Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Koua Fong Lee gets his day in court

A double line of witnesses with personal experience about unintended acceleration in their Toyotas (all similar or identical to Fong Lee’s in relevant mechanical configuration) extended out the courtroom door and around the corner at the hearing on Koua Fong Lee’s motion for a new trial. That was yesterday, and apparently there are more today.

Mark Lystig, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office’s Farnsworth, was reduced to this:

Assistant County Attorney Mark Lystig cross-examined each witness, asking about how many miles each had put on the vehicle, how often the oil was changed and whether they were using cruise control and/or air conditioning. Some were, others weren't.

One can only imagine the argument that the prosecution is going to make at the end of this one:

Your Honor, it is clear than many of the defense witnesses were operating their automobiles with oil that was more than 3,000 miles old; several were driving with expired air fresheners. The testimony of all of these witnesses must be discounted in its entirety.

The only real question is whether Susan Gaertner’s office is going to waste the public’s money on a retrial. It’s almost a shame she isn’t running for re-election.

No comments: