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Trial Under Way In Hit-And-Run Death Of Attorney Alan Dershowitz's Sister-In-Law

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The trial of a postal truck driver charged in a hit-and-run accident that claimed the life of a Manhattan woman continued Tuesday.

Ian Clement has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident after he struck and killed 68-year-old Marilyn with his postal truck, prosecutors said.

WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reports

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Dershowitz was the sister-in-law of famed attorney Alan Dershowitz.

The fatal accident happened July 2, 2011 when Dershowitz and her husband Nathan were riding their bicycles in Chelsea.

Dershowitz testified that he was riding ahead of his wife and they'd just gone through a stretch of West 29th Street that was clogged with postal trucks.

He said when he looked back and saw a commotion, he cried out, "Is that my wife? Is that my wife?"

Dershowitz told the jury, "I held her hand, I said a few things to her. She squeezed my hand back so I felt there was some communication," WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reported.

Dershowitz also testified that cars were honking their horns and people were screaming but Clement, 63, never got out of his truck.

After being struck by the truck, Dershowitz was taken to Bellevue Hospital where she died a short time later.

Prosecutors argued that Clement either knew or should have known that he hit somebody, but just kept driving.

Clement's attorney John Arlia argued that his client maneuvered around a van that cut him off and that he did not know he hit Dershowitz. Clement claims he felt a bump, that his truck shook a bit but he kept going.

Arlia has suggested that the Dershowitz family pressured the Manhattan District Attorney's office to bring criminal charges in this case.

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