Trial begins for woman charged in 2024 double fatal crash on Patriot Boulevard in North Charleston

DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) - The trial of a woman accused in connection with a deadly crash on Patriot Boulevard in 2024 began Monday with jury selection and opening witness testimony. Nearly two years after the collision that claimed the lives of two teenagers, Holly Nelson Ashner is standing trial on multiple charges related to the incident. Prosecutors allege Ashner was driving under the influence on August 8, 2024, when her vehicle crashed, resulting in the deaths of 17-year-old Samuel Oliveira and 17-year-old Joseph Da Silva. During the first day of proceedings, attorneys for the prosecution outlined the charges against Ashner, including two counts of felony DUI resulting in death and two counts of reckless vehicular homicide. “These indictments, each charged at this time, i.e., Dorchester County on August 8th, 2024, they charge a crime in the substantial language of the statute,” said prosecutor William Baker Allen Jr. The day was devoted to selecting a jury and hearing from first responders who described the chaotic scene after the crash. John Haymaker, a Dorchester County EMS witness, recalled, “I remember seeing one car or two cars involved in a collision, and it was a little chaotic at first. Trying to figure out what was going on.” Lt. Jeremy Dalton, a North Charleston Police Department patrol supervisor, testified about the efforts to rescue the victims. “The doors wouldn’t open, and I told the officers to smash the back window. Okay. They smashed the window, and then I could see the person under the dashboard. Okay, they were under the dashboard. They were under the driver’s steering wheel. The dashboard was crushed,” Dalton said. Ashner has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The presiding judge, H. Steven DeBerry IV, reminded jurors that indictments are not evidence. “I’m going to charge a jury that the indictments are not evidence in this case. It’s just simply a form of written document for which this case was brought into this court,” the judge stated. The trial is expected to continue for several days. Attorneys are scheduled to resume their cases in front of the jury at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.