Attorneys Requesting New Trial for Minnesota Man Imprisoned Over Fatal Toyota Crash

ST. PAUL, Minn., March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorneys for the Minnesota man sentenced in connection with a fatal 2006 crash involving a runaway Toyota Camry that killed three people today asked a Ramsey County district 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 have filed a petition on behalf of Koua Fong Lee, seeking a new trial and providing county prosecutors with additional evidence to support Mr. 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," says Mr. Hilliard. "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."

The petition for a new trial filed in the case, Koua Fong Lee v. State of Minnesota, No. 62-K8-07-000965, 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 Mr. Lee.

Mr. Hilliard and Mr. Schafer 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.

In June 2006, Mr. Lee was driving his Toyota Camry when it unexpectedly accelerated before crashing into another car and killing Javis Adams, 33, his son Javis Adams Jr., 10, and his niece Devyn Bolton, 7. Mr. Lee was convicted of criminal vehicular homicide in October 2007 and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Mr. 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 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.

Mr. Hilliard currently is handling several cases involving people hurt or killed by runaway Toyotas, including a federal class-action lawsuit on behalf of all Texas residents who have purchased Toyota and Lexus vehicles with faulty electronic throttle control systems.

For more than 25 years, Hilliard Munoz Guerra LLP has represented individuals from across the United States in a variety of personal injury, breach of contract, fraud and negligence claims, including cases involving refinery explosions, trucking accidents, toxic exposure, and dangerous prescription drugs. More information on the firm is found at http://www.hmglawfirm.com/ or http://www.toyotasafetylawyer.com/.

For more information, contact Alan Bentrup at 800-559-4534 or [email protected].

SOURCE Hilliard Munoz Guerra LLP