May 15—The driver accused of hitting and killing a person on Pearl Street was convicted of three counts, but a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on a murder charge.
Alan Moody, 22, was found guilty by a Boulder County jury on Friday of vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a crash involving death or injury and false reporting.
But after deliberating over two days, the jury was unable to reach a consensus on one charge of second-degree murder.
“We appreciate the time that the jurors put into this case,” Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said in a statement.
Moody, who remains in custody, is set for a status conference on Thursday while the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office decides to pursue a retrial on the remaining count or proceed to sentencing on the charges he was convicted of.
According to an affidavit, police were called to the 4800 block of Pearl Street at 5:54 a.m. April 1, 2022, after a person was found dead in a parking lot.
The person — who was identified as Zachary Taggart, 21, by the Boulder County Coroner’s Office and charging documents — was declared dead at the scene with significant traumatic injuries.
According to the affidavit, blood and other physical evidence was found in several parking stalls and a curb and planter next to where the body was found.
Police in the area then found a black Saturn sedan registered to the victim about a block away from the crime scene with heavy front-end damage and two flat passenger-side tires. The car also had traces of blood and hair along the passenger side.
Police found the victim’s cell phone and camping citations naming both Moody and the victim buried in a dirt mound next to the vehicle. Police said Moody and the victim had reportedly been living together in the car and had been seen together by Boulder and Broomfield police several times in the weeks leading up to the incident.
According to the affidavit, footage from a security camera in the area showed a black sedan traveling east on Pearl Street at 10:35 p.m. March 31 when the passenger side of the vehicle appeared to strike an object, causing the front of the vehicle to rise up shortly before the rear of the vehicle did the same. Detectives said it was noticeable because of the taillights changing orientation, and that the car then appeared to level out as sparks could be seen.
Detectives applied for a warrant for Moody’s cell phone data, and detectives said call data placed the phone in the 4800 block of Pearl Street two minutes before the time the vehicle was seen hitting something on the security footage.