What prosecutor would give away their entire case?
Answer: Ian Page.
And, as a result, Ben Ressel walked away from court Monday acquitted of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident without so much as one witness being called.
As most readers know, Ressel, a well-known Poplar Bluff businessman, was indicted by a grand jury for leaving the scene in the death of local teenager Heavenly Hafford. It was a very high profile case that generated more community outrage and emotion than we have seen in a long time.
So, how did Page botch this?
He agreed to a stipulation with Ressel's Poplar Bluff defense attorneys that Hafford was killed by the first vehicle that hit her. Therefore, Ressel's pickup truck, which struck her approximately seven seconds later could not have been complicit in her death, thus killing the state's leaving the scene claim and ending the hearing without a trial.
As a result of the stipulation, Page accepted as final truth the controversial conclusion of a coroner who had no medical training and didn't seek the advice of medical experts or others.
How could any competent attorney agree to a stipulation that was sure to give the defense a slam dunk in court? You can bet the defense attorneys were clapping their hands in glee.
Furthermore, there could be grounds for conflict of interest since Page once worked in the Kennedy law firm, with whom one of the defense attorneys, Chris Yarbro, is a partner.
Don't blame the judge for this ruling.
Given the evidence presented to him due to the stipulation agreement, the judge had no other choice. He could not consider the brief time lapse between Hafford's body being run over. He could not consider Dr. Russell Deidiker's statement that there was no way to know if Hafford was dead when Ressel hit her. (Deidiker is the pathologist who conducts all autopsies for Butler County. However, the coroner did not call for one in this case, leaving Deidiker on the sidelines.) He could not consider any testimony from medical experts and law enforcement who worked the scene or any eyewitnesses. Instead, all he had to go on was the defense's motion for acquittal based on the stipulation Page agreed to that said Hafford died instantly upon impact with the first vehicle. In other words, based upon law, the judge had no choice but the ruling he made.
There is still one legal matter left hanging. That's the felony charge that Ressel tampered with physical evidence. We are not hopeful of that either. Ressel already has been acquitted of leaving the scene, so how could he be guilty of tampering with evidence?
Bottom line, Page did not have to agree to that stipulation with the defense. Instead, he could have taken this case to trial. He should have taken this case to trial. And, if, after presenting expert witnesses at trial who could have called the coroner's report into question, he lost ... well, we would have said he gave it all he had. Good job. But he didn't and all we can question now is his competency as a prosecutor.
Daily American
Republic