The Associated Press
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - Police will start double-checking subpoenas to avoid a repeat of a situation last month in which charges were dropped against a driver that struck and killed a boy because an officer didn’t show up for trial.
Jessica Ross, 21, of Cedar Rapids, was driving the car that fatally struck Matthew Atteberry, 3, in front of his parents’ home on Sept. 20. She told police she was distracted and initially didn’t realize she had hit the boy, officials said.
Ross was charged with failure to maintain control, but Linn County District Judge Ross Hauser dropped the charges when Officer Jared Hicks didn’t show up for the Nov. 23 trial.
Hicks and witness Kyle Timmons, of Cedar Rapids, told The Gazette they never received subpoenas and didn’t know there was a hearing.
“I certainly would have gone if I had received it,” Timmons told The Gazette. “But I didn’t receive it.”
Timmons’ subpoena was mailed Nov. 17, said Amanda White, a secretary at the Linn County Attorney’s office who handled the subpoenas. Police will begin providing reports quicker to the county attorney so prosecutors know sooner who needs to be subpoenaed, White said.
Lt. Kenneth Washburn signed a form at the prosecutor’s office on Nov. 10 showing he had picked up Hicks’ subpoena, along with a dozen others.
Washburn said he took the subpoenas to a police department secretary, who filled out a tracking form and sent the documents to officers.
The form shows Hicks’ subpoena never got to the police department, but Washburn said he didn’t lose it.
“We haven’t had this problem in the past,” Washburn said.
Washburn will now get a list of officers who are supposed to have subpoenas. He will double-check that list with subpoenas he picks up, and other staff will double-check the list to make sure nobody was missed.