CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo. -- A former Poplar Bluff, Mo., businessman will stand trial in September in Pemiscot County on charges stemming from a hit-and-run accident that left a local teenager dead.
Accompanied by his attorney, Sam Spain, Benjamin J. Ressel appeared before Circuit Judge Fred Copeland on Tuesday.
During the hearing, Copeland granted Ressel's request to waive having a jury trial his case and set a bench trial for 9 a.m. Sept. 11.
"We finally have an end date, a light at the end of the tunnel," said special prosecutor Ian Page. "We know when, one way or another, this case is going to get resolved."
Ressel, 39, is charged with the Class D felonies of leaving the scene of a motor-vehicle accident and tampering with physical evidence, having been indicted in February by a Butler County grand jury. He subsequently was granted a change of venue to Pemiscot County.
Ressel's charges stem from a Dec. 9, 2015, crash that left Heavenly Grace Hafford dead.
The 13-year-old died of blunt-force trauma. She was struck by a vehicle as she was crossing Kanell Boulevard near the Maud Street intersection. Seconds later, her body was struck by another vehicle allegedly driven by Ressel.
Having allegedly fled the scene of the crash, Ressel was identified as the second driver and later arrested on the same day his 2014 Ford pickup was found and impounded.
Investigators found what earlier was described as suspected "biological material" on the undercarriage of Ressel's truck. Authorities say the lab analysis of that forensic evidence was a match for Hafford's DNA.
Page said he can only speculate as to why Ressel decided against having a jury trial, which is one of his Constitutional rights.
Ressel and his attorney, Page said, would have discussed his rights, including that "one of his legal rights is not to have a jury trial."
Before accepting Ressel's waiver, Copeland, according to Page, went over the man's rights, making sure he knew what they were and whether, after speaking with his attorney, he thought it was in his "best interest to waive it."
Copeland, Page said, had to determine whether Ressel "knowingly" made his decision before granting his request.
A trial also will be held on Aug. 7 in Greene County in the case of Randel C. Sparks, the first driver who allegedly struck Hafford and left the scene.
Sparks, 43, of Poplar Bluff was driving a rusty, light blue Volkswagen Beetle when it allegedly struck the teen.
That vehicle was found shortly after the crash, and its driver, Sparks, who allegedly was destroying evidence on his vehicle, was arrested.
Authorities determined Hafford ran into the path of Sparks' vehicle, and no charges would have been necessary had he not fled the scene.
Sparks will stand trial on the same charges as Ressel.