A LEARNER driver jailed for causing a crash that killed William Langford after she crossed to the wrong side of a stretch of road outside Muswellbrook in 2020, has questioned the admissibility of expert evidence against her as part of an appeal to the state's highest court.
Stephanie Farrell, now 26, was last year found guilty of dangerous driving occasioning death and dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm after a judge-alone trial in Newcastle District Court.
Farrell had a 10-year-old girl and a two-month-old baby in her Nissan Pulsar as she drove along Thomas Mitchell Drive towards Muswellbrook about 6.20pm on December 16, 2020.
Mr Langford, 28, of Aberdeen, was coming home from work and driving in the opposite direction when Farrell's car suddenly crossed to the wrong side of the road and impacted heavily with the front driver's side of his Hyundai Getz.
He died at the scene, while Farrell and the 10-year-old girl were flown to John Hunter Hospital, where they underwent surgery for multiple fractures.
After listening to the expert evidence of a crime scene officer, a traffic reconstructionist and a consultant engineer, Judge Tim Gartelmann, SC, was left with no doubt that the impact had occurred in Mr Langford's lane and Farrell had crossed "substantially over the centre line" in the moments before the crash.
Judge Gartelmann came to that conclusion based on a number of elements of the crash scene, including gouge marks left on the roadway, which a crime scene officer opined meant the point of impact was within Mr Langford's lane.
He said Farrell was not speeding, driving erratically or looking at her mobile phone in the moments before she crossed the centre line and caused the crash.
Farrell had no memory of the crash and Judge Gartelmann found that she had been guilty of momentary inattention or misjudgment, rather than an abandonment of responsibility.
But he said sentences for dangerous driving must deter others and jailed Farrell for a maximum of three years and three months, with a non-parole period of 21 months.
Farrell is not eligible for parole until September, 2027, but less than a month after being sentenced, lawyers for the 26-year-old lodged a notice of intention to appeal against her conviction.
The now 26-year-old on Monday faced a hearing in the Court of Criminal Appeal that focused on the expert evidence in the trial, with Public Defender Tony Evers arguing Judge Gartelmann had erred in admitting the expert opinion of the crime scene officer.
Mr Evers argued the decision to admit the evidence involved "procedural unfairness", and the witness "lacked the specialised knowledge" to provide the opinion he gave during the trial.
Crown prosecutor Carl Young said the alternate hypothesis that it was Mr Langford who had driven onto the wrong side of the road was not reasonable or consistent with the evidence and it was open to Judge Gartelmann to find Farrell guilty of both counts.
Farrell has also appealed against the severity of the jail term, her lawyers arguing Judge Gartelmann erred in his assessment of the objective seriousness and arguing the sentence was manifestly excessive.
The Court of Criminal Appeal reserved its judgment.
