|
KING |
URBANA — Witness interference from a lawyer pursuing a wrongful death case and a Champaign County Sheriff’s deputy led prosecutors and defense attorneys to drop a Logan County man’s vehicular homicide case.
Matthew G. King, 22, who lives along County Road 41, was indicted in April on seven counts, including two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide stemming from a June 14, 2015, crash that resulted in the death of Mackenzee R. Hartley and injury of Mayci Powell, and one count of driving under the influence.
The joint motion in Champaign County Common Pleas ends criminal proceedings at this point.
“Counsel for the state and defendant have determined that the interests of justice require that the within action should be dismissed without prejudice,” the joint motion states as reported by the Urbana Daily Citizen. “In order to accomplish this result, defendant hereby moves to withdraw all his pending motions and the state hereby moves to dismiss the indictment without prejudice.”
Earlier this month, Mr. King’s defense attorney James W. Skogstrom claimed that a deputy and the Hartley family’s attorney engaged in governmental misconduct to deprive the defendant of his rights to due process and equal protection of the law.
Mr. Skogstrom contends the attorney interrogated and carefully led one witness to recall, a year after the crash, that Mr. King made a critical statement to a first responder.
The deputy and attorney also shared evidence with another witness who supported Mr. King’s version of the crash in an effort to have the witness modify a previous statement.
“As a result of overzealousness on the part of certain law enforcement officials, the investigation in this matter has been tainted beyond repair,” Mr. Skogstrom states. “Certain aspects of the investigation constitute such outrageous governmental conduct that it is no longer possible for this defendant to receive a fair trial.”