Toyota Driver Imprisoned For Fatal Crash Requests New Trial
Personal Injury News
Article Date: 3/26/2010 | Resource: External
Toyota Driver Imprisoned For Fatal Crash Requests New Trial
“Defendent testified he couldn’t control car’s acceleration”
In June 2006, Koua Fong Lee was driving his 1996 Toyota Camry in Minnesota when his car slammed into another vehicle, killing three people. Convicted of vehicular homicide, Lee was sentenced to eight years in prison.
At his trial, Lee testified that his car suddenly accelerated and he had no control over it. The car was still gaining speed, he testified, when it slammed into another car killing Javis Adams, 33, his son Javis Adams Jr., 10, and his niece Devyn Bolton, 7.
Now, in light of numerous reports of uncontrolled acceleration in Toyotas, Lee’s lawyers have asked a Ramsey County, Minnesota, judge to grant a new trial.
Attorneys Robert Hilliard from the Corpus Christi, Texas-based law firm of Hilliard Munoz Guerra LLP and Brent Schafer of Minneapolis filed the petition on behalf of Lee, seeking a new trial and providing county prosecutors with what they say is additional evidence to support Lee’s innocence.
“On numerous occasions, County Attorney Susan Gaertner has publicly said if we show her the evidence she will immediately act on it,” Hilliard said. “Here it is, it is time for her to act. We’ve now given her more than enough evidence to join with us in asking the Court to grant our client an immediate new trial, and we hope they move quickly to release Koua and this time allow a fair trial where the jury hears all of the evidence.”
Similar incidents
The petition for a new trial filed in the case, Koua Fong Lee v. State of Minnesota, includes numerous affidavits from individuals that experienced sudden acceleration in their older model Toyota vehicles, including seven with the same 1996 Toyota Camry model as Lee.
The attorneys said they met with county prosecutors earlier this week, and a new inspection of Mr. Lee’s vehicle has been scheduled for the week of April 18.
The attorneys say Lee’s Toyota Camry was subject to a limited recall based on a cruise-control problem that caused the cars to unintentionally accelerate, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has reportedly received at least 15 reports of sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles from the 1996 model year. More than 2,000 complaints of sudden, unintended acceleration have been reported to Toyota or government agencies regarding various Toyota models.
Toyota, meanwhile, maintains all cases of reported uncontrolled acceleration have a physical cause, either driver error or the gas pedal becoming stuck by the accelerator.
For more information regarding this article please contact:
Jeffrey Marquart
(949)589-0150
jmarquart@marquartlawgroup.com