Judge in Pinto crash case admits making key errors

The judge presiding over the reckless-homicide case against the Ford Motor Company has admitted he made a number of errors that could cause a reversal of any conviction in the case. "I do feel a lot of evidence that has already been admitted perhaps should not have been admitted, and that could be the basis for reversible error," Pulaski County Circuit Judge Harold Staffeldt said in open court Wednesday. With that, he refused to admit a number of documents considered crucial by Prosecutor Michael A. Cosentino.

Ford was indicted by an Elkhart County grand jury on changes resulting from a fiery rear-end collision near Goshen in 1978 involving a 1973 Pinto. Three teen-age girls were killed.