Waynesburg, the owner of the former Koratich’s Golden Rail in the borough, is charged in the deaths of Chad Seybold, 21, and James “Jake” Superack, 18, both of Waynesburg. Both were patrons in the bar on the evening of Nov. 17 and into the morning of Nov. 18, 2004.

Around 2 a.m. on Rolling Meadows Road, Superack, with Seybold in the passenger’s seat, ran into a tree. Seybold was pronounced dead at the scene, and Superack died later that day.

Jurors on Tuesday heard conflicting testimony about how much Superack drank before he went to the bar, and what drugs that he may have taken at friend Michael Wise’s Waynesburg home earlier in the day.

Wise testified for the defense that he and Superack smoked two marijuana blunts at 9 a.m. Nov. 17, 2004. Around 4 p.m. Superack came to his home, Wise testified, and drank about 30, 12-ounce cans of beer, and snorted methadone, the anti-anxiety medication Xanax and cocaine. Then, testified Wise, Superack went to the Golden Rail. He testified that he intended to go with Superack, whom he called his best friend, but was “too messed up” to do so.

However, toxicologist Dr. Charles L. Winek testified that there was no drugs found in Superack’s urine when a screen was done at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va. Superack, taken there after the 2 a.m. accident, died there later in the day on Nov. 18, 2004.

In contradiction to Wise’s testimony, Michael S. Montgomery, who acknowledged giving Superack the methadone, said that while at Wise’s home, Superack had only five or six beers. Montgomery also said that he saw Superack snort other crushed pills at Wise’s home, but said he did not know what they were.

When they left Wise’s around 7:30 p.m., Superack “seemed pretty fine to me,” Montgomery testified. Wise also indicated in his testimony that Superack “wasn’t that messed up” when he left his home.

When District Attorney Marjorie Fox questioned how Superack could have functioned normally with so much beer and alcohol in him, Wise testified that for Superack the beer was “like water.”

“He’d drink five or six before we finished one,” Wise testified.

He indicated that there were several other people at his home that night, and said combined, they drank about 10 beers from a second 30-pack.

Montgomery said they got to the Golden Rail around 11 p.m., and noted that around midnight, Superack took him home from the bar.

By then, Montgomery testified that Superack was “pretty messed up,” but said he drove fine.

At age 18 in November 2004, Brittany Kalakewich testified that she got into the Golden Rail without being asked to show identification, and went in with Superack. She said that when he left to take Montgomery home it was obvious Superack had been drinking, but he wasn’t throwing up.

Kalakewich testified that she did see Superack throwing up between sets of doors leading into the bar around 1 a.m., about the time when someone said that state Liquor Control Board agents might show up. She testified she was going to leave with Superack, when at the last minute, she decided to leave with someone else.

A short time later, she said Superack called her friend’s cell phone and asked if he could meet up with them. He never showed up, she said.

Cpl. Douglas L. Bartoe, a state police accident reconstructionist, testified that Superack’s Volkswagen Jetta hit the tree so hard that the tree split apart and the car partially wrapped around it. He also testified that there were no marks on the road that indicated that Superack tried to break when he went around the curve on Rolling Meadow Run Road in Franklin Township. Not until Superack was in the grass, and nearly upon the tree, was there an indication he tried to apply the breaks, Bartoe testified. Bartoe estimated Superack was going about 88 mph when the accident occurred.

Bartoe testified he came to the accident scene because there was the possibility of charging Superack with vehicular homicide. Because he did not survive, Bartoe indicated he did not do a full reconstruction, including having a mechanical inspection done on the car.

Defense attorney Noah Geary presented testimony from two bartenders who used to work at the Golden Rail. Both indicated that Koratich stressed to them the importance of keeping minors out of the establishment and being careful not to serve overtly intoxicated patrons.

Both Christina Sakai and David Watson indicated that Koratich held meetings in which he told his staff that doing either was a reason for termination, and that if they did and were fined, the fine was the bartender’s responsibility.

Both testified that they carded questionable patrons in an effort to keep minors from illegally drinking.

“Did he (Koratich) take his obligation under the liquor laws seriously?” Geary asked Sakai.

“Yes sir,” she said. “He would always ask, if there was someone questionable in the bar, did you card them? Did you check their ID?”

Both testified that students from nearby Waynesburg College brought them some business, but that Koratich did not depend on that crowd.

“Mike would’ve rather have 12 people in the bar who was 40-year-olds than 100 21-year-olds. He was more for having people his own age around,” Watson testified.

On Monday, jurors heard from eight witnesses, all of whom acknowledged drinking at the Golden Rail under age. Many said they used other people’s identification to prove they could legally drink and some said they never were asked for it.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril H. Wecht testified that he performed an autopsy on Seybold. Wecht testified Seybold died of massive injuries to her lower body, head and chest. Winek later testified that Seybold’s blood-alcohol content was .165 percent.

He put Superack’s blood-alcohol at .18 percent. The legal limit for Pennsylvania drivers 21 and older is .08 percent.

Winek noted that in calculating Superack’s alcohol level, he did not take into account the two times he vomited, the intravenous fluids he received after the accident and the 90 minutes that passed before blood was taken to calculate the level.

Geary asked Winek if it was possible that Superack’s blood, which was not tested for drugs, would have shown them in his system.

“It didn’t show up on the urine screen. If he took it, it would have showed up there,” Winek testified.

The trial will resume at 8:30 a.m. today. Jurors likely will hear closing remarks at some point during the day.