After being found guilty of several charges, the guy who hit and killed a Middle Tennessee teen in a car accident has asked for a new trial.
Court records show that Daniel Riley’s lawyer asked for Riley to be set free or given a new trial in the Janae Edmondson case. He said Riley was unfairly treated because the court saw proof Riley had used drugs in the past.
She was in Missouri for a volleyball event when a car hit her. Because of the crash, both of her legs had to be cut off. Riley was driving the car that hit Edmondson.
Riley was found guilty on March 7 of:
The second level of assault
Criminal action with weapons
Assault in the Fourth Grade
Not having a legal license while driving
Riley’s lawyer says it was unfair that the state showed proof of crimes the defendant wasn’t being tried for, like having fentanyl and codeine on hand and using them, even though they had nothing to do with the car accident.
Documents from the court say that there was no proof that driving while high on drugs was a regular thing. At the very least, there was proof that the defendant was sober, the motion says.
Riley’s lawyer says there was no proof that any police officer ever thought Riley was impaired at the time of the crash. He also says that no other witness could say what effects fentanyl or codeine might have had on the defendant before or at the time of the crash.
Officers Stein, Fournie, Csapo, and Marks never said in court that they really thought the Defendant was disabled. Stein said that the defendant was “as sober as a cucumber” in court. “Therefore, the fact that Fentanyl and Codeine were found in the defendant’s blood without any other evidence to link them was very unfair and made the jury ad hoc in deciding how to interpret the evidence,” the motion says.
The motion says it was wrong for the court to uphold the guilty verdict of second-degree assault because it may have been based on improper proof of bad character.
