Shiam Sunder Shankara Subramanian
Opening statements are planned this morning in the trial of a local man accused in the hit-and-run death of a 16-year-old Columbus East High School student attempting to board a Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. bus last year.
A jury was seated Monday in Bartholomew Circuit Court in the case of Shiam Sunder Shankara Subramanian, 25, Columbus, who is accused of two felonies in regard to the Aug. 30, 2021 death of East student Lily J. Streeval.
Subramanian was charged in court documents with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death or catastrophic injury, a Level 4 felony, and passing a school bus while the arm signal is extended causing death, a Level 5 felony.
Court officials said 114 potential jurors were called to appear on Monday, with eight jurors selected by the 2 p.m. lunch break. Nearly every potential juror was asked to approach the bench to be questioned out of the earshot of other potential jurors by Judge Kelly Benjamin, Deputy Prosecutor Kimberly Sexton-Yeager and defense attorneys James Voyles and Jennifer Lukemeyer.
By the time jury selection was finished shortly before 5 p.m., seven men and five women had been chosen for the main jury. Two additional male jurors are serving as alternates.
The trial will begin at 8:30 a.m. this morning with instructions from the judge to the jury. Opening statements from both the state and defense will likely begin shortly before 9 a.m.
During questioning Monday, Voyles and Sexton-Yeager wanted to know if potential jurors may have been negatively impacted by being in traffic accidents.
Voyles also asked what each would do if they struck either a small or large animal with their vehicle while they were driving.
He also asked each potential juror how they would measure “beyond a reasonable doubt,” as well as if they would make assumptions if a defendant neither testified on his own behalf nor offered evidence. A defendant in an Indiana criminal case is not required to do either and is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The trial is expected to last about a week, attorneys in the case said.
Investigators in the case said in court documents that the stop arm signal on Streeval’s school bus was extended and warning lights on the bus were flashing when Streeval attempted to cross South Gladstone Avenue to board the bus in the early morning hours of Aug. 30, 2021.
Subramanian is accused of striking the teen with his vehicle as she crossed Gladstone Avenue, and then fleeing the scene, according to court documents, as he was pursued by another driver who witnessed the incident while stopped behind the school bus, court documents state.
Brian Rea followed Subramanian until Subramanian got his car stuck in the yard of a law enforcement officer in rural Bartholomew County and was taken into custody, court records state.
Streeval was pronounced dead shortly after she arrived at Columbus Regional Hospital, investigators said.
