RICHMOND -- Attorneys for the drivers involved in a 2008 crash that killed a construction worker in Roanoke County argued to a state appeals court Wednesday that the crash did not warrant convictions for aggravated involuntary manslaughter.

Attorneys for Tracie Nininger and Jeffrey Scott Dupree argued their cases in separate hearings before a panel of the Virginia Court of Appeals. Both were convicted last year for their roles in an accident that killed Richard Slone on Electric Road near Tanglewood Mall. Both received prison sentences of two and a half years but are free on bond pending a ruling on their appeals.

Nininger and Dupree had been at a bar before the crash and were drunk. According to testimony, Nininger's vehicle passed a flagman at a construction zone and struck a blade on a backhoe. Dupree's vehicle then struck Nininger's, knocking it and the blade into a dump truck, killing Slone.

Nininger's attorney, Mark Yeager, did not dispute that she was drunk at the time. But he disputed that there were "aggravating factors" that supported a conviction for aggravated involuntary manslaughter.

Roanoke County Circuit Court Judge Jim Swanson ruled that Nininger did not keep a proper lookout when nearing the construction zone. Yeager argued that her failure did not constitute "gross, wanton and culpable" conduct required for a conviction of aggravated involuntary manslaughter.

Yeager argued that a flagman was stationed just 60 feet from the equipment when he should have been 250 feet away. The accident happened after midnight and there were no lights shining on the flagman, Yeager said.

Assistant Attorney General Josephine Whalen said Yeager was trying to argue that "the additional aggravating factors have to be completely divorced" from Nininger's intoxication.

Whalen disagreed and said Nininger was so impaired that "she could not see a very large backhoe blade that was in front of her or she could not process it in time."

Dupree's lawyer, Jonathan Shapiro, said the only evidence of "aggravated driving behavior" by his client was a witness' claim that Dupree was following Nininger too closely. That, Shapiro said, is "an elusive standard." Shapiro underscored that Nininger's vehicle touched off the crash.

Whalen said the force delivered by Dupree's truck was significant and urged the judges to listen to his speech on a recording of a 911 call from the scene.

"He's clearly really, really, really drunk," Whalen said.