MANCHESTER – Tyler Berry, the Amherst resident and former Londonderry police officer charged with causing the April crash that killed a 21-year-old Milford woman, has waived formal arraignment on a series of indictments handed up in connection with the case.

Berry, 27, who also served on the Bedford police force before joining the Londonderry department, entered not guilty pleas to the charges contained in each of the eight indictments, which a Hillsborough County grand jury handed up during its August term.

The charges include two counts each of manslaughter, negligent homicide, and reckless conduct; and one count each of falsifying physical evidence and criminal mischief.

Berry, who is represented by Nashua attorney Charles Keefe, entered not guilty pleas to each of the charges on Friday, the same day he waived formal arraignment during a brief hearing in Hillsborough County Superior Court-North.

He is accused of driving drunk and causing the nearly head-on crash that killed 21-year-old Milford resident Sierra Croteau the night of April 5. Berry’s pickup truck and Croteau’s car collided on Route 101 in Amherst.

Other than Berry entering not guilty pleas and waiving formal arraignment, Friday’s hearing consisted of a roughly 15-minute bench conference among Keefe, Assistant County Attorney Nicole Thorspecken, and Judge Amy Messer.

They likely discussed any issues that may have come up since Berry’s last hearing in July, and ended up settling on a tentative timeline.

They scheduled the final pre-trial conference for March 25, and unless something comes up in the meantime, Berry’s trial will begin on April 6 with jury selection, a process that could take as little as one day or as much as two or three days.

Berry was present for Friday’s hearing, and sat with Keefe in the back row on the defendants’ side of the courtroom. On the prosecution side, more than a dozen family members and others close to Sierra Croteau filled much of three rows of seating.

At the hearing’s conclusion, Berry and Keefe remained in the courtroom for a time while Croteau’s supporters filed out. Roughly half of them entered a conference room with Thorspecken, First Assistant County Attorney Kent Smith and a victims’ rights advocate.

As for the charges against Berry, one of the negligent homicide indictments accuses him of causing Croteau’s death “through blunt impact to her body” as a “consequence of being under the influence of intoxicating liquor,” and is classified a Class A felony.

The other negligent homicide indictment is worded the same except for the reference to the drunk-driving allegation, making it a Class B felony.

Both the manslaughter charges are listed as unclassified felonies; one of them includes the drunk driving allegation.

Likewise for the reckless conduct indictments, which are both Class B felonies.

The indictments on criminal mischief and falsifying physical evidence charges, both Class B felonies, accuse Berry of driving his truck into the oncoming lane and causing a collision with Croteau’s vehicle that caused more than $1,501 in damages, and of “purposely concealing” his blood from the investigation by “refusing to submit to a blood draw that was authorized by a search warrant,” according to the indictments.

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-1256, dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com, or @Telegraph_DeanS.

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