Legal News

Might Toyota?s Troubles Mean Good News for Jailed Minnesota Man?

By Ashby Jones

Revelations regarding the Toyota accelerator and braking problems have spelled disaster for Toyota executives in both Japan and the U.S., Toyota dealers worldwide, and Toyota shareholders.

But the revelations could lead to wondrous news for a Minnesota man named Koua Fong Lee. It could spring Lee, a Hmong immigrant from St. Paul, from his eight-year prison term.

Here’s why: On the afternoon of June 10, 2006, Lee was driving home from church when his Toyota Camry went careening up an offramp on I-94 in St. Paul and struck an Oldsmobile stopped at a red light. According to this AP story, police said the car was traveling between 70 and 90 miles an hour. Three people died as a result of the crash. (Lee’s car is pictured.)

At trial, Lee testified he tried to brake. But a jury convicted him on multiple counts of criminal vehicular homicide and a judge sentenced him to eight years in prison.

But now, given Toyota’s troubles, Lee is trying get his case reopened According to the AP, even the prosecutor who worked on the case said he thinks the case merits another look.

If Lee’s car was defective, “We don’t want an innocent man sitting in prison,” said prosecutor Phil Carruthers to the AP.

“I know 100 percent in my heart that I took my foot off the gas and that I was stepping on the brakes as hard as possible,” Lee told the AP from prison on Wednesday. “When the brakes were looked at and we were told that nothing was wrong with the brakes, I was shocked.”

A Toyota spokesman declined to comment on Lee’s case.

But would a judge be inclined to allow in the new evidence? Joseph Daly, a law professor at Hamline University in St. Paul, told the AP that he thought so. “I really think a judge would be inclined to let that evidence be presented,” Daly said.

Photo: AP

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 25, 2010 (boomark / email).