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IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEASOF TIOGA COUNTY

JOHN R. KINGSLEY,Indiv¡dually and asAdm lnistrator of theEstate of JASON A.KINGSLEY. and DENISEC. KINGSLEY,Ind¡v¡dually and asAdm¡nistrator of theEstate ofJASON A.KIN G S LEY,

CIVIL ACTION . LAW

Pla¡ntlffs

-vs-

GOR-WOOD HOLSTEINS.INc., d/b/a GOR-WoODFARMS and RONALDCHRISTOPHER WOOD,

D efend â nts No.198 CV 2016

DEPOSITION TESTIMONY OF

RONALD CHRISTOPHER WOOD

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, ZOLT

TIOGA COUNTY COURTHOUSE116 MAIN STREET

WELLSBORO, PENNSYLVANIA

TERESA A. CROSSIN, RMRNOTARY PUBLIC

KEYSTONE COURT REPORTING AGENCY, ¡NC4099 BIRNEY AVENUE, SUITE 9

MOOS¡C, PA 18507(s70) ss8-301r (800) 570-3773

FAX 70 554-30 14

COUNSEL PREgENTT

On behalf of the Plaint¡ffs:HOURIGAN, KLUGER & QUINNBY: DONALD C. LIGORIO¿ ESQ600 Third AvenueKlngston. PA tA704

On behalf of the DefendantlTHOMAS. THOMAS & HAFERBY: JOSHUA J. BOVENDER, ESQ.305 North Front Street - Sixth FloorP. O. Box 999Harrisburg, PA 17108

Also presènt on behalf of Ronald Christopher woodperso n a lly!

CHIP BLACKWELL, ESQ.

STIPU LAT¡O NS

It was furthêr agreed that all objecilonsexcept as to the form of the question wlll bereserved until the time of trial.

INDEX OF WITNESSES

EXAMINATIONRONALD CHRISTOPHER WOODBy M r. LlgorioBy Mr, BovenderBy Mr, L¡gorio.

PAGE NUMBER

.7

. zto213

INDEX OF EXHIBITS

DEPOSITIONEXHIBITNUMBER DESCRIPTION

1 PhotographMARKED

234567I9

1011LZ13L41516L71819202t22232425262728293031323334353637

Photograph.PhotographPhotographPhotographPhotographPhotographPhotographPhotographPhotographPhotographP hotog rap hP hotog rap hPhotographPhotographPhotog raphP hotog rap hPhotographPhotographPhotog raphP hotog ra p hPhotog ra phPhotographPayroll JournalData Entry Worksheet.S ketch.

93

Photograph....,Photograph.....Cell phone call logCall log.2009w-2......Handwr¡tten note.Payroll Journal 3/22/ t62015 w-2.Real Estate note. ..Employer's report of ¡njuryWorkmen's Com pensation

38worksheet. ...,180Workmen's Compensat¡on audit

Summary. ..,,.180Workmen's Com pensation form39

404t42

188Insurance documentHandwr¡tten letter.,Copy ofcheck.....

DOCUMENT REOUESTS

1. Partnership Agreement

2. Minutes of dissolutlon

3. Copy of all minutes going back a year

4. Document showing the State recognlz¡ng thetransfer of the Estatè

5. Document of a check written to Jason Kingsleylndlcating purchase tlres

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VIDEO TECHNICIAN: Good day. My

name is Dan Luvender, I am employee of

the Legal Scopes Support Services,

located at 600 Third Avenue, Kingston,

Pennsylvania, IB7O4.

Today is Tuesday, February 28,

2QI7, and the time is 11:49 a.m.

We are located at Tioga County

Courthouse. This deposition is being

taken on behalf of the Plaintiff for use

at playback at the time of trial and in

association wlth the rules of discovery

in the case of Kingsley versus Gor-Wood

Holsteins, Incorporated, doing business

as Gor-Wood Farms and Ronald Christopher

Wood.

Attorney for the Plaintiff is

Donald Ligorio. Attorney for the

Defendant is Joshua Bovender. The name

of the witness is Ronald Wood.

Would the court reporter please

swear in the witness?

RONALD CHRISTOPHER WOOD,WAS CALLED, AND HAVING BEEN DULY SWORN,

WAS EXAMINED AND TESTIFIED AS FOLLOWS:

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EXAMINATXON BY MR. LXGORIO:

O. Good morning, still, Mr. Wood. My name

is Attorney Don Ligorio and I represent John and

Denise Kingsley in this lawsuit aris¡ng out of the

death of Jason Kingsley.

I am going to be taking your deposit¡on

today. I am going to ask you some questions about

your farm, about your background, and about this

incident.

Let me ask you this first: Have you

ever given a deposition before?

A. I have been to an arbiter but I don'tbelieve I have ever g¡ven a deposition.

O. So, you have been before like an

arbitration panel or something?

A. Worker Comp.

O. Okay. I am going to give you an

instruction now, which is important and we all forget

about. You need to answer all of my questions

verbally. You can't nod your head, shake your head,

gesture, say uh-huh or uh-hum. you have to give us a

clear, verbal answer, That way, it will be recorded

and the court reporter will take it down,

Do you understand that?

A. okay.

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MR. LIGORIO: Counsel, as we

discussed, this is a discovery

deposition.

We also will state for the record

that personal counsel, Mr. Chip,

C-H-I-P, Blackwell is present as

personal counsel for Mr, Wood.

And are you for Mr. Wood or

Gor-Wood-D Holsteins or both?

MR. BLACKWELL: Both.

MR. LIGORIO: I would note thatMr. Blackwell has not entered his

appearance; so, it is my position thathe shouldn't be directly involved in the

deposition, But, obviously, if there is

something, he can discuss it with Mr.

Bovender,

This is a discovery deposit¡on in

accordance with the rules of civil

procedure. I will ask you just, Mr.

Bovender, about read and sign. Does

your client elect to read and s¡gn?

MR. BOVENDER: Yes.

MR. LIGORIO: With that said, Iwill get started.

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O, Okay. And yoLr saicl yor.r testified in a

Workers' Comp proceeding. Was that the Workers' Comp

proceeding regarding Mr. Eric Stone?

A. Yes.

a. Have you testif¡ed in any other matters

such as a lawsuit, personal injury case, contract

dispute where you were placed under oath and

test¡fied?

A. I was brought in as an expert w¡tnessonce to court for a matter concerning sales and saleof cattle.

A. okay.

A. And procedural matters that were normalthere.

O. So, somebody asked your opinion as a

dairy farmer about various matters involving farming.

Did you show r"rp in cor-¡rt and offer testimony?

A. yes.

a. Okay. So, you know what testimony

under oath is?

A. Yes.

O. You are under oath today as if you were

before a Judge or a jury in a courtroom; you

understand that?

A. Yes.

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A. Okay. Likewise, everything you say is

being recorded, so, anything that you do say will be

recorded and can be used later in later proceedings

in this case, Do you understand that?

A. yes.

O. I am going to ask you some questions

and if you don't understand my question, tell me you

don't understand it, I will be happy to rephrase it.A. okay.a. Is there any reason you would have

difficulty understanding my questions, hearingproblems, medical issues, anything like that thatwould make it difficult for you to hear me and

understand me?

A. No.

O. If there is, you will let me know.

Likewise, if you need a break or

something, let me know; okay?

A. Yes.

O. It is not appropriate to take a break

to discuss my questions with counsel, but if you need

a break for some other reason or need to stop, let me

know. But if I have a pending question, you will be

required to answer it. Do you understand that?

A. Okay.

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I question is over; okay?

2 A. Okay.

3 Q. Likewise, if Attorney Bovender and I4 are having any type of discussions, just wait until

5 we are done discussing and you will be instructed

6 whether to answer or not answer; fair enough?

A. An right.O. Okay. State your full name, please.

A. Ronald Christopher Wood.

O. And what is your date of birth?

A. 7l2elsz.a. Where were you born?

A. Wellsboro.

O, Were you born in the property you

reside in now?

A. Yeah.

O. And that is a farm, correct?

A. Yes.

O. And who are your parents?

A. Gordon and Dorothy Wood.

A. Are they both still alive?

A. My mother died; my father is stillalive.

O. And Christopher Wood is your father?

A. No.

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MR. BOVENDER: And we can discuss

his questions. What I think you mean is

he has to give the answer before we

adjourn.

MR. LIGORIO: Well, I don't know

if he can discuss answering the

questions with you while he is in theprocess, but we will cross that bridge

if we come to it, okay? He can't say,

stop, I want to talk to my lawyer when Ipose a question.

I understand if he has questions

during the deposition, he may be able tostop and ask you,

BY MR, LIGORIO:

A. Well, we will cross that bridge when we

come to it; okay?

A. Okay.

O. Another very important just technical

thing is because of the transcription process and therecording process, it is very important that only oneperson is talking at a time. So, be certain that Iam completely finished asking my quest¡on before you

start your answer. In common conversation, we don'tdo that, we go back and forth, Just wait until the

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O. Gordon Wood is your father, correct?

A. Yes.

a. Do you still reside with Gordon Wood?

A. No.

A. Does he reside on the farm property, as

well?

A. No.

A. Are you married?

A. No.

O. Do you have any children?

A. No.

O. Tell me a little bit about your

education. Did you go to school?

A. Yeah, high school, went to college,Westminster College for political science. Went fortwo years, difficulty at home, come back forChristmas, and I have been there lor 46 years nowthat Christmas.

A. Okay. So, 46 years ago you leftcollege?

A. Yeah.

O. And you have been at home, home being

the farm you currently reside on?

A. Yes.

O. For the last 46 years?

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A. Yes.

O. Okay. You did get a high school

diploma?

A. Yeah.

A. And you graduated from which high

school?

A. Mansfield.

O. And after that, you went to Westminster

College?

A. Yes.

a. You said you studied political science,

that's my major, one of them, for a couple of years?

A. Yes.

O. And did not receive any degrees,

though, as a result of that?

A. No.

O. And then came back to come home because

of some type of personal issues or family issues?

A. The man was quitting. I had come home

for Christmas. It was a 414 semester plan. f said,dad, I can help you out for a month.

O. You said the man was quitting; was thatyour father or --

A. No, no, an employee.

O. So, you came back to work on the farm?

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have been involved in dairy farming?

A. Yeah.

O. Part of dairy farming is buying and

selling the cows?

A. Risht.

O. And Holstein is a type of cow?

A. yes.

O. You deal exclusively in that type of

cow?

A. Black and white. We had a sales

.service that might entail selling anything from beefto machinery, but we specialized in farm-relatedsales only.

a. w¡ll it be fair to state that

everything you learned about farming is from, like

you said, growing up on a farm, working on a farm,

and operating a farm?

A. yes.

a. There was no formal training you

received in that regard?

A. No.

O. By formal training, I mean took a

class, went to agricultural school, or anything like

that, okay. And I can't imagine you used anything in

political science in farming?

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A. Yeah.

A. Okay. Did you have any specific

training in terms of agriculture or farming?

A. A lifetime of farming, publications,

meetings.

O. Okay. You haven't published anything,

have you?

A. I used to put an ad in Profile.

A. What is that, an ad in Profile?

A. Holstein.

O. Holstein was the name of it?

A. It basically is advertising for thefarm.

A. Okay. To sell milk?

A. Yeah, cattle, Holstein cattle.

O. Holstein cattle. At one point did you

buy and sell cattle?

A. oh, r still do.

a. what kind of cattle?

A. Holsteins.

O. Are they all dairy cattle?

A. Yes.

a. You don't sell any beef cattle?

A. No.

O. The whole 46 years you have been there

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A. Served on the board of Holstein, yeah,

it come in handy.

a. Just to have the general educational

background?

A. It is nice to have diversity.

a. Okay. As of June B, 20L5, describe

what your entity was that you were operating.

A. I was operating my farm, which wasmyself. And we had not formally dissolved theGor-Wood D partnership yet. That happened inOctober. There were things that we had contractedthat wouldn't be up until October, insurance,propefi insurance, Workers'Comp, Holstein was on ayear basis. I am trying to think of what else,

But for all practical purposes, my

brother and I had been separated for some time and

ran our own entities.

O. Okay. Let me try -- and you said

Holsteins, is that the same as Gor-Wood D Holsteins

or is that something different?

A. Gor-Wood D Holste¡ns was our ent¡ty.That was our partnership.

O. That was a partnership between you and

your brother?

A. And Gordon, my father.

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f Q. And Gordon, your father; so, the three

2 partners in that entity were yourself, correct?

3 A. Yes.

4 Q. Timothy Wood?

5 A. Yes.

6 Q. That's your brother. And Gordon Wood,

7 your father?

A. Yes.

a. There were no other partners, correct?

A. No.

a. So, that partnership was in existence

on June B, 2015?

A. Right, and the partnership was cattleand machinery only.

O. Who was responsible for the employees

on the farm? And when I say the farm, I mean the

Gor-Wood farm you were operating,

A. r was.

O. You were, It looks like the Workers'

Comp policy covered both farms?

A. At that time, yes.

a. It also looks like payroll for both

farms was done collectively at that time, correct?

A. We were receiving separate milk checksand Tim would pay me and f would go over and pay

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I operating farms and he oversaw Go Woody and had2 responsib¡l¡ty for that and received the milk check3 for that and I received the check at home.

4 Q. Were to cows, though, iointly owned by

5 the partnership for both farms?

6 A. They were, but in April, we formally7

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split.

a. Okay, now, we got to be more specific

as to dates. So, my question was, on June Bth of2015, were the cows from Go Woody, Tim's farm, and

Gor-Wood D Holsteins, your farm, were they jointly

owned?

A. No.

a. They had split off in April, you are

telling me?

A. Right. We had had meet¡ngs to -- wesat down with a lawyer and formally went through a

procedure that I got the caüle that were up home andthe heifers and calves that applied to that and hegot the cattle in Tioga where he had been farming andwe split the machinery.

a. so, --

A. Had an appraiser in and split theequ¡pment.

O. My understanding is this wasn't

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payroll for both of us.

A. So, all the payroll would run through

Gor-Wood D Holsteins at that time for all the

employees of both Gor-Wood Farms and Gor-Wood D

Holsteins?

A. I can't say exactly when we stoppeddoing that, but in and around that period of time,yes, I think I was still paying.

O. Now, you are telling me that Gor-Wood D

Holsteins, the partnership, consisted of exactly

what?

A. Cattle and machinery.

O. So, that would be all the dairy cows?

A. Yes.

O. Now, there is dairy cows that were

milked by Gor-Wood D Holsteins, correct?

A. Yes.

O. And there is dairy cows that were

milked by Go Woody Farms?

A. Yes.

O. Did you or Tim at that time own any

other farms or operate any other farms?

A. Not milking, no. We had another entitythat we raised heifers at and another entity where wewould keep some dry cows at. But those were the two

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completed, though, this process, as of June B, 2015,

that it was on ongoing thing about splitting up the

partnership?

A. Because of the contracts of certa¡nentities, definitely. The intent was,

formality-wise, we would be done in October,

October lst.a. But you were still partners on June B,

2015, at least in owning the cattle and the

machinery?

A. Technically.

O. Okay. And payroll was st¡ll coming outjointly at that time, as far as your understanding,

correct?

A. I would have to check that.A. And the milk checks were coming to you

and you were then paying Tim for his cows?

A. No.

O. Okay. It was the other way around?

A. He was getting his milk check, I wasgetting my milk check.

a. Did he give his milk check to you?

A. He would pay his share of the payroll,if I was going over and --

O. So, what you would do is you and Tim

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would look at the payroll, whatever expenses were

apportionable to him, whatever were apportionable to

you, you would split them up and divide the money

like that?

A, Right, when it came to payroll. But as

far as bills, he would pay bills out of the account.

I would not pay his payroll if he hadn't paid.

A. As of June B, 2OLS , did Go Woody and

Gor-Wood D Holsteins have separate bank accounts?

A. Yes.

O. And where was your bank account at?

A. First Citizens.

O. What was in that bank account? I am

not asking amounts. Like what did you place in that

account? Is that where you ran all the milk checks

and payroll through?

A. Milk checks, cattte sates.

O. And you said you did operate at least

two other entities involved in raising heifers?

A. Well, it was part of the whole farm,yes.

A. And you also said selling, but it was

all part of the whole process?

A. R¡ght.

O. Now, you talked about a partnership.

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BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. When were those minutes transcribed?

Were they before? When I say transcribed, when you

make the minutes, you had a meeting and it was

recorded; that's what you did, correct?

A. Yes.

A. Okay. Was that done, those minutes

created, before or after June Bth of 2015, if you

recall?

A. Ongoing.

O. So, you have an ongoing set of

corporate -- or not corporate, partnership minutes

from partnership meetings?

A. Risht.

O. That document what you were doing; fair

enough?

A. Yeah.

O. Okay. Do you know about what time

those minutes start? When I say what time, about

what year? Or are they continuous throughout the

course of the partnership?

A. 201s.

a. okay.

A. Yes, we had meet¡ngs periodically overthings like buying seed, what we wanted to do. But

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There is, apparently, a written partnership agreement

regarding Gor-Wood D?

A. There was.

O. When you say there was, I am assuming

the document still exists?

A. Yeah.

A. Okay. And I apologize if I am

nitpicking, sometimes the way things come out.

MR. LIGORIO: I will make a

request for that. That was in the OSHA

documents but redacted,

So, if you want to list the

requests yesterday/ Josh, you asked the

court reporter to list the requests on a

separate sheet, do you want to do that

again?

MR. BOVENDER: Please,

MR. LIGORIO: I would request a

copy of the partnership agreement.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. Likewise, I understand there were some

minutes about the dissolution that were prepared?

A. yes.

MR. LIGORIO: I would also request

a copy of that.

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I as far as dissolution of the partnership, those2 minutes were -- the tawyer kept some and our3 accountant kept some. And I don't believe the lawyer4 came back after June 8th, but I would ask to be

5 checked.

O. Okay. When were the discussions of the

actual dissolution that are recorded in the minutes?

Were they in the early paft of 2015?

A. April, May.

a. of 2o1s?

A. yes.

O. So, again, I would ask for all the

minutes. I would ask for all the minutes of the

partnership, let's just say going a year backwards,

because you are saying there won't be any discussed

of dissolution prior to 2015, fair enough?

A. I didn't file anything away, There maybe something.

MR. LIGORIO: I will ask for a

copy of all the minutes. You can look

at them. If you feel something is

irrelevant, you can let me know if there

is some issue there; fair enough, Josh?

MR. BOVENDER: Um-hum.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

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O. All right. Who owns the physical real

estate where this silo was located?

A. Technically, it is still in my mother'sestate, but that would be me.

O. I am not sure what is meant by

technically. So, when did your mom pass?

A. 2013. It has been 3 or 4 years now.

a. Sorry, by the way. So, is your

mother's estate still open?

A. Technically.

a. Well, I don't know what technically

means. In fairness -- sure/ you can explain.

A. When I come to the courthouse orwhatever, I still receive tax parcels as DorothyWood. The surface was given to me upon her death.The subsurface was split up between us four brothers.

O. And that was through a will?

A. Yeah.

O. So, a will was probated in Tioga

County?

A. Yeah.

O. And that shows how the property was to

be split up from your mother's estate?

A. Yeah.

O. All right. And does your father own

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any of the property currently?

A. No.

a. Does your father own any of the

property as of June B, 2015? When I say the

property --

A. No.

a. -- I am talking about specifically

where this happened.

A. No.

A. Okay. What you are telling me is what

you think is it still was never transferred from your

mother's name to your name, it is still part of an

estate?

A. Technically.

O. Again, did you ever receive a statement

indicating the estate was resolved? When you do

that, you get a tax return and you pay the estate

taxes and the deeds are transferred,

A. I received a written statement sayingthat the state had recognized the transfer.

MR. LIGORIO: I make a request for

that one, as well,

BY MR, LIGORIO:

a. And the surface of this pafticular area

where the silo was transferred to you?

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f A. Yeah, by will.2 Q, Now, you talked about the underground

3 rights; that would be for mining and gas, correct?

4 A. Yeah.

5 Q. And that is split up amongst who?

6 A. Four brothers.7 Q. So, you have three -- two other

I brothers other than Tim?

A. Right.

A. Who are the two other brothers?

A. Ted and Bob.

a. Are they involved in operating

Gor-Wood -- or were they involved at any time prior

to June 8,20L5, of operating Gor-Wood D Holsteins?

A. No.

A. How about Go Woody Farms?

A. No.

a, Did they ever work on the farm?

A. Atl, as brothers woutd.

O. So, helping out as family members?

A. Ted had his own excavation business.

Bob is a real estate agent. So, if there wassometh¡ng he could help us out with real estate salesor buying something. Ted, once in a while if I had a

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A. So, they would come and do things but

it doesn't sound like they were ever involved in

dairy farming or they weren't involved in dairy

farming as of June 8, 2015?

MR. BOVENDER: Is that a no?

THE WITNESS: No.

BY MR, LIGORIO:

O. Do you have gas leases on thatproperty?

A. yes.

O. Are there active wells on the property?

A. yes.

A. And I won't ask the specifics, but you

are collecting gas leases, collecting money from gas

companies, or however that works --

A. Yeah.

O. -- on the property?

MR. BOVENDER: Just wait until he

gets the whole question out before you

give your answer. That way you know

what the question is you are being

asked.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. It sounds like the proceeds from thegas leases are split amongst the four brothers?

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A. Yes.

O. Is dad involved in that at all?

A. No.

O. Does dad own anything at all with

regard to the farm? Again, as of June B, 2015, does

your father, Gordon Wood, own any of the property on

or around the farm?

A. Not that farm.

a. Not that farm. He has other farms he

owns?

A. Yes.

O. I am going to ask you some questions.

There were some pleadings in this case. Pleadings

are technical legal things we filed, the Plaintiff

makes allegations and you file the answers.

In my Complaint, I pled that you

operated the dairy farm known as Gor-Wood D Holsteins

on June 7,20L5, In your Answer, it said it is

specifically denied that Ronald Christopher Wood

operated the dairy farm known as Gor-Wood D

Holsteins, improperly designated as Gor-Wood

Holsteins, Inc., on June 7, 2015.

I am confused as to why you are denying

that you were operating the farm on that date?

A. I was operating it as Woodridge, as

3'l

your billing, your bills of sale and things like

that, or was it?

A. No, because Tim was using Go Woody fora year and a half.

O, I saw a variety of documents, Just

give me a minute -- so, for example, if we look at

the State Workers' Insurance Fund audits, they still

list the entity as Gor-Wood D Holsteins?

A. Right. We vvere contracted for a year.

O. When you say contracted, with the State

Workers' Insurance Fund?

A. Yes.

a. And the notice that listed the

compensation relative to Jason was Gor-Wood D

Holsteins, correct?

A. Yes.

O. And the bills that I saw from Cole

Farms and you also gave me some things from Fallbrook

Equipment, were they addressed to Gor-Wood D

Holsteins?

A. I am not sure.

O. I have to look at those.

A. I think they were addressed to Ron

Wood, but they may have been addressed in both waysbecause we used Travis multiple years.

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Ronald Wood.

O. Okay. What is Woodridge?

A. My farm.

A. Is that a partnership?

A. No.

A. Is that a corporation?

A. No.

O. Is that a registered fictitious name?

A. It ¡s a reg¡stered prefix.

O. And where is that reg¡stered, here in

Tioga County?

A. With the Holstein Assoc¡at¡on ¡n

Brattleboro, Vermont.

a. What does that do? What does Woodridge

Farms do?

A. It sells milþ sells cattle.

O. What was Gor-Wood D Holsteins Farm

doing at all as of June 7, 2015?

A. For all essential purposes, ¡t was

dissolved.

O. However, that was still the name that

was on the payroll, correct?

A. f do believe; I am not sure.

O. Well, we can look at some of those

documents. And that was st¡ll the name on all of

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A. So, for example --

MR. LIGORIO: This is your

RPD0449.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. The billings from Fallbrook

Fabrication, Inc,, what ¡s that company?

A. That is a person that does the sales --or silo repairs and barn cleaner repairs and stallrepairs.

O. And you produced, in response to my

discovery request, several years of billings from

Fallbrook Fabrication and they go right through July

of 2015. They are all llsting who they billed as

Gor-Wood Holsteins, correct?

A. Correct.

O. Gor-Wood D Holsteins. I wasn't sure if

that was a parentheses or D.

A. No, it is a hyphen.

o. And the billings from cole, I think,

are the same?

A. The Fallbrook billing, as can happen

w¡th any business, has been carried over. We have

had situations where they still were calling us

Gor-Wood D and I have called on multiple occas¡ons tohave them changed.

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A. The only difference between Gor-Wood D

and -- well, you tell me. What are the actual

differences between Gor-Wood D Holsteins and theentity of Woodridge Farms? Are we spelling thatright, W-O-O-D-R-I-D-G-E, Farms?

A. Yes, Woodridge Hotsteins.O. Woodridge Holsteins. And that's just

one word, Woodridge, and then Holsteins?

A. But it's just Ron Wood.O. That --

A. No partnership.

O. You are saying that you didn't have anypartners -- you don't have any partners now?

A. No.

O. You did have a partnership agreementwhich was still in effect on June 7,2OIS, it was notofficially terminated; fair enough?

A. yes.

a. You were in the process of winding down

or terminating that partnership at the time?

A. It had dissolved but it had not beenformally closed out.

O. Because you still had contracts thatyou needed to complete as Gor-Wood D Holsteins?

A. Risht.

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35

or do you mostly sell?

MR. BOVENDER: Note my objection

to the form.

THE WITNESS: Both.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Okay, You would have documents in June

of 2015 indicating you bought and sold cows or milkunder the name Woodridge Farms?

A. yes.

O. When do you think you last bought orsold anything under the name Gor-Wood D Holsteins?

A. I am not really sure. Tim was runninga separate account, like f said, for a year and ahalf. I may have continued to use the Gor-Wood D

account as Ron Wood, but f am not exactly sure.Because of the closeness of the split, there werethings that were taking time to process, tikesplitting bank accounts and splitting whether thechecks had been formulated or not, I don.t know.

O. Regardless of whether we call itWoodridge Farms or whether we call it Gor-Wood D

Holsteins, what the entity was on June 7, 2OLS, youwere the person primarily responsible for operatingthat farm?


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O. One of the contracts was the Workers'Comp insurance contract, correct?

A. Yes.

A. All right. Also, there is insurance

involving the specific incident, the insured on thatis Gor-Wood D Holsteins. Was that another contractthat remained in effect as of June !7, 201,5, to yourunderstanding?

A. Ran out in October, yep.MR, BOVENDER: you said June 17th.

MR. LIGORIO: June 7th, Iapologize.

BY MR, LIGORIO:

a. Any time I say June 7th, it is June 7thof 2015.

So, that's another contract that stillthe paftnership held and was still utilizing tooperate the farm as of June 7, 2015, correct?

A. yes.

O. How about sales contracts for milkingcows, were they going out?

A. They were separate.O. So, you would have a separate ledger

showing all sales listlng the seller, because you

mostly sell stuff? Well, you buy cows, too, I

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36

to the form. You can answer.

THE WITNESS: yes,

BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. There was no one else responsible forthat farm, in your opinion?



BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. You can answer,

A. Yes.

O. Another thing I asked you in theComplaint was about wheÈher agents of Gor-Wood D

Holsteins filled the silo with haylage on June 7,

2015. You did admit that agents acting on behalf ofGor-Wood D Holsteins filled the silo. you admitted

that in your Complaint and then you denied the restof it. Well, you said there is also an independent

contractor involved in that, but you did admit thatin your Complaint; fair enough?


to the form, You can answer, if you

understood the question.

THE WITNESS: Could you be more

specific?

BY MR. LIGORIO:

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a. Why did you admit that agents acting on

behalf Gor-Wood D Holste¡ns filled the silo with

haylage on June 7, 20L5, in your Complaint?

A. Because we had hired a contractor tochop and haul silage.

O. And when you say we, you mean Gor-Wood

D Holsteins?

A. I mean me.

O. okay,

A. The farm.

O. I gotcha. And I understand we talk

about the farm, it has changed names and entities and

even owners, but it's all the same farm, right?

MR. BOVENDERT Note my objection

to the form.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Answer.

A. The process of -- you say we after a

long time. It a Iittle hard for me to drop the wepart.

a. Okay. And, of course, we talked about

this, you denied that you actually owned the property

where the silo was located. You are telling me that

it is likely -- I am still unclear as to that.

A. I am, too.

39

O. Did you look in the top of this silo

and see the unloader blocked before June 7th of 2015?

A. I can't climb.

O. Okay. So, you never personally looked

down from the top of the silo to see what it looked

like in the days leading up to Jason Kingsley's

death?

A. I had to ask my other men to do it.O. I understand that. Did you ever climb

up to the top of the silo and look down it? I am

sure you did at some point,

A. Yeah, I used to do that all the time,but my knees, I have got to the point where I have

trouble stepping up on one step.

O. Understood. When is the last time you

personally were able to go up and look in the silo?

Just give me a ballpark,

A. 1O years, 15.

O. So, you really can't tell me much about

these p¡ctures; fair enough?

A. Well, when the unloader is down atground level, yes. I mean, for all the years I have

climbed silos, if somebody -- I said you got to be myeyes.

MR. BOVENDER: He is asking about

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a. Okay, fair enough. And we can take a

look at the estate documents and the deed. We can

determine whether the property has been transferred

or what state it is. Obviously, I don't want to get

tangled up here in not having the right entity sued,

so, that's why I am spending so much time on this.

Let's talk about the specific silo. Iam going to show you some photographs and we are

going to take a look at them. And I have all the

photographs from yesterday.

First, I am going to show you a series

of pictures. And I will represent to you that these

are pictures from Jason Kingsley's cellphone. And

Eric Stone indicated yesterday that they depict the

unloader in the silo on or about January 7th of 2015.

I will ask you to take a quick look at

them, Mr. Wood. And, first of all, have you ever

seen them before?

A. No.

O. Do you want to take a look at them?

A. I was kind of glancing but --O. Take a quick look. If you don't

recognize them or can't identify them, let me know.

Mr. Stone already did.

A. Yeah.

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40

these pictures.

THE WITNESS: Tell me what you

see.

BY MR, LIGORIO:

O. He could say.

A. Tell me what you see. And, yeah, Iwould have to have somebody else verify that because

I was never at the top.

A. Understood. Do you recognize that as

the unloader in this particular silo?

A. I can't say specificalln but it looks¡r.

A. Fair enough. I will show you some

other photographs and we will mark some of these.

The first is a picture of a silo, Can

you identify in that picture the specific silo where

Jason's death occurred?

A. That looks correct.

A. And when you say that, that's the silo

that ¡s centered in this photograph?

A. Yes.

a. And there is a white tube running up

the side; what is that?

A. That's a silo pipe, a fill pipe.

O. What is that used for?

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A. Blowing silage up.

O. And then next to it there is a ladder;

what is that used for?

A. Climbing up and down.

O. Getting into the silo from the outside?

A. Yeah, you woutd only be able to access

from the outside if it was right at the top.O. I don't understand. They would only be

able to access what from the outside?

A. It depends on how far you wanted tojump out. You would go up the inside. The outsidewas for v¡ew¡ng or capping silos or seeing if thingswere functionin g properly.

a. So, this wasn't designed as either an

entrance to the silo or an exit?

A. It was designed to access the top, ifyou had silage or something there, yeah.

O. Okay. So, you could go in that way?

A. You could, but your sitage woutd haveto be up to that level.

O. Otherwise, you would have to jump?

A. Exactly.

a. I gotcha, We will talk a little bitmore about that when we get inside the silo.

MR. LIGORIO: We will mark that as

42

Wood 1.

(At this time Wood

Exhibit No, 1 was marked

for identification.)

BY MR, LIGORIO:

a. Tell me what the next picture shows.

A. What do you want me to answer?

a. Tell me what that shows.

First of all, is that the same silo,

the silo with the ladder on it in this picture?

A. Yes.

O. And there is a little shed there on the

bottom?

A. Yeah, that's the silo room.

O. And what happens in the silo room?

A. You put carts and center underneath thechutes, and as they fill, it fills the carts.

a. And then you take the haylage in this,

the haylage?


to the form.

THE WITNESS: Tell me what you

want to know.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. What was the silo filled with on

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1 June 7, 2015?

A. Haylage.

a. Ail right, what is haytage?

A. Somewhat dried grass, legume sitage.

O. By legume, you mean beans?

A. Alpha, alpha clover would be legumes.

O. That's what you use to feed the cows?

A. Yes. The more legumes, the higher theprotein content.

A. You used a combination of both to feed?

A. Well, our ground up there is not thebest, so grass.

A. Okay. So, this is the silo room. So,

explain how this operates to get the feed from the

silo to the cow.

A. From the silo room?

O. Yeah.

A. This is a chute (indicating).O. Now, you are pointing to?

A. There is one on the other side of thesilo we referenced, yes, that would be a chute.

a. I will represent that according to the

State Police report, this is the chute in the silo inquestion.

A. correct.

44

O. Does that appear to be that chute?

A. It would be hard to tell but, yes, itappears to be.

O. Okay. Keep explaining, Mr. Wood, what

you were telling me.

A. Well, you asked how we woutd feed. you

would climb -- or you wouldn't have to climb, yourunloader would be set up and ¡t runs at or on thesurface of the silage and slowly goes around thesilo, augers it into a little blower, throws ¡t out agoosenecþ and it comes down the chute to a cart inthe bottom. Or you could make a pile at the bottom.

A. So, there is a blower that is attached

to the auger?

A. Yes, there is a fan.

a. A fan?

A. With a motor.

a. With a motor and a gooseneck, so like

an elbow pipe?

A. No elbow, it is literally a gooseneck.

f was looking to see -- no, f don't see ¡t p¡ctured

but it may have been on one of the pictures there.A. Okay, we could find it later.

I understand that in the chute about

every foot or so there is, essentially, a door, like

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I a 10 X 10 open space?

A. That's right.

O. On the interior of the silo?

A. That's right.

A. So, the gooseneck would then blow itthrough those doors depending on whatever level itwas?

A. As you went down the silo, you wouldhave to lower the chute and set it up to anotherdoor, yes.

A. Does that have to be done manually?

A. Yes.

O. All right. So, how many times does ithave to be -- somebody has to go in there and move

it?

A. At least once a week, sometimes twice aweeþ depending on how much you were feeding fromthat particular silo.

a. Move it down and then it blows the

silage into the chute, goes to the bottom, right?

A. Yes.

O. By gravity, I take it, correct?

A. Yeah,

O. Some of my questions may be stupid but

you got to answer them, anyway.

47

A. Well, you said universally.

O. I guess you are right,

A. In India and Australia, as they use a

seasonal grazing and as things change, but there arepeople that milk once a day. There are people thatmilk four times a day.

O. In your 46 years, last 46 years, Iguess your entire life working on this farm, were the

cows milked twice a day, pretty much every day?

A. Pretty much.

(At this time Wood

Exhibit Nos. 2 and 3 were marked


BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. Is that another picture of the silo in

question right there?

A. Yes, and that shows the chute.

MR. BOVENDER: Wait until you are

asked a question.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. On the right-hand side of thatpicture --

MR. LIGORIO: We can mark these

collectively, if you want, to make iteasier.

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I A. All right.2 Q. It goes to the bottom and then an

3 employee of the farm then takes it and feeds the

4 cattle?

A. Right.

O. How often do the cattle -- I am saying

cattle, I guess they are the same thing, I mean the

cows, right, in this case?

A. We feed twice a day. Some people feedmore. ft is up to the individual farmer how theywant to do ¡t.

O. That's important, though, that the cows

be fed twice a day, right?

A. If you want milk.

A. And you milk twice a day, correct?

A. yes.

O. And my understanding is that is

standard in any dairy farm, all cows, pretty much?

A. Some people milk three t¡mes a day. Itis becoming more standard.

A. But, universally, at a minimum, dairy

cows have to be milked twice a day every day?

A. Universally, some people milk once aday.

a. Pretty unusual, though?

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MR. BOVENDER: Let's keep them

individually.

MR. LIGORIO: I am going toprobably mark them all, to avoid getting

them out of order.

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. This is another picture of the same

thing, more or less, right?

MR. BOVENDER: Same thing; what

same thing?

MR. LIGORIO: The silo.

BY MR, LIGORIO:

a, Can you tell what silo in that picture

is the one that Mr. Kingsley died in?

A. I would assume this one (indicating)

a. The one on the right. You didn't take

these pictures, correct?

A. No.

a. Have you seen these before?

A. No.

(At this time Wood

Exhibit No. 5 was marked

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BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. Did you read the State Police report in

this case?

A. After a year, I saw -- I did see --well, I was present when f told the state trooperswhat I told them, but I believe you guys showed me.

MR. BOVENDER: No, you can't talk

about what we say and what we discussed.

That's privileged.

THE WITNESS: Okay.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. Let me ask you this: At some point

your lawyer gave you the police report to look at, iswhat you are telling me?

A. At some point later I saw police

reports.

a. Okay. But you didn't look at itshortly after this incident? When I say shortly

after, within the weeks or months thereafter?

A. No.

O. Did you look at it specifically today

in preparation for your deposition?

A. No.

O. Did you look at any documents

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A. And you can see that table there?

A. That's a better picture, yes.

a. This shows the whole apparatus. So,

you have the pay loader and then that was either used

to haul or move the table, correct?

A. No.

(At th¡s time Wood


for identification. )

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Okay. What was that there for?

A. I am not really sure. I think the silohad been filled the night before and there was somesilage on the table. You cannot move that table withsilage on it. The weight causes it to bend and bow,

so, you have to take the silage off of it. I am

guessing you would use a tractor or a sk¡d steer tomove that around to any of the other silos.

O. When it is empty?

A. Yeah, that would be too big of an item.

O. How would you move it when it is filled

with haylage?

A. You woutdn't.

a. So, it's just there to catch it and

then you unload it?

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specifically today in preparation for your

deposition?

A. No.

O. Have you seen these p¡ctures before at

any time?

A. No.

A. This is another picture of -- I guess

that's a pay loader?

A. Yes.

A. And there is an item in front of that.

Mr. Stone told me that's called a table?

A. oh, yeah, yeah.

A. And it looks like that is something

that haylage is put into and then it is transported

to feed the cows?

A. They back up with their trucks, ra¡se

them, dump onto the table. When the truck is empty,they pull out and 9o.

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. And here we see the silo. It is the

whitish silo. Is that the one that was in question?

A. Yes.

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A. yes.

O. Then there is a tractor here that

appears to be hooked up to a device. Tell me about

that.

A. That's the blower. The table slowly --there is a belt here that runs slowly across, and thetable has two augers behind this panel. And theyslowly turn the silage down onto this belt, it feeds

across and goes ¡nto th¡s blower being powered bythis tractor and that blows it up the silo.(Indicating).

O. Through the filling tube?

A. Yes.

O. And that's how you fill the silo with

Yes.

Is there any other way to fill the

silo?

A. A bucket.

O. A lot of trips to the top, right?

A. I have never tr¡ed it any other way.

A. I understand that. For practical

intents and purposes, these were two other pictures

of the chute showing what you would see from looking

down into the chute; is that fair?

haylage?

A.

o.

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A. Yeah, it looks correct. I am not sureif you are looking down or up. I think you arelooking up,

A, Okay, I see the two little open doors

there. That would be probably --

A. If you were looking down, that would be

clear. I think you are looking up, because there istwo little window lights at the top. Maybe if one ofyour photos showed it.

a. I think one of them does show it pretty

well.

A. I didn't see it. ff I see it, I willtell you.

A. All right, I appreciate it.

(At this time Wood

Exhibit Nos. I and 9 were marked


BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. The next one, is that the floor of the

silo room?

A. That was that day, yes.

a. Now, I see --A. Or the next day.

a. I see there is an electrical hookup

there, right?

55

f A. Here is your chute. The cord is in the2 chute. I would say that is a door. That is the3 concrete that is between doors.

4 Q, okay, I appreciate that.

5 A. See, the cord is in the chute.6 Q. I gotcha.

7 A. There is the chute right thereII

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(indicating).

O. Point for me where the haylage would

come out of the chute. That's what I am trying toa scerta i n.

A. Like this (indicating).O. So, you are pointing up towards the top

there is a hole there. I can't see it. There would

be an open area there where the haylage --A. That darkness, it is an optical

illusion.

a. What is actually there that we can't

see?

A. Technically, I thinþ if you went likethis, does that make the circle look better to you(indicating)?

a. I think it does. So, what we have here

is there is a circular open area and then what you

are seeing is the back wall and maybe because it ¡s a

54

A. Yes.

O. What is that usually hooked to?

A. Normally, that would be at the top ofthe silo and would hook into the unloader to powerthe unloader. So, this is raised or lowered as thesilo is filled. So, you would take it to the top andstart bringing that down with the unloader.

O. Why would it be all the way down here

if the unloader was all the way up the top?

A. It looks like they had changed theplug. It looks like a relatively new plug. It wouldbe a lot easier to do it down there than climb to thetop.

O. Wouldn't they go up and have to hook itup at some point to run the unloader?

A. Well, you would have to go up and setup the unloader, anyway. You just take it up withyou.

A. Now, there is a spot there -- and I am

pointing to it with a pen. You could mark an X on itor I can mark an X on it. What is that? Is that the

bottom of the chute?

A. That's an optical illusion, but I willsay, no.

A. okay.

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half circle?

A. Risht.

a. It looks like it is a flat surface?

A. Right. And sometimes we put a cone onthis frame and it brings it down into a phallic likestructure and that feeds it into an area that biginstead of this big (indicating).

O. And then it could be pitched out orpulled out by the workers and then taken to feed the

cows, right?

A. Well, once your cart is filled, you

shut it of off, 9o feed it, go bacþ and fill it up

again.

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. What does that show?

A. That's another paft ofthat structurewe call the silo room. This is the structure betweenthe next two silos.

A. Are either of these two silos the silo

in question?

A. That one, the white one.

O. The one on the left.

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A. If you notice, this is a concrete sito

built by Sollenberger. This is a rib stone silobuilt with staves and ribbing.

a. Sollenberger is the manufacturer?

A. Yes. The reinforcement rods are insidethat concrete. It ¡s really constructed solid.

O. And it is S. S., is the symbol for

Sollenberger?

A. Yes.

A. Do you know when this silo was

constructed?

A. '87 or'88.a. And does Sollenberger come in and

construct it on the prem¡ses?

A. Yes.

A. Did they have any responsibility after

they construct it for continuing to maintain it?

A. No. They have services, but we have

not had to utilize them on that silo.

a. So, if there is some type of structural

problem, you would bring them back in or somebody

else who could do that type of work?

A. Yeah. Their business ¡s construct¡ngs¡los, I don't know of anything else they do. You

m¡ght use them -- let's say that the roof blew off,

59

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. This is another one that shows the base

of the silo on the left from a different angle with

the tractor on the side which was used to pump the

haylage?

A. yes.

A. And the haylage was in what we are

call¡ng the table?

A. Yes.

a. who filled that table with silage, ifyou know?

A. The truckers.

a. The truckers. Who are the truckers?

A. They were employed by Mr. Cole.

O. Did you at any time observe personally

on June, let's say, 4th, 5th, or 6th or 7th, the

filling of this silo, if you remember?

A. Personally?

A. Personally, did you see it getting

filled?

A. I was mowing hay. I came up the road

with the mower. My nephew was -- come up. f

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you might use them to put a new roof on.

MR. BOVENDER: Wait until you are

asked the question.

BY MR. LIGORIO: Okay. I think he

is answering the one that was already

pending, more or less.

From my perspective, Mr. Wood, you

can say whatever you want, but,

ultimately, if your lawyer --

MR. BOVENDER: No, I totally

disagree with that instruct¡on.

MR. LIGORIO: From my perspective,

he can say whatever he wants. If you

want to tell him stop, you can,

We will mark what one.

(At this time Wood


for identification. )

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. This looks like a close-up of the

picture we saw before about the optical illusion.

You can connect that better on that one?

A. Better on that one.

O. okay.

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I stopped. I was near his house. Asked him to run me

2 back down to my car, and when I came back up, they3 had stopped. And that was roughly at 7:30.

4 Q. Take a step back. Who is your nephew?

5 A. Chris Wood.

6 Q. Chris Wood. Does he work for Wood or

7 does he work for you? Does he work for Woodridge?

A. No.

a. Who does Chris Wood work for?

A. Pennsylvania State Forest Management.

a. I am assuming he wasn't on the farm in

that capacity?

A. No.

O. When he was on the farm filling the

table with haylage, who was he working for?

A. Who?

A. Who, yes. Who was employing him?

A. who?

A. Chris wood.

A. He is my nephew. He lives down theroad. f just asked him if he would come up and runme down to my car.

O. Okay. So, he wasn't involved in

working on the farm at all?

A. No.

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f Q. Okay. I got confused. Okay. When I2 asked who filled this, that's where Chris Wood came

3 up.

4 A. No.

5 Q. You said the truckers fill it?

6 A. Travis Cole is hired to chop, And Ialso pay -- you saw the bills -- two trucks. It ishis drivers. He runs the chopper. And once they putit in that table, that's all I hire them for is tochop and haul. f mow. We rake the windrowstogether. After it goes through that table, that'sall our responsibility. If the table breaks down, ithas nothing to do with Cole.

O. You said you roll the -- and forgive

me, I don't know a lot about farming -- you said you

roll the wind gates?

A. windrows.

O. what are they?

A. Hay as it comes out of a mower and in awindrow.

O. So, you have a piece of equipment, you

go out and you mow the hay, meaning, you cut it down?

A. Yeah.

O. Okay. And then what happens next?

A. It cures and then you chop. Or if it

63

then you hired Travis Cole or Cole Farms, is thatcorrect?

A. Yes.

O. Now, somebody else was working with him

and I can't recall the name for the life of me who

was working with Travis.

A. I am not sure who he had on withtruckers that day.

A. One of them is related to you, Ibelieve?

A. No, Tyler, my nephew, had driven forTravis in the past.

O. What is Tyler's last name?

A. wood.

O. Tyler Wood. Eric Stone yesterday, I am

pretty sure, told us that Tyler Wood was involved in

this process specifically working for Travis Cole at

that time?

A. I can't say I recall, but I know thathe had helped Travis in the past. But to say he waspresent that day, I don't know.

A. Okay. And that's a fair answer, you

just don't recall.

A. But if Eric said Tyter was there, Iwould probably thinlç okay, must be Tyler was still

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gets dry enough, you bate.

O. The silo you used for feed wouldn't be

the silo you baled, right -- well, I guess you could

use it to bale the hay for feed?

A. No, I wouldn't recommend putting -- dryin a silo does -- you are asking for a lot of moldand problems with oxygenation.

O. I just assumed that whatever is baled

doesn't go into the silo?

A. Ideal moisture is what you shoot for,not too wet, not too dry.

A. We will get to that eventually, but I

am still confused as regards to Cole. So, you

retained Cole. They have a harvester, correct?

A. A chopper, yes.

O. A chopper. What is a chopper?

A. You might call it a harvester.

O, What is it? Describe it to me.

A. Well, the reason I acted perplexed,

there is another type of silo called harvester, also.

O. You correct me if I am mixing farm

terms up.

A. No. I wasn't sure where you werewanting to know.

a. Well, we got to you mowing the hay and

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helping Travis then.

O. By helping him, you meant working for

him?

A. Yeah. He had anotherjob, but he

hauled concrete. But if it was on a weekend, Tylermight help him out.

A. And he would be one of the, what you

described as, a trucker, correct?

A. That's all he would do is drive truckfor Travis.

O. When they say drive a truck, from where

to where?

A. From the field to the silo and back.

O. So, the harvester chops it all up?

A. Yes.

a. And then it is put in a truck?

A. Blows it either into a truck or ¡nto adump wagon that raises and dumps into the truck.

O. So, either an actual dump truck --

A. If the ground is dry enough, they willdrive the truck besides the chopper.

A. Follow it around?

A. If it's too wet, they blow it into adump table, bring it out on a more solid structureand dump it in.

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A. And that's all handled by Cole?

A. yes.

O. And they then take it and they put itin this table?

A. They back up to that table, raise up,

and it is slowly starts feeding out. And ¡t takesawhile for the s¡lage to come out, but as soon as

that silage is out and in the table, they lower theirtruck and get down to the field as fast as they can.

O. Why do they go so fast?

A. As fast as they can because theharvester would be waiting. And besides that, I pay

him, so it is nice to make sure that they are -- he

only pays me his chopper when that head is running.O. You only pay him for the chopper when

it is running?

A. When the head is running. So, idletime to him costs him money. It ¡s a prettyefficient --

a. That's true of any employee?

A. It's a pretty's efficient system.

O. Now, who hooks this all up? Who hooks

it up to the blower?

A. Usually, my men.

O. When you say usually, were the Cole

67

A. Yes.

a. And Eric thinks -- it is his

recollection June 7th, the day of -- or is itJune Bth, the day of Jason's death, was a Monday. Idon't know if you recall the specific day or not?

A. Yes, I do.

O. Do you recall the specific day?

A. We were filling on Sunday.

a. Now, Eric believed that the filling was

done on Friday or maybe even Thursday. So, I don't

want you to -- if you are not certain --

A. I am very certa¡n.

O. So, you are certain that this silo was

filled on a Sunday, the day before Jason entered?

A. yes.

A. Who makes you so certain?

A. Because I could only get him on theweekend.

a. Get who on the weekend?

A. Travis. He had other obligations and

he said he would be there on either Saturday orSunday. So, I was mowing hay and getting ¡t downready for him to chop and they pulled in and we had aIot of hay down and we filled silo.

a. When you say we filled the silo, we,

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people ever involved in hooking it up to the blower

to pump it into the silo?

A. They might have helped move the tablebetween silos at times.

a. Do you know whether -- first of all,

let me ask you this: Do you know who filling this --

these pictures were taken after Jason's death, as we

know. This is still hooked up, so, the filling

process was, obviously, complete because we know itwas -- was this hooked up when Jason went in the silo

or was this hooked up afterwards?


to the form.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. If you know.

A. When he went in.

O. So, when he went in, someone would have

hooked this up?

A. No.

a. It was like that when he showed up?

MR. BOVENDER: Is that a yes.

THE WITNESS: Yes.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. And had it been like that from the

filling process?

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meaning who?

A. The team.

O. Who was on the team?

A. Let's see, that was Sunday, who wasraking hay that day? I believe Ray Allen would havebeen running the rake, but I can't say for surebecause Eric was in the barn and had been instructedif this silo got full, to move it to another silo.

O. This is on Sunday?

A. Yeah.

O. When is the first time you discovered

that the silo had been overfilled?

A. That night.

O. So, that would have been Sunday, the

7th?

A. When I came back up with my car, Ericwas climbing down the silo and the one guy had saidto me I think it blew all over the unloader.

A. What one guy, if you can remember?

A. Whoever the trucker was.

a. Okay. So, somebody from Cole said Ithink it blew over the unloader?

A. Yeah, and Eric was up the silo.

A. Now --

A. Go ahead.

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a. You said the people from Cole weren't

necessarily involved in filling. How would they know

that if they weren't involved in filling or were they

involved in filling?

A. It must have plugged, I don't know,because I wasn't there, when I came up the road toget my car, which was a 3- to 4-minute drive down and

back.

O. Do you recall about what time that was?

A. That was between 7:30 and 8:OO o'clock.

A. At night?

A. Yeah.

O. And that's the first time on Sunday

night, the 7th of June, 2015, about 7:00, 7:30 at

night -- you said about 7:00, right? I don't want to

put words in your mouth.

A. No, 7:3O, 8:OO o'clock.

O. 7:30, B:00 o'clock, that's when you

became aware that the silo had been overfilled?

A. When I came up the road, they had --the table was not running and there was still some

silage left on the truck. That is usually not a good

sign.

O. why not?

A. Because somethi has happened, either

71

A. Tell me what exactly you instructed

Eric to do on Sunday, the 7th,

A. I had told him we have another btowerand I said set it up to one of these empty silos.

There were two silos beyond this white silo.

A. So, you wanted to start filling the

other two silos?

A. Yeah, they were all empty. We had

stafted the process. Cole had come, so we paid Cole

to fill those silos. So, once you start, you reallyneed to move. But, there was no problem. Set up theblower, it would have took 18 to 2O m¡nutes to move

the table, go to another silo.

a. How long does it take to fill a silo,

typica lly?

A. Usually, with Cole, a day, maybe 2. Ifthere is a breakdown, 3 or 4.

MR, BOVENDER: Don, while you are

taking a drink, we are an hour into it.

Can we take a break so I can use the

restroom?

VIDEO TECHNICIAN: Time is 12:58,

off the video record.

(At this time there was a brief

recess taken,)

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the blower may have plugged, the table may have

broke. I hate to say, it has happened before, thetractor may have run out of fuel. I don't know. And

f slowed down and I said what is going on.

A. So, when you got there --

A. Whoever the trucker was.

a. So, when you arrived at7i3O, you would

have expected to see the process either completely

done or the tractor operating, is what you are

telling me?

A. When I came up the road from mowinghay, I was surprised it was still at that silo.

O. That the whole process hadn't been

completely completed at that point?

A. That Eric had not moved that table inthe course of the day like I totd him to.

O. And this is all on Sunday, the 7th?

A. Yes.

O. So, by your recollection, Cole come on

Sunday, the 7th, you are mowing hay on Sunday, the

7th, and Cole and the truckers are moving the haylage

to the table?

A. Yes.

O. And Eric is working on Sunday, the 7th?

A. Yes.

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back on the video record.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Mr. Wood, we were discussing the

filling process when we went off the record briefly.

I did think you identified another photograph for me

that does show the blower in the filling process from

a different angle, is that correct?

A. Yes.

MR. LIGORIO: We will mark that.

(At this time Wood



BY MR, LIGORIO:

O. We will get through these pictures to

get that done.

This picture, again, is the bottom or

the silo floor or the silo room that would be,

correct?

A. Yes, this is the silo in question

facing that toward the other silo, yeah.

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

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O. Is this -- that next picture shows a

little tin roof there. Is that the top of this?

A. No.

O. okay.

A. It would be way over here (indicating).

O. We can't -- I guess you are pointing.

We are on video, but this is the outside of the silo?

I am pointing to the right side of this picture?

A. of which silo?

A. Of the silo that Jason was in.

A. Yes,

a. This is going to be 14, so I am

pointing to 14 on the right side. That's the

outside. There is a big pile of haylage there; where

is that coming out?

MR. BOVENDER: What do you mean

where is that coming out?

BY MR, LIGORIO:

O. How did that get there? Did that come

out of the silo?

A. This chute is over here behind thisorange item, I am guessing, either that or the menhad throwed it. I am not sure.

A. Okay. But there is a chute, the chute

we looked at, is that behind that item?

75

compressor and the pump, right?

A. Same picture we sarfl before.(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. Another angle of the same picture

showing the tractor and the machine that was used to

fi[ ?

A. Yes.

MR. BOVENDER: We called it a

compressor, a pump and a machine. Idon't know if you want to clarify.

BY MR, LIGORIO:

O. Probably all three.

A. There is no compressor. What do you

want to know?

O. Just tell me what you want me to call

that.

A. This (indicating)?

A. Yeah.

A. A blower.

a. So, the blower is hooked up to the

tractor, which the haylage is in the table. How does

the haylage get from the table into the blower?

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A. Yeah, you can't tell it there.

O. In that picture þecause of the angle.

What is the red box?

A. An old -- I say an old, a corn mill,that if we filled the silo with high moisture corn,we would run it down and it would grind it finer.

a. All right.

A. So, like a hammer mill, a miniaturehammer mill. It was not in use, it was parked there.

a. There is a door underneath that?

A. No.

O. No? That is not a door?

A. No.

O. what is that?

A. A frame, open frame, four-legged frame.

O. For what purpose?

A. To support that (indicating).

A. It is a frame. So, that apparatus has

nothing to do with this incident; fair enough?

A. No.

O. So, what we see here is a big pile of

haylage that will be beneath the chute; fair enough?

A. Yeah.

O. Okay. It looks like we got anotherphotograph, again, just a different angle of the

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A. This belt. And there is two augers

in -- I think you can see two bearings, one there and

one there. And the table is on a slow moving tablecha¡n that you regulate the speed off of here(indicating).

A. So, is there a chain or something that

walks the haylage up here and then drops it on this

belt and that belt moves it across?

A. yes.

A. And, basically, what happens is the

truckers put the haylage into the table?

A. Yes.

O. And the table is turned on or the power

is started or is it running all the time?

A. If we are filling, we usually leave itrun.

O. So, that thing is running. So, in

terms of actually f¡lling the silo, somebody from

Cole, typically, a trucker, brings a dump truck or a

dump table and dumps it into this table, correct?

A. Yes.

a. Which has a conveyor belt on the

bottom?

A. No.

A. What does it have on the bottom that

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moves the haylage forward to this belt?

A. A chain assembly.

O. Okay. How does a chain assembly move

the haylage?

A. Off of this hydraulic system that'shooked to the tractor. Hydraulic pumps move it. And

they also move this belt. (Indicat¡ng),

a. I see this belt where the haylage is

going to go onto this belt. That basically looks

like a conveyor belt, right?

A. Um-hum.

A. That's going to roll with movement like

a shopping conveyor belt towards the blower?

A. Yes.

a. And feed the haylage into the blower?

A. And you can disengage the blower here(indicating).

O. Okay, What I am not understanding is

how the haylage moves up the chain apparatus. you

said hydraulics. How does it physically get moved?

Is it blown? Is there an auger? Is there a --

A. There is a table chain underneath thesilage.

O. What does a table chain look like? Iam not being able to visualize that.

78

A. I am trying to think of what you wouldhave seen that would be similar,

A. Just explain to me how physically a

table chain moves the haylage.

A. It is a slat with link chain and linkchain that goes over a cog and it just slowly moves

around the table and underneath and brings it back upagain and around.

O. Okay. So, it moves in like a circular

motion run by the hydraulics?

A. Yes.

O. And as it comes back around, it pushes

the haylage out the front of the table?

A. yes.

a. Drags it, pushes it?

A. No, it feeds it up to a set of augersthat have teeth on ¡t that slowly turn into thesilage while counterclockwise and flip it over so

that that comes in as a loose, controllablesubstance.

a. Okay. It helps loosening it up so itgets blown in because if it is clumpy, it is probably

not going to go up there, right?

MR. BOVENDER: Objection to form.

You have answer,

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THE WITNESSI The more uniform the

better.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. So, the truckers who are employed by

Cole are the people who actually put the haylage into

the table and then the table is running, goes up

through the chain apparatus or the table chain, onto

the conveyor belt, into the blower, up the tube, into

the silo?

A. yes.

a. So, for all intents and purposes, the

actual physical act of filling this is done by Cole?

A. No.

O. Explain how it is not done by Cole.

That's what I am losing here. In other words --

A. Sometimes when they are hauling, I havea man, one of our men standing here, and all theyhave to do is back up; so, we run th¡s part(indicatins).

O. By run ¡t, you press the buttons to

make it run?

A. Just stand beside it and make sure thatyou are not getting a wad or anything,

O. So, somebody is standing there

supervising Cole while it is getting poured in?

80

A. You are looking over the edge and you

are watching to make sure that the blower doesn,tplug and you are keeping an eye on the tractor.

O. Should somebody be watching this at all

times it is operating?

A. No.

O. They come and check and come back, is

that what they typically do?

A. You can shut it off and start it upagain when you get back.

A. So, the Cole trucker, whoever it is,

whether it was your nephew or Travis Cole or some

other employee of Cole, they physically put the

haylage into the table, correct?

A. Yes.

O. Using their dump trucks?

A. yes.

O. And somebody then turns this apparatus

on?

A. Yes.

A. Or do they ever dump it in there when

it is already running?

A. Yes.

a. So, it is possible that no one could

even be there, the apparatus is running, the dump

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truck dumps it into the table, and it's just going to

take it up and fill the silo, correct?

A. Right. You just move this lever downand it stops the whole thing (indicat¡ng).

O. About how many trips from the trucks

does it typically take?

A. I have no idea. I was mowing,

O, I am just asking you in a general

sense, maybe not for today. You have observed this

process?

A. Oh, they might do -- it depends on

proximity to the silo. The farther you get away, thelonger it takes because there is more travel time.If you are filling fairly close, you can move prettyfast.

O. I am just talking in terms of volume,

Like it is more than one dump truck full to fill a

silo?

A. An l8-foot silo does not have thecapacity that a 2o-foot silo has.

O. By 18, you are talking diameter?

A. Circumference.

O. Circumference. So, 18 feet around the

ring, that's what circumference is, right, all the

way around the circle?

83

from 35 to 45 loads.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. I understand you are trying to do the

math in your head, but that's an estimate. I

understand you can't give me anything that

represents --

A. Well, I don't know how full his truckswere. You are asking for things -- you could get theactual holding capacity of that silo from aprofessional.

a. I know we can do the physics and the

math on this. I am just trying to get from you your

general understanding, Again, you have been doing

this for your entire life. You have observed this

process over and over. So, I am just asking you

general impressions as to, typically, how many times

it would take. And you gave me an estimate, which Iappreciate. That's all I am looking for. Iunderstand there is no way you can sit here today and

tell me how many specific dump truck loads went in

there. But it is certainly more than 2 or 3; fairenough?

A. Yeah.

O. It is dozens, it sounds like, at least,

or over 10?

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A. Right, a 9-foot diameter.

O. 9-foot diameter. Is that the

dimensions of this silo?

A. Yes.

A. And how high was it?

A. 70 feet.

O. So, we got a silo that has got a 9-foot

diameter, l8-foot circumference, 70 feet -- is that

to the top or to the top of the bubble, if you know?

A. Top ofthe concrete.

A. Top of the concrete. I understand thatthis has a smaller diameter than other silos, but myquestion was how many times, typically, would this

table have to be filled to fill this particular silo,

how many loads?

A. If they were averaging six times --that's a good question. He has big trucks.

MR. BOVENDER: Mr. Wood, one

instruction that you weren't given is

this is not a quiz and you don't have to

guess. You are able to approximate but

nobody here wants you to guess. So, ifyou don't know, it is okay to say you

don't know,

THE WITNESS: I will say anywheres

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A. Yeah.

a. Okay. And probably over 20?

A. Yeah. And, again, how full is thesilo. In this paÉicular case, the silo was empty.

MR. BOVENDER: Wait for a

question.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. That was going to be my next question.

As far as you know, the silo was completely empty

when they started?

A. Yes.

MR. LIGORIO: Mark that as the

next exhibit.

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. This a just a photograph of theparamedics. They going in from the outside looking

down; isn't that right?

A. Yes.

O. There is a crane apparatus there. Isthat the apparatus that was used to remove Eric?

A. No.

a. What is that apparatus, do you know?

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A. They -- that's the crane company and,apparently, the volunteer fire department had

summoned them.

a. So, you don't think Er¡c was removed

using that crane?

A. I know he wasn't.O. Okay. How was he removed?

A. They had a ladder set up here and he

came down it backwards (indicating).

a. So, they walked him out of it?

A. No, he came out on his ownrecognizance.

O. He was at one point trapped in the

silo; can we agree on that?

A. Yes.

O. He couldn't get to the top because the

top -- and we will go over this -- they were too far

down to get out the top?

A. Yes.

O. So, I guess my question will be how did

he get from where he was to the top?

A. You would have to ask Eric. He saidsome sort of harness; his words.

O. okay, fair enough.

A. I don't know.

87

A. The blower.

O. It is not really a pump.

A. And that shows the belt, finally.(Indicating).

MR. BOVENDER: He is pointing at

what will be marked as 19.

MR. LIGORIO: Yeah, we can see the

belt from the other side.

THE WITNESS: Those are two of

your better pictures.

(At this time Wood



BY MR, LIGORIO:

a. That doesn't show us anything

different, just the tractor?

A. You got about three of them.(At this time Wood



BY MR, LIGORIO:

a. And that's just our silo there in the

center of this picture, correct?

A. Yes.

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a. You don't know. That's a good enough

answer,

MR. LIGORIO: We will have thatmarked.

(At this time Wood


for identification. )BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. What does this picture show?

A. If you would have put that one in thefront, you would have made your life a lot easier.

O. Because there is the chain apparatus

and the auger?

A. You now see the silage and that's whyhe had to unload it, okay.

A. Yeah, I gotcha.

MR. LIGORIO: We will mark thatone.

(At this time Wood



THE WITNESS: You could have saved

a half hour with that picture.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Þrobably. That's the pump?

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(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. Same thing here. This is very similar

to what we have already looked at. This is a

different angle showing everything; fair enough?

A. Yes.

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. Same thing here?

A. Yeah.

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Can you tell me, to the best of your

recollection, who was involved in this filling

process on that Sunday? Give me the names you can

recal l.

A. Well, Eric said that Tyler was thereand I think ¡t was a cousin of Travis was driving theother truck then. But I really don't know who was

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driving the trucks. And Eric was supposed to be

making sure that things were progressing and thatwhen they got to a point where he thought it wasgett¡ng up near the top, ¡t was supposed to stop himand move ¡t over and they could keep going.

MR. BOVENDER: The question he

asked was who was there,

THE WITNESS: I have no idea,

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Well, you have some idea because you

know Eric was there, correct?

A. He was in the barn, apparentty.

O. I gotcha. When you say there, I am

asking who was working on the farm at that tlme,

either for you or for Cole. We have established that

Cole had two drivers there, one of whom may or may

not have been Travis Cole, right?

A. yes.

O. Did you see Travis Cole on the property

on that day?

A. Yeah, he came up out of the field afterit had plugged because they couldn't go anymore.

O. So, you know he was there doing some of

the driving or some of the harvesting?

A. Harvest¡ng.

91

documents from a payroll journal that you produced.

The date of this is May 28, 2015; so, this would have

been two weeks or less prior to this happening.

Maybe that will help you remember the names,

A. I don't think Ray was working Sunday.

O. Ray, being Ray Allen?

A. Yeah. Bartlett was not working Sunday.

Keagan Henne was milking. Scott Krause was workingNicole Oakley, I think, but she may have had off.Michael Snay and Eric Stone; I am not sure aboutSnay.

O. Of all of those people, who would have

been involved in the filling process if they were

working?

A. Eric.

O. Nobody else?

A. Not on that day.

O. And I am not representing this is that

day, this is just who you had on the payroll as of

that time.

Do you recall anyone else being on your

payroll at that time?

MR. BOVENDERI Just for the

record, the payroll journal marked as

Gor-Wood RPD 0442 is dated May 28, 2015.

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O. And Eric thought Tyler was there, you

are not sure about it, but another person who would

have been a Cole employee was there driving the dump

trucks?

A. Right.

O. Would they have had another person?

Yes or no or I am not sure.

A. I am not sure.

a. We know Eric was there, accord¡ng to

what you said, on this Sunday when this process was

happening, is that right?

A. Yes.

O. Who else would have been working on the

farm at that day, if you can recall?

A. Well, it was a Sunday, so somebody had

off. I am not sure who was in the barn that day butthe normal crew.

O. Which people on the -- who was your

normal crew as of June 7, 2OL5?

A. I would have to look at payroll to see.

There was a new guy that I can't even recall his

name, Nicki Oakley. Eric -. Er¡c Stone. ScottKrause would have been feeding on Sunday; he had offMonday.

O. Maybe this will help. I have some

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MR. LIGORIO: Agreed.

THE WITNESS: I can't remember

when Keagan Henne left, It was shortly

after that.

MR, BOVENDER: Wait until you are

asked a question.

THE WITNESS: He had asked me was

there anybody else. And I would have

had a replacement for him but I don't

know who.

(At this time Wood


for identification,)

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. I am just looking at some other names,

I see a Margie McClure. Was she someone who worked

on or around that time?

A. No, she was Tim.

O. So, she is one of Tim's?

A. She had nothing to do with me,

O. Okay. How about Geoffrey George?

A. No.

A. Tim. John T. Borger?

A. No.

O. Tim, right? Give me a yes or no.

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A. No.

a. John T. Borger worked for Tim, did not

work for you, correct?

A. Yes.

MR. LIGORIO: And this is a

payroll document. We will mark this one

as the next exhibit. This is a payroll

document. I don't have a date on this.

MR, BOVENDER: We went through thephotographs with talking about documents

before they were marked. Could you just

mark these before you ask them so we can

keep track.

MR. LIGORIO: Sure.

MR. BOVENDER: Thank you.

(At this time Wood



MR, BOVENDER: Looking at Exhibit

25.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Looking at Exhibit 25, this is

something you produced to me of the Gor-Wood D

Holsteins Data Entry Worksheet and it is listing

various employees and wages. And some say Tim. I am

95

I report. I can't read it because it is too small and

2 I am not even going to ask you to try and read that3 writing. If you can, God bless you, but I cannot.

4 That does appear to be a diagram the State Police did

5 of the silo.

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MR. BOVENDER: Are you asking him

if the diagram is true and accurate?

BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. I am asking if it appears to -- you

tell me what you can tell from looking at that,A. Well, that looks like a silo. I don't

know what this is (indicating).

O. I have to agree that I can't read the

writing. So, the silo, you mentioned, was 70 feet

tall. Is that your tallest silo?

A. Yeah, you can see it in the picture.O. Yeah. So, I would assume that this is

the silo. Probably go¡ng to have to ask the State

Trooper or get a better copy --

MR. LIGORIO: You probably don'thave a copy that is in any way legible,

do you?

MR. BOVENDER: This was my copy,

MR. LIGORIO: I am sure we all got

the same police report.

94

assuming that those are the people who were working

for Tim and Tim had to pay them?

A. I did not produce this.O. Okay. Well, your lawyer did, so --A. I don't know who wrote it.a. I am not saying you wrote it or created

it.

A. Alt right. Go ahead.

A. Who is doing your payroll at this timein June of 20L5, was that --

A. Donald White.

O. They may very well be records from

Donald White.

A. Okay. That would be my guess.

O. There is some writing on this where itsays, Tim - cash, Tim - cash, Tim - cash; is thatyour writing or not?

A. No.

A. However, you were able to tell me thatthose employees marked Tim worked for Tim and the

other employees we talked about you identified as

working for you; fair enough?

A. Correct.

A. Since we are marking exhibits, this is

just another document. This is from the State Police

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We will mark that, anyway, since

we discussed it.

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. I am also going to show you an aerialphotograph. I don't know who took this but it shows

Gor-Wood Road. I am wondering if you could circle

there where is the farm we are talking about on the

aerial or point to it, if you can?

A. (Indicating).O. So, you pointed to on Gor-Wood Road

there is a spot -- I am going to circle it in the

middle there -- and that shows the farm that you

operated as of June 7th of 2015?

A. Correct.

O. And we can see the silo is, vaguely,

from this picture, but what is this big item here?

Out of curiosity, what is this?

A. A pad.

A, oh, a gas pad?

A. Yeah.

O. Gotcha. Thank you,

You live on this property, correct?

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MR. BOVENDER: Attorney Ligorio

just drew a circle on a Google map.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. You live on the property, correct, Mr.

Wood?

A. Yes.

A. Do you live right on the farm where Icircled or outside of it?

A. R¡ght there, that white dot.

O. I will make a little X on your white

dot or make a dot with the marker.

MR. BOVENDER: Again, Attorney

Ligorio.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Can you see Go Woody Farm on this

aerial?

A. oh, no.

O. So, that's a whole different distinct,

discreet property, is that correct?

A. Yes.

O. I am not going to ask you to give me a

boundary description, but Gor-Wood Road is a pretty

big road. As far as the real estate we are talking

about, this piece of real estate, which we believe is

likely in your mother's estate, can you just

99

a. They let you clear some hay from there?

A. Yeah. I give them little round bales

to keep. It works with your other fields.

MR. LIGORIO: We will mark that.

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. There is an aerial of the silos. There

is an X. Is the X the silo in question?

A. Yes.

MR, BOVENDER: On or next to,

THE WITNESSi Next to.

MR. LIGORIO: Next to.

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. I am going to talk about your

relationship with Jason Kingsley now, When is the

first time you met Jason Kingsley?

A. Oh, a long t¡me ago. I can't be

specific.

O. I have some records showing that --

A. He came with some friends that were

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generally mark from where to where it goes?

A. Some of this is ours. Down here, itsplits in the woods. Up here, ¡t splits ¡n thewoods. We go to --

a. Do you go out as far as Reynolds Road?

A. We go to hear, no (indicatinS). We

have property and then ¡t comes back and over and

down through like that (indicating).

O. Okay. You are just pointing around the

area?

A. This green area here is part of ourwoods. But you asked if we had anything on Reynolds

Road, we have some property beyond that.

O. I am trying to get this piece of

property. And where does it go out this way to the

right on the picture?

A. To here (indicating).

a. I will make the mark where you are

pointing. And I understand you are just giving us --

A. And this would be a boundary line(indicating).

Q. I am going to make a mark where you put

a boundary line.

A. And then we worked th¡s p¡ece, but ¡tis not ours (indicating).

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Do you recall what year that might have

No.

We have a lot of payroll records.

Okay.

And I have gone through them as best as

t helping.

2Q.3 been?

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I can. I did see that he was on your payroll

officially and a W-2 was issued for 2009.

A. That was my understanding.

O. First of all, did you review your own

payroll records at all before today in preparation

for this deposition?

A. Did I review my payroll records? freviewed that particular incident, yes.

O. You reviewed the fact and saw that you

issued a W-9 to Jason Kingsley in 2009?

MR. BOVENDER: W-2.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. w-2.

A. I knew he had been employed.

O. okay.

A. So, I found the year he was employed.

O. Is it fair to state that there is no

record from that 2009 W-2 up until after Jason's25 of 55 sheets Page 97 to 100 of 219 03/02/2017 01:18:42 PM

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I death that documents he was working on the farm at2 any time?


to the form, You can answer,

THE WITNESS: There was an

incident where we had wrote him in as

purchased tires.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. Purchased tires?

A. Yeah.

A. When about was that?

A. That was in between.

O. In between 2009 and June 7th of 2015?

A. Yes.

a. And did you provide that specific

document to your counsel, if you recall?

A. I am not sure.

MR. LIGORIO: Okay, I can tellyou, Josh, I did not see that.

Thousands of pages of stuff I looked

through, so, it is entirely possible

that I missed it, but I did not see it.

I would ask -- I will make a

request if that document exists, you

identify it and produce it.

103

that document, you are not aware of any other

document to verify or show that he worked there atany time between 2009 and June B, 2015; is that fairenough?

A. No documents that I know of.

O. You do maintain that he worked there

from time to time between June 9, 2015, and -- or

between 2009 and June 8th of 2OI5t he was on thereperforming tasks which you paid him for, is thatcorrect?

A, On occasions, yes, Jason would come up.

a. And if you had something for him to do,

you are saying you would pay him in cash to do it?

A. There were times.

A. Can you estimate, approximately, how

many times between 2009 and 2015 that you paid Jason

Kingsley to do something on the farm?

A. Two to four.

a. So, you are estimating between 2009,

when he was on the payroll, and June 8, 2015, his

death, he may have been on that farm doing some taskat your request between two and four times?

A. Yes.

A. And at one point in time, you feel thatyou listed him as working for you -- just for a

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BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Do you still have that document?

A. Someplace it is on record, I think.A. You say it ¡s on record someplace, that

would either be with Don White or you have kept a

receipt or something?

A. It would be in my old check stubs,probably.

O. Because, typically, something like

purchasing tires, would you keep a receipt like thatindefinitely?

A. No, but f wrote a check for it.A. And you wrote the check to whom?

A. Jason.

A. Do you know how much it was for?

A. Not a lot.

A. So, it was probably for one briefperiod?

A. I think he helped build some fence, butI can't remember specifically.

O. So, you know you had paid him in

documenting something that he built some fence atsome point between 2009 and June 8, 2015?

A. yeah.

A. And there is a document. Other than

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I bookkeeping purpose it sounds like as a purchase of2 tires?

A. Right.

A. Why would you do that? I can tell you

it is not my role to get you in into any kind of tax

trouble or anything like that, so, I just need you toanswer.

A. It was probably to avoid putting him onthe books.

a. Is it fair to state -- I looked at the

Workers' Compensation audits, and I have them here.

They will make your eyes glaze over. There is

thousands of pages, You get audited by the State

Workers' Insurance Fund, roughly, every year; is thatright?

A. At least every year.

A. They do that to determine how many

employees you have, is that right?

A. Yeah.

a. Okay. And to set your insurance rates?

A. Yeah.

A. And those audits, typically, involve

someone coming in from the State Workers' Insurance

Fund asking you to identify all the employees and

specifically what they do, is that right?

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A. He usuatly asks us to furnish certain

¡tems and I furnish them and I have never been asked

many questions.

O. Okay. You would furnish him items

identifying your specific employees to the State

Workers' Insurance Fund as part of the audit?

A. Yes.' O. Can we agree, between 2010 and Jason's

death in 2015, that at no t¡me was Jason Kingsley's

name furnished to the State Workers' Insurance Fund

in an audit?

A. I don't know.

O. If I was to tell you that I looked

through those audits and I didn't see his name in

there, would that surprise you?

MR, BOVENDER: Note my objection

to the form.

THE WITNESS: No.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Because if he did work, it would have

only been for a day or two and you would have paid

him cash; ¡s that fair?

A, It could have been for longer but itwouldn't have been much longer,

O. Would it be fair to say that you would

107

A, Yes, that would be normal, because

Jason had other employment.

A. Between -- in 2009, when he did work

for you -- and he didn't work a lot even then, it

looked like he made about $4,000 -- do you know

exactly what he was doing at that point in time?

A. He was feeding.

O. What does that involve?

A. Runn¡ng the silage down to the cows,

lowering silo unloaders, general with the silos withthe feed,

O. You indicated that you think on a

Sunday that is when this silo was filled. You were

reasonably certain this was --

A. I know it was a Sunday.

O, How do you know that?

A. Because it was Sunday night when ¡t

happened.

O. By it happened, you realized the silo

was overfilled at about 7:30 at night?

A, When I came back up the road and wentback down, when I came up aga¡n, they had stopped and

I said, oh.

a. When you said they had stopped, did you

observe anybody there?

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106

bring him in if he wasn't working otherwise to do

very short-lived tasks?


to the form, You could answer.

THE WITNESS: Jason would usually

come around at silo filling time or if

we were to open silos. And once in a

blue moon he fed cows for us when we

couldn't find anybody.

But, generally, I did not call

Jason. He would show up and say you got

anything to do.

BY MR, LIGORIO:

O, You would never specifically go out and

seek him out to hire him?

A. No.

O. He might stop by and say if you got a

task or something I can do, and if you did, you would

give him something?

MR. BOVENDER: Are you st¡ll

talking between 2009 and 2015?

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O, Yeah, that's fair enough, I am talking

that time frame. All of these, as Mr. Bovender

indicated, are in that specific time frame,

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A. Er¡c was coming down the silo and theguy said I thought -- he thought the silage had

blowed over the top of the blower -- or of the

unloader.

O. When you say the guy, again, do you

recall who you mean by the guy?

A. I th¡nk it was Travis' cousin.

O. So, an employee of Travis?

A. Yeah.

O. Do you recall his name?

A. I th¡nk it was Cole.

O. Another Cole?

A. Yeah.

O. What is the first time of that Cole, if

you know?

A. r don't.

O. What did you do next after you saw

that, after you saw that the silo -- you didn't see

it, after you were told by Eric the silo was

overfilled?

A. what d¡d r what?

A. what did you do?

A. I was reatly upset.

O. What did you tell Eric? Feel free to

use whatever words you want to use.

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MR. BOVENDER: So long as they are

accurate.

THE WITNESS: I asked him why he

hadn't done what I told him.

BY MR, LIGORIO:

O. What did you tell him to do?

A. I told him to move the blower -- or thetable at some point to the other silo. And I had

told him to set the blower up. It was the only thingextra I had asked Er¡c to do all day.

O. And what was his response?

A. After I repeatedly asked him why he

didn't go up the silo, he finally said because I am

sick of climbing your F'g silos.

O. That was basically his job for the last

five years, right?

A. Yeah.

O. Did you have problems w¡th Eric Stone

of any type, specifically, before this incident?

A. Problems? Could you elaborate?

O. Well, let me ask you this way. You

testified in a Workers' Comp matter that he was sort

of your right-hand man; is that accurate, at least

prior to June 7th?

A. Yes.

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O. What is relief milking?

A. If somebody had a night off or ifsomebody was doing someth¡ng.

O. So, from time to time, you would hire

somebody to fill in to help milk?

A. Yes.

O. But how many people does it take or did

it take on June 7th of 2015 to milk the cows?

A. There is usually six to eight people

there.

O. Every day?

A. Yeah. It takes three to milþ one tofeed, and then, normally, there is an outside man,

maybe two.

O. What is an outside man?

A. They came in at different hours. They

would not have been involved with milking.

Mechanical, spreading manure, doing other chores, may

come ¡nto the barn to help, like if we had something

breakdown, fixing water lines. Extra, just an exträ

hand so that the people that had to milk could do

their task.

O. Is it fair to state that milking is a

priority, milking and feeding are the two pr¡orities?


110

O. How long had he been operating in that

capacity?

A. If I was away, Eric was in charge; atleast three years.

O. And he lived on the property that

entire period of time, correct?

A. Maybe not at the beginning. I can'tremember. But shortly thereafter, I had a house come

open and he moved into that.

O. He said it was about a month after he

started, but, certainly, for the last several years

he was living on the property?

A. Yeah, X think he was living inRobinson's Trailer Park originally.

O. And, also, his girlfriend, Samantha

Johnson, was living there, as well?

A. Yep, they were together that period oftime.

O. Did Samantha Johnson work on the farm,

as well?

A. Had.

O. Had. Do you know if she was working on

the farm as of June 7, 2OL5?

A. She may have been doing some reliefmilking.

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to the form.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. On a day-to-day basis?

A. yes.


to the farm.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. They are pretty much the two things

that each day have to absolutely get done?


to the form.

THE WITNESSi Yes.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. When you say an outside man if

something broke or something mechanical are, quote,

an extra, would these people be placed on the

payroll?

A. Yes,

O. So, there would be a record of the

outside men you brought in, typically?

A. yes.

O. Were there also times, however, that

you would pay people just simply in cash for short

periods of time?

A. Generally, that would be a..milker.

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O. So, a milker would come in --

A. Samantha.

O. Samantha, and you would pay her cash

and keep her off the books?

A. As a general term, you could call it an

exchange, you could call it what you want, but Iwould furnish fuel and electric to the house, in thehouse, and once in a while she would milk. But Ialso paid her cash.

O. It was kind of an in-kind kind of

barter there, to some extent, with Samantha?

A. And she proved to be good help.

O. If someone came in to fix something,

how would you pay them?

A. You are go¡ng to have to be more

specific.

O. You ment¡oned extra men, like someone

would come in and fix, like you said, a pipe or --

A. Ray Allen and Junior Bartlett would be

outs¡de men. At some places, they may be considered

fieldmen. Changing oil filters, grinding, bedding,

doing stuff, but they may come in and help -- thebarn cleaner broke, maybe they had to put a link in.The water line broke or I needed a new wâter bowl puton, they might do something like that. They were

115

June 7th?

A. Friday afternoon.

a. Friday would have been -- Sunday was

the 7th, Saturday was the 6th, Friday would have been

the 5th, is that right?

A. Yeah.

O. What specifically did -- describe what

happened.

A. It was in the afternoon, lateafternoon. I was mowing hay along Gor-Wood Road. Isaw a truck park; didn't recognize Jason. My eyes

a¡n't as good as they used to be until he got up

closer; greeted him; wondered what he was doing. He

said he had a couple of weeks he could help, did Ihave anything to do.

a. What did you tell him?

A. And f said, well, right now' I am

mow¡ng, but I sa¡d I will give you a call when we

have got something.

O. So, it is fair to state at thatparticular time you didn't have anything that he

could do immediately?


to the form.

THE WITNESS: We hadn't started

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there to do extras. Rarelç did they milk.

O. Extras, meaning, other miscellaneous

tasks on the farm?



THE WITNESS: Greasing the

equ¡pment, that sort of thing.

BY MR, LIGORIO:

O. And they were typically on the payroll

for that?

A. Yeah.

O. D¡d you ever bring in people as

independent contractors to do any of those type of

tasks?

A. Not those specific; to do some repairs,

like if it was something we couldn't do, Fallbrookwould repair serious problems and breakdowns on barn

cleaners or unloaders. We may have to send a piece

of equipment out to have ¡t repaired someplace else.

We had an outside guy come ¡n to serv¡ce our waterwells, if a pump went bad or someth¡ng like that.

But, as a general rule, you know, maybeyou had to get an electrician, but -- ofthat,

A. When is the first time you recall Jason

Kingsley contacting you about helping you prior to

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I fill¡ng yet.

2 BY MR. LIGORIO:

3 Q. All right. You didn't call him on

4 Saturday to do anything; fair enough?

5 A. We hadn't started f¡|l¡ng yet.

6 Q. What time did you start filling on

7 Sunday morning?

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A. I was already mow¡ng.

O. Already at what t¡me?

A. 9:30,9:OO o'clock.

O. So, about 9:30 on Sunday morning you

were out mowing?

A. Yes.

O. What time did Cole's people arrive on

Sunday morning?

A. Shortly thereafter. Because they werework¡ng in fields near me. I had mowed quite a bitof hay close by and I could see them; by 1O:OO.

a. During that filling process, which

started, by your account, sometime Sunday morning,

until you discovered that the unloader was blocked

and the s¡lo was overfilled, you had a period of t¡me

from, say, 9:30 in the morning until 7:30 p.m. on

Sunday, the 7th, did you contact Jason Kingsley and

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to the form. He never testified that

the unloader was blocked.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. Covered.

A. Okay. So, what ¡s it you want to know?When did I call Jason?

a. We have a record that shows you called

him at 11:30 at night. Do you recall calling him

before that?

A. I am sure I called him before that.O. okay.

A. He may have called me back. If Iremember r¡ght, I had left a thing asking him if thatwas something he would be interested in helping me

out with.O. We are going to listen to that. That's

the voice mail message that you left for Jason?

A. r do believe

A. We are going to listen to that. Okay.

That, obviously -- that call you made to Jason and

left that voice mail was, obviously, after the silo

was overfilled?

A. yes.

a. Okay. Before that message, at any time

119

a. That's a task that you had to do after

this happened, anyway?

A. yes.

O. who did it?

A. Nobody.

O. why not?

A. I couldn't get the help to go up thesilo. And with everything that had happened, we justleft it.

O. And some of that had to do with this

tragedy and how it affected you; fair enough?

A. Yeah.

a. okay.

MR, BOVENDER: Do you want to take

a break?

THE WITNESS: No.

BY MR. LIGORIOT

A. So, no one was specifically hired to do

that task thereafter?

A. We had done it. Nicki did it, finally.She was the one that would climb the silo.

O. When was the last time you had filled

the silos prior to this filling?

A. Let's see, we would have done corn

silage in the fall, late September through October.

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on Sunday did you contact Jason?

A. I don't believe so, because I was outin the field. I don't have a cell phone.

O. Did you contact Jason to help with the

fllling process at all before the silo was

ovetfilled?

A. No.

O. So, it is fair to state that the

specific reason you contacted Jason was because the

silo was overfilled?


to the form.

THE WITNESS: In that particular

case, yes.

BY MR, LIGORIO:

O. Had the silo not been overfilled, you

didn't need Jason at that point in time?

A. No, I would have needed him.

O. Why would you have needed him?

A. we were -- he would come and help me

cap silos. So, we would be fitling four or fivesilos rather rapidly. And a guy like Jason wouldhave been great to level the silage off and put aplastic cap on to limit the oxygen level to help thes¡lage cure.

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O. Is the hay silage filling, is that a

once a year thing?

A. Þepending on how many cuttings,depending on whether we round bale. But, generallçf would have hired Jason -- or, excuse me, Travistwice for haylage, once for corn.

O. t mean, these things have a season, so,

I guess that's part of it, right?

A. Right. you can do -- you can do a

cutting on grass and alfalfa every 2l to 30 days, butit all depends on what your water -- amount of water.

a. How moist the haylage is?

A. No, how well things are growing. It ¡s

kind of like your lawn.

O. Gotcha. If you got the right

conditions, it grows better?

A. If there is nothing there to get --O. Hasn't rained in a month, I guess you

said about 21 days apart. Typically, you would fill

the silos in the spring and then they would last

until the next spr¡ng; is that what would happen?

A. Generatly, you start -- the old sayingwas you wanted to be mowing hay by Memor¡al Day.

That is slowly changing. Some people start earlier.That particular year was a little -- I can't remember

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1 whether ¡t was wet or dry but we started just a bit2 later.

O. Now, Nicole --

A. Nothing unusual.

O. Now, Nicole or Nicki, as she is known,

she had capped the silos in the past?

A. No, Eric had.

O. Eric was capable of doing that task, as

well, prior to his injury?

A. That was one of his jobs, pretty much.

a. Did Nicole Oakley have any type of

managerial responsibility at the farm?

A. She was kind of like more in charge ofthe cows because she knew -- she had an intimaterelationship with the animals and felt close to them

and could identify them.

O. So, that was kind of -- she liked to

work with the cows?

A. Eric was good at fixing.O. Kind of like a handyman type guy?

A. Yeah.

O. How long does the process of capping

the silos take?

A. It depends on how level it was btowed

in. f have seen it doire in an hour and I have seen

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A. With a silage fork.MR. LIGORIO: Danny, why don't we

play the phone message now? We will let

Mr. Wood listen to it. That's the

easiest way to do it,

This is the voicemail that you

left for Jason on June 7th.

MR. BOVENDER: I will object to

the form. I think you can ask him to

authenticate it once he hears it.

MR. LIGORIO: Fine.




recess taken.)


back on the video record,

(The following voicemail message

was played: RONALD WOOD: Jason,

it is Ron. I could use your help. They

just buried my silo unloader, I don't

know. Want to come out ton¡ght and work

on it? It's just going to get packed in

there tighter than hell. It's going to

bend my unloader all to freakin' pieces.

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it take three.

A. Then once that is done, you don't have

to do it again until the silos are refilled?

A. Risht.

O. Which is probably not going to be

until -- after June 15th, would there be another

filling over the summer?

A. Oh, yeah, there would be another

filling if we had fed out silage. But even somet¡mes

if the silo wasn't empty, we may raise the unloader

and start filling again for capacity and getting

things in.

O. To load it up so you would have enough

haylage over the next season?

A. You had to have enough feed, yeah.

O. But the capping process, you are

telling me, would only take about three hours?

A. It is the leveling process that ¡s thehardest part.

a. How do you level?

A. with a fork.

O. With a pitchfork?

A. Yes.

A. You go in there by hand and you

flatten?

124

If there is any way, give me a ring,

s49-4901.)

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. First of all, Mr. Wood, I appreciate

you already answered interrogator¡es and said that is

the voicemail you left for Jason, right?

A. Risht.

O. Since it wasn't the greatest audio, why

don't you -- did you hear what you said?

A. Yeah.

O. Why don't you repeat your own words, to

the best of your knowledge, what you said, at least

at the beginning?


to recite the voice message or do you

want to know what he intended by the

message?

MR. LIGORIO: Well, we are going

to ask him both.

BY MR, LIGORIO:

a. What did you initially say? I couldn't

catch that first part.

A, I told him that they had buried thesilo unloader and if he could come out and give me a

hand, would that be something he would be interested

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in.

A, When you said they, who specifically

were you referring to as the "they" in that message?

A. Eric.

a. They is plural, so, is there anybody

else you specifically were mentioning?

A. No.

O. Do you r:ecall what time you left thatmessage?

A. It was after I got done in the barn;so, I will say 9:3O, lol0O o'clocþ maybe. ft wasnormally later than I would normally have calledsomebody.

a. You said that you noticed this problem

about 7:30 p.m., right?

A. Yes.

O. And then it said after you got done in

the barn, so, what were you -- you had some task to

do in the barn after 7:30, apparently?

A. I had to feed the cows the¡r grain and

do some breeding.

a. What does that mean, feed the cows

their grain? Just you physically were the guy doing

that?

A. Yeah.

126

f Q. Okay. Would you go in there and shovel

2 them the grain? How would you do ¡t?

3 A. With a scoop.

4 Q. W¡th a scoop. How many cows?

5 A. 100,140.6 Q. Did you personally feed them all or did

7 you have some help?

A. I do; I always do.

O. I gotcha.

A. Unless I go away.

a. So, every night you go and you

personally feed, roughly, 140 cows?

A. Let's me review the cattle and, to be

honest, it is a pretty peaceful time of night. Xt issometh¡ng f enjoy doing.

a. Gotcha. You said you also had to do

some breeding. What is involved in that? Is thatinseminating the cows?

A. Yeah, I can't remember whether I didthat night or not.

A. How long does it typically take for you

to feed the cows?

A. 45 minutes, an hour.

O. And how long would breeding take, ifyou did it?

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127

A. It depends on how many cor¡ìrs.

O. Give me a range, like short to long?

A. I have been in the barn until midnighton occasion and I have been when you don't haveanything to do, I have been up at 8:30, 9:00 o,clock.All depends on when I feed grain.

O. Now, you testified you normally

wouldn't call somebody that late at night at

10:00 o'clock, is that right?

A. Risht.

a. why not?

A. Why not? Because I hate to get a calllate at night.

A. Understood, Would it be typical to

have to call somebody to come in and work on the farm

at that hour of night?

A. No.

O. Why in this particular case did you see

fit to make that call in the evening?

A. Because Jason had come out. As I satthere wondering what I was going to do, I said, geez,

Jason called, maybe this is something I can get himto help me w¡th.

a. So, it is kind of a coincidence, if you

will, that two days before he had come looking to do

128

something and then this particular problem happened?



THE WITNESS: Yes.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. Okay. Do you recall whether lason had

been around at all in the year of 2015 before -- you

said it was Friday, which we are thinking was

June 5th -- do you recall him coming around?

A. r will say yes.

O. Do you know if he did any work in 2015

for you at all in that six-month period?

A. No, but f know he stopped in at leastonce, maybe twice to visit.

A. Were you friends with Jason?

A. Yeah.

O. Did he ever visit you just on a

friendly basis to s¡t around and talk?

A. Yeah.

O. How long -- well, let nìe strike that.

Somehow he came to work for you in

2009, we know that. Is that when the friendship

occurred?

A. Yeah, Jason was a pleasant guy to bearound.

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129

O. And I take it you liked it when he

worked for you in 2009?

A. Yeah.

a. And you said from time to time he would

stop by and visit. Would some of those visits be

primarily social, he was around and just wanted to

say hello?

A. Yeah.

O. You were neighbors of sorts?

A. No.

a. No. okay.

A. He was over the hill but he would hang

out where I would repair tires or I would see him atSubway or just casual run-ins but always pleasant.

Some of his friends were my friends; he would be in

the area.

A. Typical small town kind of stuff,

everybody is friendly, everybody gets along?

A. Yeah, yeah.

O. See each other? You are social?


to the form. I think there was three

questions there.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. okay.

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discussion held off the record.)

(The following is a discussion

held off the video record.)

MR. BOVENDER: Mr. Ligorio has

just handed me three pages of cell phone

records with the FAX stamp dated

December 4,20L6, that he indicated his

office had received prior but not

produced to me.

Yesterday, following the partial

conclusion and adjournment of Mr.

Stone's deposition, I was also provided

for the first time in the case

photographs of what Mr. Ligorio

identified as being screen shots or

photos of the screen of Jason Kingsley's

cell phone.

I reserved all objections to any

questions relating to these last minute

discovery productions, particularly

following the conclusion of Mr. Stone,

and I am personally frustrated that the

efforts I took to make sure Mr. Ligorio

had everything at the start of these

depositions appears not to have been

131

130

A. Yes.

a. The neighborhood, you stop by, see how

you were doing and things like that?

A. Yes.

O. And from t¡me to time hê would say ifyou ever need any help, I am willing to help you?

A. Sometimes.

O. Sometimes it would just be a purely

social visit where you would just talk?

A. Yes.

O. And on this particular Friday, he

mentioned he was a little slow in his gas job?

A. Said he had a couple weeks he couldsPare.

a. And if you had anything, to give him a

call, and then it got to the point where you had this

incident and you called?

A. Righr.

A. I have the cell phone records --

MR. LIGORIO: And, Josh, I did get

a record -- go off the record a second,

I am sorry.

VIDEOTECHNICIAN: Time is 2:09,



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reciprocal.

MR. LIGORIO: Well, if these

weren't provided, it was only due to

oversight.

I am not saying we did or didn'tproduce these. My records show we

produced them. If by error I didn't or

by oversight, I can tell you Ipersonally don't recall seeing this

document myself until yesterday.

This one I definitely seen; I

thought you had (indicating).

MR. BOVENDER: I just want it to

be abundantly clear that we are now

going over with my client documents that

I am seeing for the first time.

MR. LIGORIO: I am basically going

to ask him some baslc questions,

specifically whether this is his phone

number,

VIDEO TECHNICIAN: Time is 2:t2,back on the video record.

MR. BOVENDER: Jump back off the

video for a second.

VIDEO TECHNICIAN: Time is 2:L2,33 of 55 sheets Page 129 to 132 of 219 03/02/2017 01:18:42 PM

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133

off the v¡deo record,


discussion held off the record.)

VIDEO TECHNTCIAN: Time is 2:13,


BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Mr. Wood, I am going to show you the

document, It is kind of small -- first of all, the

phone number, (570) 549-4901, that is your phone

number?

A. Yes.

O, And as I understand ¡t, that number

rings in your home?

A. Yes.

a. And that number rings in the barn?

A. Yes.

O. Is there any other lines on that other

than those contained in your home and the one out in

the barn?

A. No.

O, There is none in the milk room or

anywhere else like that?

A. No, there is several in the house.

O, My understanding is there is a white

phone in the barn and you are apparently in the barn

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135

Wood, is to call you at that number or see you in

person?

A. Or you can catl the -- Iet's say they

were at the barn, they could dial 549-49O1 and thenhang up and I get a quick ring and I know it is from

the barn. Kind of |ike the old -- you are not old

enough -- the old phones when you had party lines.

O. I am old enough for that. You are not

that much older than me.

A, If you wanted to get the volunteer f¡re

department, it was a series of quick rings.

O. Who provides that phone service?

A, North Penn.

O. So, if someone called it and

¡mmediately hung up, it would give a quick ring so --

A. Onty from one of my other phones.

O. Okay. So, you call the owned number,

So, you call that number from that number and hang up

quickly and then you could call and use ¡t like an

intercom; that is what it sounds l¡ke,

A. Technically, you just have a

conversation with your own number. I don't even know

if that gets recorded,

O. I don't, e¡ther.

A. I don't, e¡ther.

134

quite a bit?

A. There is a handheld in the barn.

O. And that's how people on the farm that

want to reach you, that's how they reach you?

A. Nicki usually does by cell phone.

O. Do you have a cell phone?

A. No, she calls off of hers.

O. She will call her cell phone to that

number?

A. Yeah.

O. I am not trying to be tricky here,

A. You can make the 5,49-490L number ringquickly by hanging up after you have started the

ringing. And if you hang up, it will ring to the

other phone on the other end. So, I can call the

barn or the barn can call me.

O. I am lost,

A. That's good.

O. If I call that number on a cell phone,

it's going to ring where?

A. On all the phones.

O. Series of phones in your home?

A. And one at the barn.

O, And one at the barn, You don't have a

cell phone, so the only other way to reach you, Ron

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136

O, If somebody is calling the barn, where

would they be calling from other than the phone in

your house using the same line?

A. If I called the barn, yes.

O. So, if you called the barn, the only

person who would call the barn from the same line

would be you?

A. R¡sht.

O. Someone in the barn could pick up the

phone and call you at your house?

A. Yes.

O. All right. or anyone on a cell phone

would call and all the phones would ring?

A. yes.

O. Okay. Now, this is Jason's phone, Iwill represent to you, okay. These are numbers from

his phone. And we see on 5/7 and the time there is

11:38 p,m,, It looks like there is a call from your

number, 549-4901. Is that, potent¡ally, the call

where you left that voicemail?

A. That seems later than I thought.

O. But --

A. But it is possible,

O. And then we have got a call at

5:36 a.m.

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03/O2/2OI7 01:18:42 PM Page 133 to 136 of 219 34 of 55 sheets

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137

A. Yep.

O. Did you call Jason at 5:36 a.m., if you

remember?

A. No, he called me.

a. And I can't tell whether these are

ingoing or outgoing, so you have to go by --

A. So, it must be his cell phone reversedthe charges, because that's like when he called me

back. And this -- I know this one he called me and fsaid where are you and he said I am up the silo. AndI said is everything all right and he said, yes, and

he was throwing s¡lage out.

O. So, what I am trying to get at is your

recollection. I don't want to get -- we are,

hopefully, going to get some kind of report on the

phone to maybe make this a little more specific, but

I am going to use these as a reference point and ask

you to use your memory.

A. okay, all right.

O. To see what you remember. The 5:36

a,m. call, by your recollection, that's Jason calling

you at 5:36 a.m.?

A. Yep.

a. And ¡n that phone call, when he called

you, he was already in the silo?

139

I don't think that has anything to do with the phone

calls, so.

I do show one outgoing call on June 7

to your number from Jason's phone, I don't have the

time but I show what appears to be that.

So, your recollection is he called you

back that night?

A. Yep.

a. Why don't you go over that discussion,

exactly what you recall Jason saying and what you

responded?

Xt was brief, f will see you in the

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morn

A.

ing.

o.A.

a.A.

That's pretty much it?

Pretty much it.No discussion of anything else?

I might have mentioned how disappointedI was over the s¡tuation and I thanked him.

O. Anything else you can remember you

specifically talking about? Just think. I want to

make sure; all right?

A. There wasn't a lot.

O. So, then the next time you would hear

from him would be early in the morning?

A. Yep.

138

I A. Yep.

2 Q. So, from what your memory is, you left

3 the voicemail, between the voicemail and that 5:364 a.m. call, was there any contact between you and

5 Jason?

A. From what time period to whatever?

O. From the time you left the voicemail

until he called you at 5:36 -- I am assuming it was

5:36.

A. f told you, I thought he called me at11:36.

a. Okay. Okay. That could very well be

the case.

A. Off of the recorded and he said I willsee you in the morning.

A. All right, thank you. That clarifies

things for me somewhat,

So, you left a message that could have

been earlier? It could have been at 10:00 or 10:30?

A. That was my recollection.

a. And he could have called you back, butyou did have a discussion with him on that evening,

which would have been the 7th. I have some screen

shots, but they don't have any times.

So, you know, they say 11:09 a.m., but

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140

O. From what we see, it was 5:36 a.m,

there was a call and that was you calling him or him

calling you?

A, He called me.

A. what did me say?

A. I said, oh, I said, where are you? And

he said, I am up the silo. And I said, How is it?He said, Okay. And we talked a little bit and I lefthim go and called Eric.

O. Take a step back. You said we talked a

little bit, I want you to remember, as best you can,

and tell us, as best you can, the specific

conversation.

A. f think I had asked him if he couldlocate the unloader.

A. What was his response?

A. That was what he was going to do.

O. And the reason I am press¡ng you on

this is one of the reasons we do this, we don't want

you to come back later and say, boy, the light went

off, I remember something different. I am trying topin down exactly what you remember. So, I want you

to tell me anything else you remember about thatphone call. Now, we are talking about the early

morning phone call.

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141

A. f don't have any spec¡f¡cs that frecall that were out of the ordinary anything.

O. What is the next contact you had with

Jason or Eric?

A. I called Eric immediately afterward andtold him Jason was up the silo, and he said, I knowit, and proceeded to swear at me and told me he toldme he would get it, why did f hire him, and stammedthe phone down. And that was that.

O. Did you ever personally observe Jason

getting into the silo?

A. No.

A. When did you realize there was a

problem in the silo?


to the form. You could answer.

THE WITNESS: Someplace around

9:15 or 9:20.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. How did that come to your attention?

A. Jason called me and said, Coutd you

turn the blower on, we are having some difficultybreathing.

O. Do you know whether the blower was on

when Jason went into the silo?

No.

It should be on, correct?

Yes.

Did you ultimately determine that the

blower was filled with silage? When I say the

blower, the filling tube was filled with haylage? Iwill use haylage and silage interchangeable.

A. No.

O. Okay. So, you don't know whether itwas filled or not?

A. r do now.

A. Okay. You have found out afterwards

that the filling tube was filled with haylage?

A. Basically, at the same time everybodywas calling.

O. How did it get filled with silage?

A. Apparently, when it plugged and Eric

was coming down the silo when I pulled up the hill,apparently, he didn't take the t¡me to knock thesilage out.

a. This would have been the night before?

A. Yeah.

143

No.

Until -- no, you don't know the answer

rA.2Q.3 to that?

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142

I A. No, I didn't know, but it wasn,t.2 Q. How did you know or ultimately find out

3 that it wasn't?

4 A. Because I immediately headed down after5 he had called and I said he wants the blower turned6 on to the other two guys and they said they were on7 ¡t. And we had the blower going.

I Q. So, you said you knew it wasn't on

in it¡ally?

A. No, f didn't.O. You didn't know?

A. No.

A. You didn't know anything about it,

really?

A. The basic --MR, BOVENDER: Note my objection

to the form.

THE WITNESS: The basic assumption

was it was running.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. All right. I am not asking you the

basic assumption, Sometimes I will ask you that.But, specifically, did you know whether or not the

blower was on, say, from 5:30-ish when Jason showed

up?

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144

O. Is that something that should be done?

A. Yeah, because, normallç if you leave

the silage set in the pipe, that gets tighter.O. Because it is wet?

A. So, the next morning, again, Eric

climbed the silo and had to climb right over the topof it and, again, didn't turn it on or check to see.

O. Jason would have had to go by it, he

wouldn't know one way or another -- would he know one

way or another whether the tube was blocked?

A. No.

O. He wouldn't be aware of that?

A. No.

a. How would he become aware of that?

A. You would have known if you were up inthe silo and it wasn't blowing air.

O. Do you know whether it was blowing airor not between 5:30 and 9:15?

A. obviously, not.

a. Okay. So, it is your assertion that

what happened here was it was pretty much clogged up

from when the silo was overfilled?

A. That is what they tell me.

a. It was never able to blow air or put

air ¡nto the silo at any point in time from the time

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145

I it was overfilled and that you knew it was overfilled

2 on 9:30 or so Sunday night until Jason's ultimate

3 death?

A. I had thought they had unplugged thepipe. When Eric came down, I said to him this restsfirmly on your shoulders and I touched h¡m, because

this was not the first unloader he had buried. And Isaid this one is on you. And I went in to feed grain

and I thought he went back up the silo and he wenthome.

O, To unblock the filling tube, was one of

the things he would have to do?

A. And he had his fork set there and he

went home.

O. You do acknowledge that Eric Stone was

working for you and was your agent at this t¡me?


to the form,

THE WITNESS: Yes,

BY MR, LIGORIO:

O, Was he one of the people in charge of

making sure that the farm was operating safely and

that the employees or anyone who was on the farm

would be safe?

A. Yeah.

147

publications that I freely let the men took at. We

constantly -- they went cell phones because they saidit was easier to hear than yelling up. We used tohave walkie-talk¡es, but the batteries would wearout. They didn't work too well. But, I always did

it by yelling up the silo.

O. I appreciate the response, but my

actual question was about your knowledge. Okay. So,

I am asking you, Ronald Wood, as of June 7, ?OLS, you

knew that there are certa¡n dangers associated with

working in a silo?

A. yes.

O. Okay. You tell us what are those

dangers.

A. Confined space.

O. What is the danger of a confined space?

A, Free flow of air. There are instances

of gassing. You would see ¡t älso now in manure

storage. Anyplace where there would be -- that you

had to watch the flow of air.

O. You are also aware that haylage or

gralns or any natural product when it is placed in a

confined space, there is a chemical process that

occurs? You are aware of that?

A. Go ahead.

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146

O, You acknowledge that's also your

responsibility?



THE WITNESS: Yes.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. What, if anything, did you ever do to

train Eric Stone in terms of silo safety?

A. To tra¡n Er¡c?

O. To train Eric.

A, As a general rule, other than

discussing what can go wrong with a sito, you went up

with somebody that normally maintained or Iowered the

unloader or worked in a silo and you tearn theprocess by like apprent¡cesh¡p.

O. Well, if Eric Stone learned it by

apprenticeship, who was he an apprentice to?

A. I woutd have totd him and Eric had

worked for me in the past before.

O. You mentioned you would need to know

about the dangers of working in a silo; to your

understanding, as of June 7, 20L5, what were the

dangers of working in a silo?

A, Welt, farm publications come out everyyear about silos and gas, a lot of th¡ngs ¡n

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Are you aware of that?

Which chemicat process?

You tell me.

I don't know, I am asking you.

I get to ask the questions; you have to

1Q.2A.,3Q.44.5Q.6 answer it,

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MR. BOVENDER: He is asking for

clarif¡cat¡on. You asked him if he is

aware of a chemical process.

THE WITNESS: What chemical

process?

MR, BOVENDER: He is asking you to

clarify.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. I just asked you if you were aware of a

chemical process of some sort occurs. You are either

aware or you are not.

A. Over a period of t¡me, usuatly, the --like after the fourth day, you would probably say you

shouldn't be up there.

O. why not?

A. Because at that po¡nt ¡t becomes verylimiting in what you cãn do. The farther down you

are in a silo, the more trouble you would be in.

O. why?37 of 55 sheets Page 145 to 148 of 219 03/02/2017 01:18:42 PM

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A. Because the air gets heavy.

A. And, again, you are not a chemist or

trained in chemistry or anything and neither am L

What does that mean to you that the air gets heavy?

A. Lack of oxygen.

O. Do you know why the air gets heavy as

you go down for lack of oxygen?

A. No.

A. Okay. But you just know that to be a

fact that that is something that happens in a silo?

A. Yes, after several days it can form a

9as.

O. Do you know what gas?

A. No. And I am sure there are differenttypes.

O. Did you ever have a discussion directly

with Eric Stone explaining to him the dangers of this

process?

A. Yeah, he knew it, too.

O. How did he know it?

A. Because you talk about different people

in the neighborhood and, boy, that was tragic or --and then you start talking about things like that andhow easy it is it could happen.

A, Did you talk with Jason about it?

151

I A. No.

2 Q. Did you recognize that it would be

3 dangerous if one person was in a silo alone and got

4 down too far where they couldn't get up?

A. Down too far that they couldn't get up?

O. Couldn't climb back out the top.

A. Normally, you wouldn't go out the top.a. Where would you go out?

A. You would go out the chute.

A. Could they go out the chute in this

case?

A. Well, apparently not.

A. Did it ever dawn on you that there

could be a situation where you would have to get

somebody out of a silo from the top prior to this?

A. No, I never really thought about ¡t.

A. It is fair to state that you had no

means available on the farm to get them out from the

top? You had no equipment in terms of a harness or

crane, a lift, or anything to get someone out of that

silo in an emergency should the chute become blocked?

A. Correct.

O. In fact, none of the fire departments

initially even had that equipment when they showed

up, correct?

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150

A. Yes.

O. What did you tell him and when?

A. General conversation, be careful, watchwhat is going on.

O. What would he be watching for?

A. well, like r said, the first thing Iasked him, how is the air, good.

O. You asked him that, when, at 5:30 in

the morning?

A. I said, Where are you? He said, In thesilo. I said, fs everything all right? Yeah.

a. Did you specifically ask him how is the

air?

A. Well, that would have been theimplication.

a. Well, there is a difference between an

implication.

A. You would have been worried about howhot it is, which that is usually what you run into.It becomes quite uncomfortable. It's like working ina sauna.

O. Did you ever provide any breathing

apparatus for anyone working in the silo?

A. No.

A. Did you think you should do that ever?

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152

A. Yeah.

O. Ultimately, they required the use of a

crane which had to be located, is that right?

A. I am not --

O. okay.

A. I am not sure of what all the equipmentthey had.

O. Now, you talked about some training or

some discussions with Eric Stone. You said you leftpublications available for their --

A. Hoard's Dairyman, different magazines.

O. Did you ever specifically give him

articles to read on silo safety or confined space

safety?

A. I can't say specifically.

A. You would have some publications laying

around and people would read them?

A. Well, there would be articles on calfrearing. If there was something pertinent to thefarm that I thought might enhance their knowledge,that are might be something I would throw down.

A. But you don't remember ever

specifically giving them any type of publications

specifically or article relating to silo safety or

confined space safety?

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't53

A. No.

O. Likewise, you didn't have any policy

regarding silo safety or confined space safety that

was an official policy at Gor-Wood Farms?

A. No.

O. When I use these terms, I am talking

about the farm you were operating at the time.

A. No.

A. Were you aware whether the wet silage

would be more dangerous than dry silage?

A. Both get awful hot.

O. Do you know whether wet silage or dry

silage is more likely to release dangerous gases, ifyou know?

A. No.

O. No, you don't really know the answer to

that question?

A. No.

a. You said, in your understanding, you

could go into the silo within the first four days of

filling it but it would become more dangerous after

those four days?

A. I have done it within two. I don'tlike to go in after that.

A. All right, So, my question, again, is,

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155

I June Bth?

2 MR, LIGORIO: Yeah, on June 8th,

3 June 7th.

4 BY MR, LIGORIO:

5 Q. Is that something individuals -- well,

6 strike that.

What were you doing when Jason and Eric

were in the silo? First, Jason between -- first,

Jason, from 5:30 or so in the morning until about

9:15 when he contacted you, what were you personally

doing?

A. I was quite frustrated. I was tryingto catt around and see what unloaders would cost and

working in the checkbook and then getting ready to go

to the barn to feed grain and do chores.

O. So, even before this incident

occurred -- when I say this incident, Jason's

death -- you were frustrated with the entire

situation?

A. Yeah.

O. And you are looking for unloaders

because you knew you would have to replace the

unloader because it had been damaged?

A. That would be one way. We weren't sure

if it needed repair, replaced; just wondering what

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154

to your understanding, ¡n terms of silo safety, you

believe it is safer to go in in the first two days

than it is after that time?

A. After what time?

O. After two days.

A. Well, if you waited 1O to 15 days, you

would be safe, also.

A. Why don't I ask it so you could tell

me. What, in your opinion, is the safe window of

time to enter a silo? What is the unsafe window of

time?

A. I don't know if I would have thatinformation, only what we had done in the past.

A. So, you really do not know the

specifics on timing in terms of entering a silo as to

what ¡s safe and what is not safe?

A. If the blower was running, you could

enter any time.

a. That's your understanding?

A. Yes.

O. Who was responsible for making sure

that the blower was running?

A. Well, I would have assumed Eric, butJason knew, also.

MR. BOVENDER: Do you mean on

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156

one costs now.

a. And is that something you would have

needed to do right away?

A. Well, that's what they were doing was

see¡ng how far, yeah.

O. You needed to get this fixed so you

could move the haylage and feed the cows?

A. In order to put a new unloader in, you

need to have -- it is just Iike accessing from the

top. You said why isn't there a way out. When you

are at the top, then you can work -- because the

tripod collapsed, you needed to be up at the top.

So, we would have had to have taken the old unloader

out in pieces, refilled it, and then put another

unloader in.

O. But my question is more geared towards

this was a priority that had to be done for the

operation of the farm, fixing the unloader and

getting this silo, so to speak, to work? It wasn't

something you wanted to wait for?

A. It was important to, yeah, because as

the silo settles, it wedges. So, in order to get thepieces out, it was much easier before. That vìrould

have been like being set in concrete after awhile.

A. So, there was an urgency to getting the39 of 55 sheets Page 153 to 156 of 219 03102/2017 01:18:42 PM

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'157

unloader unblocked?


to the form.

THE WITNESS: I don't know if I

would call it an urgency but you made it

a priority.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. Because the more it sunk down, the

harder it will be to unblock?

A. Sure. It would take that much more --did you ever try sticking a fork into concrete or

into sawdust? That's the difference.

a. Also, it would do more damage to the

unloader or --

A. No, the damage was probably alreadydone.

A. The damage was done --

MR. BOVENDER: Don, before you ask

another question, may I use the

restroom?

VIDEO TECHNICIAN: Time is 2:4L,



recess taken,)


159

A. I would assume ¡t was around 9:15.

O. The next call, at least by the phone

record we have, is at B:16 and that says incoming

from 549-4901, which is your number?

MR. BOVENDER: Which phone records

are these?

MR. LIGORIO: These are Jason's.

MR, BOVENDER: Okay.

THE WITNESS: Somebody could have

called from the barn; I don't know,

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Okay, fair enough.

A. I am not sure.

O. That's my question. Do you recall

having a discussion with him at about Bl16?

A. Not at 8:16. That would have been

about the time Eric went up the silo.

a. The next note I have on this bill was

9:26 a.m, It looks like there is a call that is

outgoing from Jason's phone to your number.

A. That would have been it then.

O. Okay. What did he say at that point in

time?

A. He said I am having a little hard timebreathing, could you turn the blower on.

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BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. I am going to go through that phone

record again. I will look at just Jason's record,

So, you said that he called you and you

went through the discussion you had. You thought itwas like 9:00, after 9:00 o'clock when you found

there was a problem in the silo?

A. No. I called Jason after I got done

with my barn chores. What specific time, I don'tknow, but it would have been after 9:OO.

A. And --

A, It could have been 1O:OO.

O. That's the night before, right?

A. Yes.

A. No, we are off that. We are in the

silo now.

A. Okay.

a. So, we are in the silo,

A. Oh, the next morning, I got you.

O. we had the 5:30 a.m. call?

A. Yep.

O. He said it was, okay. And then, by

your recollection, it was what time when you found

out there was an issue?

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And what did you do in response to that1Q.2 request?

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A. I immediately called down to Ray and

said they need air. Put my shoes on. And Eric

called right quickly afterward and said we are having

troubtes. And I said -- he said we can't breathe.

And I said, f already told them, Jason already called

me to turn the blower on. And I said, They are on

it, we have got it going. And he said, I told themthe blower won't work and that it was plugged.

O. I am sorry, I am going to interrupt.

Eric said in this phone call I told them, meaning,

Ray and Junior?

A. I have no idea. I told them --

O. These are Eric's words?

A. He had some adjectives. He was

swearing. And I said, Well, then come down thechute, and he said, I can't, it is plugged. And, so,

I headed into the room --

O. The silo room?

A. -- and there was no silage. And Istafted to walk down the manger and here came Nicki.

O. I am going to take a step back, because

you are going quick on th¡s and we got to take it

slower so I can understand it step-by-step.03/O2/2Ot7 01:18:42 PM Page 157 to 160 of 219 40 of 55 sheets

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1 So, you have a call with lason where he

2 indicates to you that they are having some difficulty

3 breathing, correct?

4 A. And we had the blower running.5 Q. And the next thing you said was you

6 then called Ray to get the blower running?

A. Right.

a. Where was Ray when you called him?

A. Right there.A. By right there, at the silo?

A. Someplace around the silo room oroutside.

A. You called Ray on a cell phone?

A. If I remember right.O. Att right.

A. I might have yelled out. I can'tremember.

a. Okay. And I understand that. You made

oral contact with Ray either on the phone or by

yelling?

A. Yeah.

O. Can you yell from the barn and be heard

by the silo?

A. I would have been on the front porch orsomething like that.

163

fill pipe. ft is a clasp.

O. why did they take that off?

A, To get the silage out of the tube.O. Because they tried to run the blower

and it wouldn't blow?

A. My impressioni never asked them.O. Okay. And in your assumption, it

wouldn't blow because the tube was filled with silage

or haylage? I am using them interchangeably.

A. Yeah, you would have to ask themexactly what they --

A. And they would have taken the band offto try and free it up?

A. Right.

a. Were they successful in that?

A. As far as I knew.

a. Well, did you follow-up?

A. But then paramedics came. I am notsure who called them, it was either Junior or Ray.

Although, they could have called from the silo, too.O. I am just trying to go through this as

a timeline step-by-step.

A. And they, the fire company, turned theblower off.

O. I understand that. The first call at

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162

A. Front porch of what?

A. My house.

A. So, you may have been in your house

when you took the call about -- if you remember, were

you in your house when you got Jason's call?

A. I would have had to have been becauseit was the only -- yeah, I know I was in the housewhen I took Jason's call. But I don't know -- fdon't recall Eric's, but it had to be in the housebecause it came quickly thereafter.

A. Okay, So, Jason calls, you either go

out on the porch or call from your phone to Ray

Allen?

A. Yeah.

O. And you say to Ray specifically what?

A. Jason needs air, turn the blower on.

O. Does Ray respond?

A. Yes.

O. What does he say?

A. They had thå blower going. And when Iwent -- when I went around the corner to see him,they had taken the band off, he said it was plugged,so they got it going.

a. what is the band?

A. It holds the red blower to the white

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1 9:30 from Eric -- I am sorry, from Jason and then

2 another conversation -- first thing you do is you get

3 a call from Jason. Then you go and you tell Ray to

4 get some air in there. And after that happens, Eric

5 calls and you and him have one of your discussions

6 where you apparently throw some expletives back and

7 forth?

A. It went from Jason being rather catm toEric being rather panicked.

O. In this call with Eric, what did Eric

say specifically that you remember?

A. He couldn't come down the chute, ¡t wasplugged. And I said I was just in there and there isnothing. And he said it is plugged up the chute.

A. You said you were just in there, in

where?

A. fn the silo room.

a. So, you went in the silo room?

A. Right. You remember the pile ofsilage?

O. Yes. You went in the room. You are

telling me when you went in the room after 9:30 the

chute wasn't blocked?

A. No.

O. It was fully open?

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,t65

I A. R¡ght.

2 Q. Why would they be having trouble

3 breathing or unable to get out?

4 A. It was plugged up in the chute.

5 Q. So--6 A. A¡most your head high.7 Q. Okay. We are going to look at 2. So,

I this is looking down?

A. up.

O. Up, okay.

A. My guess.

A. Let's say this is looking up. So, when

you looked, you could look up and you didn't see it

was blocked?

A. This area down here was opened(indicating). Do you have your pictures?

a. Yeah, You can look through and pick

whatever p¡cture you would like, if that helps you.

A. Well, it might help you understandbetter and we can move this along. Look for the one

with the pile of silage in front of it.All right, that's just what it looked

like. See the pile of silage?

O. I do.

A. Here is the chute. It was open. If I

167

I I have to, I don't want to lose the time frame in my

2 own mind,

3 The call to Eric, is that the call

4 where you told Eric that the chute is clear, come

5 down the chute because you had looked and got a quick

6 visual?

A. It was only one conversation with Eric.

A. After 9:30, did you have any

conversations with Jason or Eric?

A. No. I tried to call Jason, but,apparently, he was already in the chute.

O. And there is four -- there is about

four calls on the screen shot of Jason's phone.

MR. BOVENDER: We need to mark

this.

MR. LTGORIO: Yeah, we can do

that.

(At this time Wood

Exhibit Nos. 29 and 30 were marked


BY MR, LIGORIO:

O. The four missed calls -- I believe

that's what that means when the little phone is

there. You don't even have a cell phone, so you

won't know, but, apparently, there is a mark there

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stood you up --

a. This is 12, by the way, just so we

know. Okay. I got you. Keep going, Ron.

A. So, at a quick visible, you would say

everything -- that's why I said come down the chute.

O. All right. So, when you went and you

looked, you saw the bottom was open, but you said a

quick visual, you didn't bend over or stick your head

up and peer up?

A. R¡ght. That's not -- and it is not avery safe thing to do.

O. Stuff might come down on you?

A. Yeah; I mean, people drop forks.

O. But you ultimately found out that it

was blocked at some level above this?

A. Right. Nicki sa¡d to me. And,

apparently, Eric or somebody had called her, and you

are going to have to check all of that out. I wentup ¡n as far as I could, which was bas¡cally standingon th¡s rung. And with a bar and wiggling this cord,I unplugged as far as I could and there was stillsilage up in above that.

A. We are jumping ahead time-wise now.

A. Ail right.O. So, I hate to keep repeating myself but

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for missed calls. Could that be you trying to call

Jason at that point?


if he called Jason at that point or

asking him what is depicted in the

unmarked photograph?

MR. LIGORIO: Well, he probably

doesn't know what is in that.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. Did you try and call Jason at thatpoint in time?

A. I tried calling Jason one other time.O. Just one other time?

A. But, you know, I can't recall if Iasked somebody else standing at the base and used

their phone or whether I called, because I know Ileft the house when Jason had called shoÊlythereafter. But that's how quick Eric's call camefrom we are having a little difficulty to there isproblems.

A. So, you may have had somebody else

trying to call Jason or somebody else may have been

trying to call him, as well?

A. It is very hard to tell what was allgoing on at the same time.

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f Q. And anybody could have picked up that

2 phone in the barn and tried to call?

3 A. Yeah.

4 Q. What was your understanding of the

5 process of how the silage would be cleared from the

6 chute?

A. They were throwing it in calts or he

put it under here, But it's obvious from the pile

here that they must have been throwing out more

silage than they could take away, because when I wentin, there was piles of silage all over and out around

the corner on the wall.

O. When you went in to look in the chute,

was anyone there? Was Junior Bartlett or Ray Allen

there?

A. They were getting the blower going.

O. They were?

A. By that time they weren't throwinganymore.

O. When did they stop throwing?

A. I am not sure.

O. Did they stop throwing because you told

them to stop throwing or had they already stopped

throwing at that point in time?

A. The only thing I saur was the police

171

wet. But I doubt that, but it is the only otherpossibility that f know of.

O. And you were aware --

A. It had to be one of the two.O. And you are aware that is something

that could happen in the chute, that it could bridge

and block?

A. Yes.

A. Had that happened before on the farm in

any of your silos?

A. I have been in a silo before that --

O. That?

A. -- that had some silage backed -- Imean, you really look for it.

a, What do you see if it happens? What do

you do when it happens?

A. You look for daylight.

O. What if you can't see daylight?

A. You stop throwing.

A. Then what do you do?

A. Then you can go down.

O. Well, how can you go down if it is

filled with haylage?

A. You don't go down the chute after -- Imean, you can see how far it is. I am talking about

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report that sa¡d Eric said they stopped. That's all-- I have no idea --

O. -- when they stopped?

A. Other than Jason called me and thenEric called me.

O. So, you weren't watching them out there

in the process?

A. f thought I had lots of help there and

r--O. It does seem that what actually

happened or part of it was, just like you said, they

weren't getting this cleared fast enough, Jason and

Eric were throwing -- pitching haylage down the

chute, and the chute backed up. It does appear, from

what you could tell, what happened; fair enough?

A. The only other exptanation would be

that it bridged.

O. What does that mean?

A. Well, when you are throwing someth¡ng

down and it bridges across.

O. Okay, So, just formed a block higher

up?

A. Well, you have these steps -- and Ihave seen it do it before -- that ¡t starts buildingup and you get a little pile and it bridges if it is

172

you just looked down two minutes ago and there wasdaylight and suddenly there isn't. And you can kick

through or you can yell for somebody to get it out ofthe way. I don't know what transpired and you are

asking me quest¡ons that I can't honestly answer.

A. I am asking you in a general sense

because you know an awful lot about silos, fair

enough, and working in them?

A. But you are still asking me to try and

tell you what happened and f don't know.

O. All right. We can ask Mr. Allen and

Mr. Bartlett. They will have more knowledge because

they were directly there,

A. That would probably be the smart.

O. Other than the cell phones and your

phone in the barn, there was no way to communicate

from inside the silo with somebody outside the silo?

A. Oh, no, I always -- before they had

cell phones.

O. What did you do, yell?

A. Yeah. I mean, ¡t vìras no big problem.

O. How far down from the top of the silo

were they when they realized they were trapped?

A. 15 feet, from what Jason said. That

was, also -- I discussed that with him when I first

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talked with him at 5:30, how far had it settled.

A. Because I am pretty sure I asked you to

tell me everyth¡ng you remembered about the phone

call and you didn't tell me that. I am not saying

you hid it from me, but is that something that your

memory has been jogged?

A. No, I just recall that it had been --and I said to him how far down are you, and he said

three doors, which would be about 15 feet.

A. And that was at 5:30 in the morning?

A. Yep. So, that's how much the silo had

settled overnight from above the concrete.

A. Why couldn't he climb out the top?

A. t5 feet.

O. No way to reach up to the top?

A. No. The unloader runs around the siloon the edge of the concrete and it has chipper wheelsthat take that silage off; so, any obstruct¡ons outin the way, your doors fit exactly in to give a flushsurface. So, you can't have anything hanging down.It would entangle anything with an unloader.

a. I just have a few more documents to

talk about. First is the W-2 form. This is all

stuff you would have seen.

I will try to move a little quickly on

175

A. Right. She needs to have his name, hisdate of birth and address. And this would be singlewith one and g5O.

O. And that would generate this check that

was issued for over i43.74? That's the next object Iam showing you, which is the actual payroll journal

showing a payment to Jason Kingsley. There is a date

of 6/11/15 on it?

A. Yes.

a. So, the first document is what you give

to Don White and then in response to that, theygenerate the second document, which is a copy of the

check stub?

MR. BOVENDER: He just testified

the first one is not his handwriting.

THE WITNESS: I would have given

Carrie that works in payroll.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. So, you may have verbally given her

that information?

A. Oh, yeah, I usualty do.

A. And then she would have written itdown -- I understand it's an assumption to some

extent -- in order to generate the check to Jason

Kingsley?

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that. That's the 2009 W-2 form when Jason worked foryou in 2009; fair enough?

A. yes.

(At this time Wood.

Exh¡bit No. 31 was marked


BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. Okay. I don't know what this is, Itsays Jason Kingsley, has his date of birth, looks

like an address, and then it says S-1, 950, That was

part of payroll journal --

A. That would have been what I took inpayroll.

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. Okay. So, is this your writing?

A. No.

a. Do you know whose writing it is?

A. Probably somebody at White's.

O. So, when you say what you took into

payroll, you would go up to White and say this is

what somebody who worked here, that's the payroll forhim?

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A. Right.

a. Of course, it was done after he died;

fair enough?

A. Right. Wednesdays were paydays,

(At this time Wood



BY MR, LIGORIO:

a, This is the W-2 form for 2015 forJason, correct?

A. Yes.

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. That's issued based on information you

provide to Don White; fair enough? I am looking at a

FAX I received and it has got The Real Estaters of

Mansfield. It's from RobertT. Wood.

A. That's my brother.

O. What is his involvement?

A. I had to use h¡s FAX.

a. That's the only involvement, you used

his FAX machine?

A. um-hum.

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A. This document was FAX'd -- I don't know

what this is. Do you recall FAX'g th¡s and what it

is or why you did it?

A. I don't know what goes with it.a. Okay. I am assuming maybe the report

of injury?

A. Oh, yeah, I think this guy was involved

with Workers'Comp and I think he was retiring.MR. BOVENDERI Don, I am going to

ask that we mark these now so when he is

pointing to things, we can note in the

record. It is gett¡ng awfully messy.

MR. LIGORIO: Let's mark it the

next number.

THE WITNESS: That was Workers'

Comp.

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. Did Mr. Davies call you and say he

needed information regarding this incident? Is that

happened, if you remember?

A. Can't remember.

MR. BOVENDER: We are looking at

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MR. BOVENDER: Yeah.

MR. LIGORIO: All right, we will

mark it.

MR, BOVENDER: Just so it is clear

for the record, the FAX is 35, the

employer's report is 36.

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. As far as the FAX, that looks like a

FAX you sent to the State Workers' Insurance Fund,

you are just not sure what you included with it?

A. Rishr.

O. Okay. This looks like -- well, you

tell me, what do you think that is, if you know? Itlooks like part of a Workers' Compensation audit, to

me.

A. what is rsr?O. I don't know. I am only asking if you

know. If you don't know what it is --

A. It looks like something, perhaps, Duane

had issued or Don White's office had issued because

it has actual an estimate.

a. Let me take a look at it,

178

what is going to be marked as Wood 35.

THE WITNESS: If I could see what

went with it, I could tell you.

BY MR. LIGORIOI

O. I am not sure this went with it, but

this was close proximity to it.

MR. BOVENDER: What do you mean itwas in close proxlmity to it?

MR. LIGORIO: You know what, Idon't know if --

MR. BOVENDER: Ask him what it is

and stop. I am going to ask you to be

sworn if you are going to testify, Don,

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Do you know what it is?

A. It is an acc¡dent report.

A. Do you know whether that went with the

FAX or not?

A. I really don't, because this would have

been produced and sent to me. There must have been

something -- I don't know.

O. okay, that's fair enough.

MR. LIGORIO: I won't mark that

since he didn't say anything about it.

Or do you want it marked?

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A. Principals -- I am not really sure.(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. Okay. These are documents that were

produced by you and your counsel, This looks like

another Workers' Comp audit or some type of audit.

Okay. It says audit on it, an audit date from 2010.

And it will ask you a few questions about it.

It lists the principals of Gor-Wood D

Holsteins as Ronald Wood, Gordon Wood, and Timothy

Wood, Those are the three partners in Gor-Wood

Holsteins, at least as of 2010, correct?

A. Correct.

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. I have another document from a Workers'

Compensation audit. Again, this was for the policy

period of 5/IlL4 through 5/IlL5. There is a whole

bunch of names. I am going to try to read them to

you just so I can find out if they are your employees

or Tim's, because this would include both yours and

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181

I Tim's employees for Gor-Wood D Holsteins, is that2 right?

A. Yes.

a. So, Tanya Abbot?

MR. BOVENDER: Do you know that ¡s

what that reflects?

THE WITNESS: I am not sure until

he starts reading them.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Well, I will tell you again, you

produced this document. And this says, audit

summary, policy period 5/U14 to 5/LlL5.A. who is it from?

a. I believe it is a Workers' Comp audit

from the State Workers' Insurance Fund, That's the

carrier listed. We talked about these audits before,

how you went through them.

A. It might be something that Duane had

done. This is not a format I am familiar with.O. I understand that. I w¡ll just ask you

these names.

A. Okay.

O. You can tell me as of June 7th of 2015,

whether these individuals worked for you, Tim, or

both; okay?

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183

MR. BOVENDER: Is that a copy of

2 that?

3 MR. LIGORIO: No, they are

4 different.

5 THE WITNESS: The next one is

6 Raymond. That's mine.

7 BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. I know Ray is yours. Patrick Aumick?

A. He worked briefly.

a. Nathan Ayres?

A. He worked briefly. He worked for Tim.

A. Harold Bartlett, we know he was working

for you?

A. Yep.

a. John Borger?

A. With Tim.

a. I can't read that, something Bruce?

A. Tim. It was Bruce.

O. Merle Cole?

A. Briefly, if you could get him out ofjail enough.

a. Sharon -- and is it Ganiz or Corinz?

A. I don't know. That must have been downat T¡m's because I d¡dn't have any Sharon.

a. Corey George?

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182

A. What happens if they weren't workingbut had worked previously?

A. Whatever you remember about them, who

they worked for. Again, this is from June of 2014

through June of 2015.

A. Risht.

a. Or, actually, May. It is May -- the

audit period says May I, 20t4, through May 1, 2015.

Talk about that period of t¡me.

A. Let's see what we come up with.A. Tanya Abbot?

A. who?

O. Tanya Abbot?

A. Oh, that is Nicole's girlfriend. Ihired her briefly to feed some calves.

A. Jake Adams?

A. Gone.

A. Did he work for you at that time?

A. He worked briefly. He was in troublewith the law.

a. Somebody Adams, Lori Adams, maybe?

That's tough to read. Did you have an Adams working

for you?

A. I have no idea who that is.

O. okay.

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184

A. He helped Tim.

O. He was the fellow that was killed, as

well?

A. It was my nephew.

O. When he was killed, he was working for

Tim?

A. He did field work.

O. For you, Tim, or both?

A. Both.

a. Geoffrey ceorge?

A. That's his brother. He is Tim'sstepson.

O. Did he work for you in this period of

time?

A. Not in this.

A. He may have over the years?

A. It would have been the previous fall.They may have helped fill some silo.

O. Thomas Gruver?

A. He worked for Tim.

O. Clayton Jones?

A. He worked for me. He got picked up.

A. Picked up as an extra?

A. No.

O. Picked up by the law?03/02/2017 01:18:42 PM Page 181 to 184 of 219 46 of 55 sheets

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185

A. Yeah.

a. Clayton Jones?

A. That's what you just read.

A. I did. Scott Krause?

A. He is my feeder. He is there.O. He is still there?

A. Yeah.

A. Mr. Bartlett is no longer there, right?

A. No.

O. Was he terminated or did he quit?

A. Terminated.

O. why?

A. well, he had his hands between the milktester's legs from behind, but him and I had had an

altercation and I threw him out of my house, so.

O. I will ask him about that. Is that a

Glen Layser?

A. He was just temporary. He spread somemanure for me.

A. Margie McClure?

A. Tim.

O. Mark Oakley?

A. T¡m.

O. Is he related to Nicole?

A. Father.

187

a. Jesse --

A. And Jesse Truit had helped me and thenwent to work at Tim's, but I don't know if it wasthat year or when.

A. Okay. There was some talk about

Jason's sister, Kristen, and a boyfriend, Jesse, who

worked on the farm?

A. I don't know who her boyfriend is.

A. Okay. It was back in 2009, so you may

not remember, You don't have any memory of that?

A. No.

O. In your Answers to Interrogatories,

when I asked about who may have seen Jason working on

the farm between 2009 and 2015, you mentioned that

his sister would visit him there?

A. H¡s s¡ster -- f don't know what years

it was, but X remember his sister coming up and Isaid attractive girl. The thing I remember the mostis she had this Pug dog that I got quite a kick outof.

a. Was that probably back in 2009 when he

was working steady?

A. Could be, yeah, probably.

O. okay.

A. And then he briefly lived with her for

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186

Nicole works for you, we know that,

Yeah.

Does she still work for you?

Yes.

Kevin Peoman?

Oh, he worked for Tim. He was a schoolboy.

a. I can't read that one, Sterling Rogers?

A. Sterling Rogers. He was mine, brief.O. Michael Snay, we talked about him

before?

A. On and off, brief, works two weeks,leaves for a month.

A. Terry Sargent?

A. No, he only worked briefly.

O. Warren Squire?

A. He helped Tim.

O. Eric stone we know.

A. Yeah.

O. I can't read that one. Jesse Truit. Ithink his name is Colt, right, Taber?

A. Colt, oh, he was a boy that helped me.

But he just was periodic. His mother would only lethim work so many hours.

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a.

A.

o.A.

a.A.

right?

188

I a while and I would see him on the street or2 whatever.

3 (At th¡s time Wood

4 Exhibit No. 39 was marked

5 for identification,)

6 BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. Tell me, in your opinion, why this

happened.

A. I don't know.

O. Fair enough.

A. I honestly don't know. I ask myselfwhy every night.

A. Can you think of anything you could

have done to prevent it?

A. I had four people -- you run it throughyour head night after night after night. I have manyscenarios that I think somet¡mes why didn't I do th¡sor why did he do this or why didn't they do this and

none of them come up the r¡ght answer.

a. Okay. Give me a few minutes. I am

just about done.

Would the individuals from Cole Farms

recognize when the filler tube was blocked?

A. Not unless it stopped the blower and

the silage would start runn¡ng over on the ground and

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189

then, perhaps, the table would plug if you didn'tshut off quick enough.

a. Do you know if that, in fact, happened

in this case or not?

A. It would stall off the tractor, also,if it plugs hard.

A. Didn't that have to happen? It was

plugged all the way. Ultimately, you determined that

it was completely plugged.

A. No, f don't know that. It would ptug.

That doesn't mean it plugged all the way.

A. Well, at any time was a¡r able to be

pushed through it?

A. No. I am saying lots of times when you

take the silo pipe out, ¡t is only blocked for ashort distance, l¡ke maybe l0r 20 feet. Sometimes itis only blocked in the middle of the silo. It is an

odd thing.

O. So, again, it is wet haylage, so

that -- you called it a bridge and the other thing,

but it can clump up and block the tube?

A. R¡ght. f remember I had a screw as bigas this t¡p (¡nd¡cat¡ng) and we couldn't f¡gure outwhy it wouldn't work and ¡t was bridging around thatscrew.

191

O. I am talking about the fill pipe.

A. You are talking about Sunday night?

A. I am talking about the fill pipe now.

And maybe I lost you.

A. No, but you are talking about Sundaynight when we finished up.

O. Sunday night you knew it was blocked?

A. I sa¡d ¡t was all shut down. What all

enta¡led, I don't know. And I had made theassumption that Eric was out there taking ¡t apart.But, apparently -- and I didn't know he had not --his fork sat there. I was yelling up the silo tohim.

a. His what sat there?

A. His fork. I thought he was go¡ng totake a fork --

O. Pitchfork?

A. -- up the silo.

O. So, your anticipation was Eric would

unblock the filler tube at some point on Sunday

night?

A. I thought he was up the silo, and he

had gone home.

O. When you met with Ron Wood and Denise

Kingsley after this, what did you tell them?

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190

O. So, any little object that gets mixed

in with the haylage, especially when ¡t is wet --

A. No, because it's such a bulky, longer,fibery substance. But airflow ¡s ¡nterest¡ng. Itworks the same blowing up the silo.

O. well--A. It backs up.

A. In the past, the tube would become

blocked on numerous occasions, it sounds like, forvarious reasons?

A. Yeah, it was an ongo¡ng -- that was one

thing you watched for. But ¡t wasn't because thesilo was full.

a. Okay. Who was watching for that while

Eric Stone and Jason were in the silo?

MR. BOVENDER: Watching for what?

BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. Watching for the tube to be blocked.

A. Apparently, ¡t d¡dn't that day, I don'tknow.

O. Well, again, it blocked because no airgot into the silo; we know that.

MR. BOVENDER: Are you talking

about the fill pipe or the chute?

BY MR, LIGORIO:

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MR. BOVENDER: Ron Wood?

BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. Not Ron Wood, John Kingsley and Denise

Kingsley, you did meet with them a couple days after?

A. I called them and I told them that Iowed them an explanation of, anyth¡ng that I knew,and he said f would like to come up.

a. And they came up?

A. And we did a walk-through. I told themwhat I knew. They did a visual. And that was that.

O. What specifically did you tell them?

A. Oh, I can't recall. I told them -- Mr.

Kingsley was under the impression that his son had

been buried, and it took four explanat¡ons over thecourse of a little period of t¡me to make him -- justlike explaining to you, he did not quite grasp his

son was working on top of silage. He was under theimpression we had blown it in on top of him and hadburied him alive or --

a. What did you tell him had happened?

A. I told him he had went out ¡nto thesilo chute and --

O. And what?

A. From my understanding and the way hecame out, he was upside down.

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193

O. But did you tell them what the cause of

the incident was or why he --

A. Lack of oxygen. I don't know.

MR. BOVENDER: The question was

did you tell them? He is asking you

specifically what did you tell John and

Denise Kingsley.

THE WITNESS: Honestly, the

hardest thing for me to do was face

them.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. I understand that.

A. I just tried to tell them what I could.

And ¡t was not an easy th¡ng to do.

O. I am asking you -- I know it wasn't

easy. I am not saying it was. I am asking you ifyou remember the specifics. If you don't know,

that's fine.

A. I remember po¡nt¡ng out what the chutewas, where his son was, how wide the silo was. He

wanted to know how the silage was blowed in, who wasdoing what. And I couldn't give him all of those

answers, but I answered as much as he asked me. But

I couldn't tell you exact¡y what I said at thatpaft¡cular t¡me. ft was just basically try¡ng to

195

very wet, Tell me what you recall.

A. Well, haylage normally goes up at 62 to72 petcent mo¡sture, so.

O. Was this haylage wetter than usual or

typical?

A. Typical, but it was ctover and alfalfa

and grass.


A. It could get pretty rich.


A. G¡ves off an odor. I mean, you would

know the difference.

O. So, this was, in your opinion --

A. It's just like pure gráss s¡lage

instead of haylage. Pure grass silage gives off --

it sticks to your clothes, that sort of thing.

O. That's what this was? There was a lot

of --

A. It was a nice mix of tegumes and grass.

It was nice stuff.MR. BOVENDER: Ron, you have to

let him ask the whole question before

you give an answer.

BY MR, LIGORIO:

O. By nice stuff, there is statements in

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194

tell him your son was not buried, we were not blowings¡¡age ¡n on top of h¡m, and I was try¡ng to put him

at ease that way. But --

O. Mr. Kingsley testified and Mrs.

Kingsley that you grabbed silage or haylage and

squeezed it and it was wet and water was coming out

of it; do you recall doing that?

A. No.

O. Is it possible you did that and don't

recall?

A. Yeah, I don't know whether he wouldhave -- why he would have requested or --

O. well, he didn't say --

A. I guess I was try¡ng to show him themo¡sture level, maybe, that --

O. Why would you want to show him the

mo¡sture level of the silage?

A. Just to show h¡m that the silage, ofwhat it was. He had no idea of what was go¡ng on

that day. And, so, I am guessing that we stood atthe base of the chute where there was haylage layingthere and I think I was showing him the material.But his testimony is I said f could ring water out of¡t?

O. Well, something to that effect, it was

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the police report it was wet and ¡t was sticking to

everything, the way you described it?

MR. BOVENDER: Note my

objection --

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Do you agree with that?

MR. BOVENDER: -- to the form.

, THE WITNESS: I did not think ¡t

was overly wet for haylage.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. You were investigated for this by OSHA

and I have a whole bunch of notes from the OSHA

inspector. And one of the things that they

investigated was how many employees you have. Do you

recall that?

A. Yeah.

O. And you were very clear that you never

had 10 employeês at any specific Aiven time?

A. Yeah. That was his conclus¡on.

MR. BOVENDER: Wait until there is

a question.

THE WITNESS: Oh, excuse me.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. I am going to show you a document and

this is in the OSHA report, It is Page 149.

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MR. BOVENDER: Which of these were

you reading off the list?

MR. LIGORIO: I was kind of going

back and forth between both of them but

let me look at the dates.

I referred to both of them when Iwas reading the names. I can tell you

that,

MR. BOVENDER: So, you referred to

38 and 39. And now 40 is marked.

(At this time Wood


for identification. )BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. I understand this isn't your document,

you didn't create it.

A. No, I don't understand.

O. What I am going to draw your attention

to is there is something there that says hired to do

a one-day job off the books at the time of the

fatality 6/8/20L5. And it says, No. 10, Jason

Kingsley, deceased.

Who is that referring to, if you know?

MR. BOVENDER: Who is what

referring to?

199

person you hired to do a one-day job, that you

recall?

A. AfterJune 8th?

O. Before. Let's say in the month before.

A. In the month before?

O. That you hired to do a one-day job offthe books.

A, Not unless it would have been like afoot trimmer, a veÇ and they would have been a perhour basis.

O. Can you give me the name of anyone you

hired in 2015, prior to lune B,2OL5, to do a one-day

job? So, go from January L,2075, to June 8,20L5,can you name anyone that you hired to do a one-dayjob off the books?

A. I have a guy right now.

a. I am not asking you about right now, Iam asking you about that time frame,

A. I am not sure where -- can I ask youwhere this came from?

O. That's from the OSHA file. That's from

the OSHA investigator's notes. You did speak to the

OSHA investigator, correct?

A. Yeah, but --O. okay.

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I BY MR. LIGORIO:

2 Q. That statement, hired to do a one-day

3 job off the books at the time of the fatality,4 6/8/Ls.5

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to the form. You are assuming an awful

lot.

THE WITNESS: I don't know.

MR. LIGORIO: If he doesn't know,

he doesn't know.

MR. BOVENDER: Can we mark the

exhibit and do at least one or two

foundational questions, please?

MR. LIGORIO: It is my deposition,

I will do it the way I want.

MR. BOVENDER: No, you don't get

to do it the way you want, you do it the

way the rules require.

MR. LIGORIO: Let's not do this.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Let me ask you a question. t am

showing you a document. Did you hire somebody else

on June 8,20L5, other than lason Kingsley?

A. No.

O. As of June 8, 2015, was there any other

200

A. I am wondering if he is confused thefact that Jason died on the same day he started andcalled it one day.

a. I am just asking you a question now.

You can't decide what is in his mind, whoever wrote

that. I understand you didn't write that document.

What I am asking you is did you hire anybody else offthe books to do a one-day job in the months leading

up to June 8, 2015?

A. No. I will say no. It is apossibility, but I will say no.

a. Who responded to the OSHA investigator

and provided them with information regarding how many

employees you had and what they did?

A. The OSHA investigator talked toeveryone, as far as I know.

A. When he was asking about who the

employees of Gor-Wood Holsteins or the farm you were

operating as of that date, who was the person who

gave that information?

A. I would have given him some, mybookkeeper, Don White's office. They had access towhatever they wanted.

a. Who could have given him information

about a person working there for one day, other than

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you?

MR, BOVENDER: He just identified.

THE WITNESS: I am telling you, Idon't know whether he reached this

conclusion because he worked and died on

the same day.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. Well, what does off the books have to

do with him working and dying on the same day?

A. f didn't say anyth¡ng about off thebooks.

O. Did you plan to pay Jason off the books

for that job?

A. No.

O. Why would you all of a sudden for thatjob want to put him on the books, when, in the times

he worked between 2009 and 2015, you didn't put him

on the books? Why all of a sudden did you intend toput him on the books for a shortjob?


to the form, you could answer.

THE WITNESS: There were instances

with Jason where he had come in and Ihad paid him cash. But it was never a

one-day basis. It might be for a week.

203

work?

A. After, yeah, after Eric and Jason,yeah.

A. And even though you lost two people,

you didn't need to hire anybody extra to do that work

that Jason was going to do?



THE WITNESS: Scott Krause helped

her. Merle Cole helped a little bit.

So, I was having people help.

BY MR, LIGORIO:

O. Were those people that were working on

the farm already at that time?

A. Merle wasn't. He was out of prison

briefly.

A. So, you specifically hired Merle Cole

to do this work after June 8, 2015?

A. You have to understand the situation,he was paroled and then called back on hearings.

a. I am not interested in the situation.

A. No, ¡t ended up being like three days,

but --

a. Did Merle Cole come in and work on

capping these silos after June 8, 2015?

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BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. Why did you put him on the books on

this occasion?

A. Because he intended to work for twoweeks and I had that much work to do.

A. When did he tell you he intended to

work for two weeks?

A. He said -- I told you before, he had

two weeks that he could give me a hand.

O. What were the other tasks he was going

to do other than unloading the silo?

A. There would have been anywheres fromfour to five, maybe six silos, if we filled that forsilo, and I would have had him capping silos and thenleveling off so we could keep going. But, can I alsotell you that, generally, you remember me saying thatthe silage had settled 15 feet.

O. um-hum.

A. As a general rule, you refill. you

refill once, maybe twice to use the full capacity ofyour silo. So, that would involve leveling off. And

the ideal thing is to have somebody leveling whileyou move the silage and then finally when you areready, you cap them.

O. And, ultimately, Nicki Oakley did that

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204

A. He may have worked on one or two.O. He may have?

A. Yeah, f can't remember whether ¡t wasone or two.

A. Well, we will have payroll records that

would establish when Merle Cole worked; fair enough?

A. r think.

O. Who is the other person?

A. The feeder, Scott Krause.

O. Is he a regular employee of the farm?

A; Yeah.

O. So, he wasn't brought on extra?

A. No.

O. So, the only person you may have

brought on extra was possibly Merle Cole for two or

Yeah.

You can't think of anybody else?

No. Things got t¡ght.(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. This is a letter you wrote to John

Kingsley?

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?days

A.

a.A.

rh ree

51 of 55 sheets Page 201 to 204 of 2I9 O3|O2/20I7 01:18:42 PM

205

I A. Yeah.

2 Q. Do you know when you mailed this?

3 A. Not really. It was like a week or two4 afterward, because I was embarrassed to have to send5 $so.

O. So, you acknowledge it was a few weeks

before you sent the check?

A. A weeþ maybe.

O. A week or two?

A. If I recall. I am not even sure witheveryth¡ng going on, because Wednesday was payday, Ican't even recall. You would have to check those

dates because it was crazy.

O. I am going to go down to the third to

last or fourth to last sentence, It says, "He was

only trying to help me out," What did you mean by

that?

A. That's how Jason was, he would stop up

and say do you need any help.

O. You said, "How could Jason lose his

life performing a simple act of kindness?" And Iknow it sounds obvious, but what did you mean by

that?

A. Simple act of kindness.

A. To help you with the problem?

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207

check, correct? That's your signature on the check

or is it?

A. No.

O. So, whose signature is it on the check?

A. I don't know. It has to be -- maybe ¡t

is Don White. That's what it looks like to me.

O. Is that how it works, Don signs the

payroll checks?

A. I don't look at the men's checks

normally.

O. I understand,

A. f get a sheet saying what was deducted

but -- and --

(At this time Wood



BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. I am just going to look at my notes.

A. It Iooks like Donald Wh¡te wrote them.

O. Do you know whether Junior Bartlett

and/or Ray Allen at some point stopped clearing the

silage?

A. That would be my assumption.

O. But you can't tell me when that would

have happened or why they left or anything like that?

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206

A. Yeah. I mean, the factthat he stopped

in the field just seemed like Providence put him

there. And if you could just a hundred t¡mes w¡shed

I never called him.

O. And I know you weren't certain about

the check being with that, but I think the check was

attached with that letter. You think that's probably

what you did?

A. Yeah, I putthe check, you know, inwith the check, because that was a very embarrass¡ng

thing to have to do.

O. okay,

MR. BOVENDER: And what is that

check dated?

THE WITNESS: 6/tt.MR. BOVENDER: What year?

THE WITNESS: 2015.

MR. BOVENDER: Thank you.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

A. That's the date that it was actually

generated by Don White?

A. Yeah.

O. As far as you know?

A. r didn't have any.

O. You didn't write out -- you signed the

208

A. You would have to ask Junior. I had

called Ray and said that maybe we should move thetable around to the other silo because the silo room

had to be getting full.

O. Do you know what time you did that?

A. 9:oo-ish, shortly after.

O. So, you called Ray and suggested that

he do what? I apologize, I lost you there a little

bit. Move the table?

A. R¡ght, so that they could keep going,

I knew they had to be running out of space because he

had been throwing since 5:3O. Whether or not therewas -- there seems to have been a breakdown incommunication, I don't know.

A. You really weren't personally

supervising what was happening with this?


to the form.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. You can answer.

A. No.

O. You weren't supervising at all, for

that matter?


to the form.

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THE WITNESS: I put people there.

They were adults, They all had been in

the situation, They had all done these

things. I am not sure what happened,

MR, LIGORIO: Okay, That's all Ihave,

THE WITNESS: It is very hard.

Maybe you can find out more, but it is

very hard for me to ask.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

a. Okay. So, you haven't had a lot of

discussions?

A. Eric refused to talk.O. Have you discussed this specifically

with Mr. Bartlett and Mr, Allen?

A. Junior, you will see, f tried. I asked

him what had happened. I asked him ifanybody hadcalled or yelled up the silo to stop. The only thingI got was no.

O. What about Ray Allen?

A. He said that he went out to move thetable or to unload the table and that's when thephone calls started.

O. Immediately or was there a gap in time?

A. I am not sure.

210

O. Does Ray Allen still work for you?

A. Yeah.

O. So, he is still there and he is still

your employee?

A. Um-hum, yes.

MR, LIGORIO: All right. Okay.

All right, that's all I have.

EXAMINATION BY MR. BOVENDER:

a. Mr. Kingsley -- I am sorry, Mr, Wood,

after June 5th, when Jason came to the farm, what did

you intend to have Jason do at the farm?

A. Work in the silos.

O. Okay. How many times on a given year

would your dairy farm engage in loading, leveling,

and capping silos?

A. Essent¡ally, twice a year. But theremight be an instance where there would be a need forone silo, but that wouldn't call for anyth¡ng extra.

a. How many silos are on your farm? And

by your farm, I mean the farm at 763 Gor-Wood Road.

A. Six. Do you tvânt to know the sizes?

O. Yes.

A. The one is24X7O, t8X7O, ZZOXÛO

and then a 2O X 6O down betow, and then another silo

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up front that is 16 X 50, 52.

A. And in June of 2015, how many of those

silos did you intend on filling?

A. As many as was necessary, but I wouldsay at least four, probably five.

O. okay.

A. The Iittle silo, as a general rule, weonly used for corn silage because ¡t was quite hardto access that.

A. How long does it take to fill, level,

and cap one silo?

A. Well, again, it would depend on thesize of the silo. The 18 --

a. Let's walk through each one. Let's

walk through each silo.

A. The 18, as a generat, we fiiled it onone day. Under ideal circumstances, you would havecome back in two days and refilled it. At thatpoint, you might have capped ¡t or you might have

seen how much it settles and decided we can put somemore in here.

a. Would you repeat that process for

filling for each of the five silos you just indicated

you intended to fill in June 2015?

A. Yes.

212

1 Q. Okay, If this incident hadn't happened

2 with Jason on June 8, 2015, what did you intend to

3 have Jason do while he was employed at the farm?

4 A. Leveling and capping.

5 Q. And would that be the leveling and

6 capping for the remaining four silos?

7 A. Plus that one he was in.I Q. So, leveling and capping for five

9 silos?

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A. Right The only reason Jason hadn'tcome on Saturday is my chopper hadn't arrived yet.

a. Are you able to give an approximation

as to how long it would have taken to have filled,

leveled, and capped the remaining four silos in June

of 2015?

A. Generally, ¡t has taken us two weeks, aweek and a half. If you get a lot of rain and can'tget onto the fields or have to let it to dry out, you

could be looking at three weeks.

O. Okay, Is one and a half to three weeks

a fair approximation, given the variables you just

ment¡oned?

A. Yes.

MR. BOVENDER: I have nothing

further for you. Thank you.53 of 55 sheets Page 209 to 2t2 of 2I9 O3/O2/20I7 01:18:42 PM

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213

1

2 FURTHER EXAMINATION BY MR. LIGORIO:

3 Q. Jason wasn't involved at all in filling

4 the silos?


to the form,

THE WITNESS: No.

MR. LIGORIO: What is wrong with

the form? I asked him a simple

question.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. How long does it take to fill the

silos? You told us before that takes almost a whole

day.

A. That was an l8-foot silo. The 24 mighttake three and a hatf, four days.

O. And that's the process of Cole coming

in, pumping the haylage in there?

A. Blowing the haylage.

A. Blowing it. I am using pump.

A. Yes.

O. Leveling and capping a silo, how long

does that take?

A. On a good daç two, on a bad day fouror five.

215

MR. LIGORIO: Until I get an

answer,

MR. BOVENDER: He has answered

three times.

THE WITNESS: I did. I said Ican't recall anybody else. The

neighbors came over to help but never

went in,

BY MR, LIGORIO:

O. When you say the neighbors came over to

help?

A. The next day.

O. They asked if you needed a hand?

A. Risht.

O. I am sorry, I don't want to cut you

off.

A. And they decided that they didn't wantto go in the silo, either.

O. When you talk about the intentions ofJason working, obviously, that's what your intent¡ons

were, what you are telling us today; fair enough? To

have him help with the silos to pretty much level and

cap?


to the form as compound.

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214

O. So, you are talking about leveling and

capping four or five silos for a few hours at a timetwice a year?

A. But you need to understand that is fouror five hours working in a sauna.

O. I understand it is hard work. Okay.

A. You have no idea how the heat is.

O. I understand that, And you also agree

that other than potentially, maybe, Merle Cole,

before he went to jail, working for a few days on

leveling and capping, the rest of it was handled byyour regular employees?

A. I had nobody. We tried to find -- andif I remember right, I am not sure if Scott Krause'sson came in to help us milk a little bit or not so

that Nicki could do it. But I had to free her up.

O. But you can't give me a name of anyone

who you brought in to do it, other than, potentially,

Merle Cole?

A. I know Merle did some and then theypicked him up again.

O. And you can't give me a name of anyone

else?

MR. BOVENDER: How many times areyou going to ask him?

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THE WITNESS: My intent was to use

him. And Jason had implied to me thathe had, roughly, two weeks, And I knew

he was working at the gas wells. He

said it had slowed down some, And Ithought that is going to work out really

good.

BY MR. LIGORIO:

O. You also mentioned the only reason he

didn't come in Saturday was because the filling

wasn't done?

A. No, I said the reason f didn't callhim. I had left it that I would call him.

O. If you needed help?

A. Well, I wasn't sure when the harvesterwould pull in.

O. So, you are going to tell us today thatyou were going to call him regardless of whether ornot the unloader got blocked?

A. Oh, yeah.

O. But that's not relayed in your phone

message in any sense?

A. No.

O. And you didn't have any other specific

conversations with Jason where you relayed that to

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217

him?

A. I left a message on the phone that isthat something that he thought he could do or if that-- because f wasn't sure he wanted to do that.

O. Okay. When you say you left a message,

the only message you left him was the one we heard?

A. Yeah.

O. okay.

A. That they had buried an unloader and Iwasn't sure because that was not someth¡ng that hehad normally done. It was more than capping and --

O. But you didn't call him, you knew thatyou were going to?

A. He would have been called to cap andfill that silo and the next ones and the next ones.

O. But you knew the silo was going to be

filled on the Sunday, correct?

A. No.

O. okay.

A. No.

O. You knew they were filling it on

Sunday?

A. But I iust explained to you that wewould probably come back and refill.

a. All right. So, you would wait another

218

day for it to sink?

A. No, normally, I might have called Jasonafter we refilled it twice.

O. Which could have taken a few more days?

A. Although, if we had to level it off, hewould have probably come over and done that.Somet¡mes you level ¡t between filling.

A. And you are telling us what your plans

in your mind were at this po¡nt in time?

A. That's what you asked.

A. Okay, I understand that. you didn't

relay these plans to anyone else?

A. Well, Jason and I had talked.A. But you told me everything you talked

about and you didn't say that you had this back and

forth discussion?

A. That he had two weeks and I wasthinking, okay, how can I use him for two weeks.This is going to work out really good. We arefilling silo.

A. I understand that. I am just trying

to -- there is a difference between what you have inyour mind and what Jason had in his mind. Obviously,

we can't ask Jason what was in his mind at this point

in time.

25

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219

But you know what, I am going to drop

it because I did ask him about it before and his

answers are his answers.

MR. LIGORIO: So, that's it.MR. BOVENDER: Mr. Wood, I have

nothing else for you.

VIDEO TECHNICIANi Time is 3:59,

that concludes the deposition.

(At this time the deposition

in the above-captioned matter

was concluded.)

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CERTTFTCATE

I, Teresa Crossin, a Notary publ-ic in and f orLuzerne county, pennsylvania, do hereby certifythat the deposition was reported in machineshorthand by frê, that the said witness was dulysworn/ aff irmed by frê¡ that the transcript ü/asprepared by me or under my supervision andconstitutes a complete and accurate record of same.

r further certify that r am not an attorneyor counsel of any parties, nor a relative oremployee of any attorney or counsel_ connected withthe action, nor financially interested in theaction.

cTERESA CROSSINKEYSTONE COURT REPORTING AGENCY, TNC.4099 BIRNEY AVENUE, SUrTE g

MOOSTC, PENNSYLVANIA 18507

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