Testimony in Death of Daughter, 4 : Father Recalls Night Car Struck House

The father of a 4-year-old girl who was killed three months ago when a car smashed into the family’s home in the hills south of Universal City testified Wednesday that he thought an airplane had crashed into the house.

Timothy Shaner, 39, said he was asleep in the master bedroom when he awakened to an “implosion” shortly after 9 p.m. March 4.

“I remember heat, noise, debris and dust, just total chaos with an engine out of control,” Shaner said.

Shaner was the first witness to testify at the preliminary hearing of James Benjamin Masoner, a 46-year-old insurance salesman charged with second-degree murder and drunk driving in the crash.

Masoner’s vehicle smashed into the Shaner home in the 3800 block of Broadlawn Drive, killing Jessica Shaner as she slept on a sofa in the den, police said.

A blood sample taken from Masoner about 11:15 p.m. at Van Nuys Jail showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.23%, more than twice the 0.10% level at which a motorist is legally considered intoxicated, a criminalist testified.

When the hearing concludes today in Van Nuys Municipal Court, Judge Robert L. Swasey will decide whether the prosecution has presented enough evidence to hold Masoner for trial on the charges in Superior Court.

Driven Home by Associates

According to other testimony, Masoner, who lives near the Shaner home, had attended an office cocktail party at the Los Angeles Club on Wilshire Boulevard and was driven home against his will by two business associates who considered him too drunk to drive.

Daniel Monnin of Chicago testified that he drove Masoner part of the way home in Masoner’s car and that another man, Thomas Barber of West Los Angeles, drove in a second car.

When the three reached the neighborhood where Masoner said he lived, Monnin and Barber parked the vehicles and bid Masoner good night, expecting him to walk the rest of the way, the men testified.

Instead, Masoner jumped into his car and sped down the hill away from his residence. Minutes later, his vehicle smashed into the Shaner home.

Masoner is free on $50,000 bail.