Dane’s fatal food-truck crash appeal denied by federal judge

Warren County resident Tony Dane’s appeal stemming from a fatal 2017 crash has been dismissed by a federal judge in Virginia. Dane, the owner/operator of a poorly maintained food truck was involved in a crash that killed Loudoun County mother Erin Kaplan, 39, and seriously injured her mother and her three teenage children.

Dane, currently serving a 10-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter, claimed in a petition for writ of habeas corpus filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, that his constitutional rights to due process and an effective lawyer were violated at his trial and at his earlier state court appeals.

U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga, in a March 9 opinion, said nothing Dane claimed in the writ warrants overturning the conviction for involuntary manslaughter or his sentence. Dane’s original release date remains July 2027.

Dane was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and four misdemeanors, including operating a vehicle without a license, operating an uninsured vehicle, and reckless driving.

Dane has previously filed several failed appeals in Virginia’s courts challenging his conviction, arguing his lawyer failed to consult with a pathologist or medical expert to determine Kaplan’s cause of death. He also argued that his attorney should have consulted an expert on the mechanics of the food truck.

The Loudoun County Circuit Court, the Court of Appeals of Virginia, and the Supreme Court of Virginia each upheld Dane’s conviction and sentence. Virginia’s Supreme Court denied his appeal in February 2020.

In an opinion that is summarized in the federal court’s opinion, the Court of Appeals found: “The totality of the evidence presented in this case objectively establishes that (Dane’s) negligence was so gross, wanton, and culpable as to show ‘callous disregard of human life.’”

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