ST. LOUIS — The lawyer for a man who drew national media attention last year for his involvement in a downtown crash that severed a young girl’s legs is arguing his client can’t get a fair trial in ºüÀêÊÓƵ because of a similar crash this week that killed two women visiting from Chicago.
Daniel Riley’s lawyer, Dan Diemer, asked the judge to move the trial out of ºüÀêÊÓƵ because Riley was swept up last year in the publicity surrounding an effort to remove former ºüÀêÊÓƵ Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner from office, and since then he’s served as the public’s example of dangerous driving downtown.
“He shouldn’t be tried in the press, but he was,†Diemer said at a hearing Thursday where he previewed his client’s case.
Riley was charged last year after police said he was speeding in downtown ºüÀêÊÓƵ and caused a crash that pinned out-of-town 16-year-old pedestrian Janae Edmondson between two cars. Both of her legs were amputated.
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Riley was out on bond at the time in a years-old pending robbery case despite violating the conditions of his release dozens of times. Critics called the case an example of Gardner’s failures and intensified calls for her removal. She eventually stepped down in May.
And Riley’s name was brought up again after a mother and daughter visiting downtown ºüÀêÊÓƵ from Chicago were killed in a crash caused by a driver who was speeding and running red lights. The incident came almost a year to the day that Edmondson’s legs were amputated.
Riley was set to appear in court Thursday, but he asked to be taken back to jail shortly after arriving in the courtroom. Multiple journalists, including a Post-Dispatch photographer, were present. Diemer agreed to handle the hearing himself and fill Riley in later.
Diemer also asked that Riley’s trial, scheduled to begin March 4, be postponed because he said prosecutors have been slow to turn over evidence, including data about the Audi that Riley was driving at the time of the crash.
Diemer also said the fresh publicity garnered by Wednesday’s story may endanger his client’s right to a fair trial.
“His name was put right there next to that story,†Diemer said.
Prosecutors, however, said they promptly turned the data over to Diemer and were ready to proceed with trial. Assistant Circuit Attorney Adam Field said the prosecution planned to have many out-of-town witnesses — likely including Edmondson and her parents — come to ºüÀêÊÓƵ from Tennessee for that date.
Diemer also asked for the trial to be moved elsewhere because he believed people had unfairly made up their minds about Riley’s guilt even though there were serious questions in the facts of the case.
For example, prosecutors say Riley’s vehicle was going roughly 20 miles per hour over the speed limit on Feb. 18, 2023 when it collided with a Chevrolet Malibu and hit a parked car, pinning Edmondson between two of the vehicles. Diemer, however, said there is evidence to suggest that the Malibu was also speeding and actually struck the back of the Audi that Riley was driving. The driver of the Malibu also did not have a valid license, he said.
Judge Michael Noble said he would not push the trial back nor grant Diemer’s motion to move the case to a different venue. Noble said jurors who are called during Riley’s case will be required to fill out a questionnaire about their knowledge of the case to weed out people who had already made up their minds.
“There are procedures to make sure the jury is not unduly influenced,†Noble said.
The underlying robbery case in which Riley was out on bond is also still pending. He is accused of stealing a gun from a retired ºüÀêÊÓƵ police sergeant’s son during a confrontation in 2020, but Diemer said there are serious questions about that case, too.
He said it took until October 2023 for prosecutors to turn over a bill of sale for the gun at issue. He says it raises questions about how the sergeant’s son came into possession of the weapon in the first place.
Ultimately, Diemer said, his client has been unfairly villainized for a “tragic, tragic accident.â€
“I want Daniel to have a fair trial,†he said.