By Aisling Swift
The Naples Daily News
NAPLES, Fla. — Kevin Shinsky sat in the Collier County jail for nearly four years, proclaiming his innocence from the day he was arrested on charges of leaving the scene of a crash with death.
Soon after the fatal crash on Nov. 4, 2006, the 39-year-old East Naples father of two faced a new charge, vehicular homicide in the death of Michelle Sommers, 38, of Full Moon Court in East Naples.
All along, Shinsky, who had a suspended license and didn’t drive, had maintained Sommers gave him a ride to a Publix in another friend’s car to cash his paycheck, then drove off in his friend’s car. Minutes later, he saw Sommers again, but a man was driving the car and Shinsky tried to pull the keys out of the ignition.
“I’m hanging onto the car on the driver’s door to try to stop them and I fell off,” Shinsky said, adding that he saw the two again minutes later, but Sommers was driving.
Since his arrest that day, Shinsky went through three attorneys, wrote to the State Attorney’s Office, the Supreme Court, judges, his lawyers - anyone who would listen.
It wasn’t until his fourth attorney, David Agoston of Naples, and his colleague, attorney Jamie Chandler, and paralegal Lissette Perez began working with John Hisler and Associates investigations that the evidence came together to show Shinsky was telling the truth: He was innocent.
The team, which got the case in December, worked quickly to free Shinsky and on Friday, the State Attorney’s Office dropped the charges and he was released from jail.
“There’s no way he could have been in two places at once,” said Hisler. “He cashed his Peluso Movers paycheck about that time.”
The bank that issued the check has since failed, but Hisler tracked down the original paycheck three years later, locked in a safe at Peluso Movers, which hired someone to open it to help a valued former employee.
The check, time stamped 1:46 p.m. with Shinsky’s fingerprint, was cashed at the Publix at U.S. 41 and Thomasson Drive just minutes before the 1:50 p.m. crash.
Shinsky’s minor injuries matched his account, that he’d fallen off a fleeing car, not that he’d been in a car that hit two cars, went airborne, clipped a tree, flipped several times, hit three cars and burst into flames in the Embarq parking lot.
“There’s no way anyone could come through that wreck with that amount of injuries,” Hisler said of Shinsky’s scratches.
Sommers was ejected, hit a building and landed on concrete, dying instantly.
“His cell phone records show voicemail retrievals before, during and after this accident,” Agoston said.
Records show Shinsky called Barbara Parrack, 40, to say her car had been stolen and checked voicemails, with calls beginning at 1:39 p.m, two when the crash occurred at 1:50 and 1:50:52 p.m., then 1:56 p.m., 1:57 p.m. and 2 p.m.
An eyewitness came forward later to say he saw Shinsky hanging onto the car and falling off as it fled and rushed over to ask if he needed help. Two eyewitnesses who saw the crash didn’t identify Shinsky as the bleeding man who crawled out of the burning car: He was Hispanic, had a forehead injury, clutched his side and limped away.
"(Shinsky) didn’t have a forehead injury,” Chandler said.
At 3:30 p.m. Friday, as Tropical Storm Bonnie headed toward Naples, Shinsky walked out of the jail, unable to wear the clothing he’d come in with because he’d lost weight. He wore another man’s shorts, jail sneakers and a T-shirt.
Hisler got a bed for him at St. Matthews House, took him to St. Vincent DePaul to purchase clothing with St. Matthews vouchers, and then to McDonald’s before heading to Agoston’s office. Hisler also gave him money for a cell phone.
State Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Samantha Syoen cited the new eyewitness, phone records and other evidence as reasons why they dismissed charges.
“New evidence came to light from the defendant, evidence that we were not privy to until very recently,” Syoen said. “It was apparent that we should drop the charges.”
She said they’d never received a letter from Shinsky.
Shinsky is relieved he’s free, but has no job, no permanent place to live and owes $50,000 in child support.
“I couldn’t ask for a better legal team,” Shinsky said Monday as he sat in Agoston’s office with Chandler and Hisler, still in his thrift shop clothing.
Agoston commended prosecutors for listening.
“They were moving forward with information given to them,” he said. “Our investigation showed a lot of that was misinformation and that information came from one source, Deputy Johnny Cisnero.
“That led to the groundwork for the arrest of Kevin and was responsible for nearly four years of truly wrongful incarceration.”
Hisler said he’ll turn over their file in the hopes the sheriff’s office will reopen the internal affairs investigation into Cisnero, whose report says Shinsky refused to speak without an attorney. But he also wrote that Shinsky then asked about Sommers, saying, “When I climbed out of the vehicle, she wasn’t in there. What happened?”
Shinsky says he told Cisnero only that Sommers had driven off in Parrack’s car and he’d tried to stop her. Cisnero had arrested him several times before, he said, but charges always were dropped, and because he didn’t drive, Cisnero often stopped drivers giving him a ride.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Karie Partington said Shinsky was not polygraphed, as some suspects are.
She added: “If Mr. Hisler has additional information, we would encourage him to bring it forward to CCSO’s Professional Responsibility Bureau.”
Shinsky, who had a felony record from a 2002 arrest, faced up to 15 years in prison for both vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal crash, and five years for driving while license was suspended in a crash causing death.
Now Shinsky, who has a high school diploma and a year of college behind him, is looking for a job as a mover - or any work. While jailed, he took classes on planning for families, Bible study - anything that took his mind off his situation.
“I read a lot of books,” Shinsky said, thanking St. Matthew’s House, and Harry and Jan Thomas of Restoration Church who provide jail Bible study classes. “They really got me through it and took me away from that place.”
Copyright 2010 Collier County Publishing Company