Jury finds man guilty of first-degree murder in 2021 Longmont fatal …

A jury has found a man guilty of first-degree murder as well as eight other counts in a Longmont fatal crash case that caused the death of 93-year-old Joe Gold in October 2021.

James Michael Kramer, 39, was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder – extreme indifference, vehicular eluding resulting in death, vehicular eluding causing injury, vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, reckless driving, possession of a controlled substance, driving under restraint, driving through a red light, two counts of third-degree assault and four counts of violation of bond.

Kramer was found not guilty of unlawful possession of a controlled substance and vehicular homicide.

The verdict comes a day after jury deliberation began following about seven days of testimony.

Police said Kramer was driving in a suspected stolen vehicle when officers attempted to pull him over on Ninth Avenue on Oct. 28 in Longmont.

According to police, Kramer sped away from the attempted stop, causing police to call off the pursuit. About a mile further east, Kramer’s vehicle collided with Gold’s 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe that was traveling southbound at Ninth Avenue and Pace Street.

Gold was declared dead at the scene.

Longmont police said two other people in a third vehicle were also injured, as was a woman in Kramer’s vehicle.

Kramer told police he tried to brake, but that one of his shoes got caught under the brake pedal. Police did find and arrest Kramer without one of his shoes, and a shoe was later found in the driver’s side of the vehicle.

But Longmont police said electronic data from the truck Kramer was driving showed that in the five seconds prior to the crash, Kramer was able to slow down from about 60 mph to about 50 mph before hitting the accelerator and getting back up to about 60 mph when the collision happened.

In closing statements, prosecutors argued that Kramer was high on methamphetamines at the time of the incident and made the choice to enter the intersection at a high rate of speed, however defense attorney’s argued that Kramer was acting out of a natural fight-of-flight response after police officers pulled a gun on him at a traffic stop prior to the crash.