Witness in reckless murder trial testifies Mobile doctor was driving fast, weaving in traffic

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Jurors in former neurosurgeon Jonathan Pishoi Nakhla’s reckless murder trial on Wednesday heard a series of 911 calls that came in after his wrecked off of Interstate 65.

Those anguished calls descried a horrific accident in which the vehicle flipped in the air several times before landing upside down after midnight on Aug. 1, 2020.

The trial kicked off at a plodding pace, as prosecutors got through just two witnesses – friends of Samantha Thomas, a 24-year-old medical student who was riding with Nakhla and died during the crash.

Those friends testified about the run-up to the accident. They told the jury that Nakhla, 38, joined Thomas and others on July 31, 2020, at the pool of the apartment complex where they both lived. They testified Nakhla was drinking whiskey and wine and started making passes at Thomas’ friend, Paige Farley.

Now a surgical resident, Farley was a medical school classmate of Thomas at the time. She testified that agreed to go for a ride with Nakhla in his sports car after the pool closed at 10 p.m. She said they went onto I-65 toward Springhill Avenue.

“He was driving very fast,” she said. “He was slipping in and out of traffic. He was passing on both sides.”

Farley testified that she was afraid, looked at the speedometer and saw that it was over 150 mph. She also said Nakhla twice put his hand on her thigh during the short drive.

Outside the presence of the jury, Farley testified that Nakhla also asked her for sex in the car, but Mobile County Circuit Judge Ben Brooks ruled the jury could not hear that detail.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Richard Jaffe played surveillance footage from Highland Apartments in an attempt to show that his client was not impaired as he walked to his car and opened the roof. But Farley disagreed with hat interpretation. She said his gait appeared slow and swaying.

“I would call it impaired,” she said.

Prosecutors offered Farley as one of several people they contend came away frightened after driving with Nakhla. During opening statements, prosecutor Ashley Rich depicted the defendant aa an “entitled” doctor who cared more about the loss of his $299,000 Audi Spyder than about the woman who died when the car crashed on the I-65 service road near Airport Boulevard. Rich told jurors they would hear evidence that the car was moving at 138 mph seconds before impact.

Jaffe told jurors that the defense disputes the allegation that Nakhla was driving that fast and also disagrees that he drank enough to be impaired.

The trial will resume Thursday morning. Prosecutors told the judge they intend to play police body camera footage for the jury.

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