CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo. -- A Pemiscot County judge is expected to take up a motion Monday morning seeking an acquittal in the case of a former Poplar Bluff, Mo., businessman on charges stemming from a hit-and-run accident that left a local teenager dead.
On behalf of Benjamin J. Ressel, a motion of judgment of acquittal was filed Thursday by his attorneys, Sam Spain and Chris Yarbro.
Spain and Yarbro say their motion is appropriate since the "undisputed facts" establish the evidence is insufficient to convict Ressel of his alleged role in the Dec. 9, 2015, death of Heavenly Grace Hafford.
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.
"Due to the lack of the dispute as to these core facts, this case is capable of determination without the necessity of a trial," the defense motion further says.
The 40-year-old was supposed to have a bench trial Monday before Circuit Judge Fred Copeland on the Class D felonies of leaving the scene of a motor-vehicle accident and tampering with physical evidence.
Special Prosecutor Ian Page said Friday afternoon there were no plans for a trial on Monday.
"I've called off the witnesses," said Page, who also had filed a motion for continued on Thursday.
Page said he filed his motion due to the unavailability of one of the state's witnesses and after talking with Ressel's attorneys.
"Both sides felt these motions need to be resolved before having the trial," Page said. " ... We're hoping to take up that motion for judgment of acquittal on Monday.
"With it being a very legal type case, that (ruling) may make or break both sides."
Depending on how Copeland rules, "we could reset the trial or do whatever we need to do at that point," including taking up a defense motion to suppress cell data from Ressel's iPhone.
According to Missouri Supreme Court Rule 27.02, motions for judgment of acquittal are filed during a trial at the close of the state's case and at the close of all evidence.
In their motion for judgment of acquittal, Spain and Yarbro alleged certain facts are not disputed in the case and those facts are set forth in a stipulation, which was filed Wednesday.
In that document, signed by Spain and Page, it stipulated five points, including that Hafford was a pedestrian crossing Route PP (Kanell Boulevard) near Maud Street on Dec. 9, 2015, and while crossing the highway, she was struck by a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle, owned by operated by Randel Sparks "causing her instantaneous death."
The document further stipulates, a short time later, a second vehicle (allegedly Ressel's vehicle) traveling in the same direction as Sparks "rolled over the body and drug it approximately 90 feet. The driver of the second vehicle did not stop or go to the nearest police station or judicial officer."
The stipulation further said Ressel "did not bring forward his truck to law enforcement officers investigating the accident. This is the state's sole evidence of 'concealment' and/or 'suppression' of evidence."
The parties agree, according to the document, this stipulation is "made to allow a ruling on whether the prosecution's proof is insufficient to establish criminal liability."
In their motion seeking an acquittal, Spain and Yarbro argued the state must prove Ressel was a party to an accident that caused another person to sustain physical injury.
"It is undisputed that Heavenly Hafford was killed instantaneously by the impact" with the first vehicle, Spain and Yarbro said. "Because of this undisputed fact, she was not a 'person' as defined by statute.
"Therefore, it is legally impossible for the state to show injury to a person."
In searching case law, Spain and Yarbro said, they did not find a single case in Missouri "in which an individual has been charged with, much less convicted of, leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident after having run over a dead body."
The attorneys also argued their client, who is accused of tampering with evidence by suppressing/concealing his truck, had no duty to bring forth evidence (his truck).
Spain and Yarbro said they found no Missouri case law "imposing a general duty to report evidence of an alleged crime to authorities" and should it exist, it would be inconsistent with the protections of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution against self-incrimination.
That amendment, the attorneys said, declares no person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself.
"There is no evidence that the second vehicle caused injury to a person," Spain and Yarbro further said.
Therefore, they argue, Ressel cannot be convicted of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident under the "undisputed evidence" in the case.
Ressel, the attorneys said, had no legal duty to come forward with evidence against himself and was "constitutionally guaranteed a privilege not to produce any such evidence that may have existed. Therefore, there is insufficient evidence for a conviction" on the tampering charge.
Spain and Yarbro's motion asked Copeland to grant a judge of acquittal on both charges.
On Aug. 4, Sparks, 43, of Poplar Bluff pleaded guilty as charged to the Class D felonies of leaving the scene of a motor-vehicle accident and tampering with physical evidence before Judge David Jones in Greene County.
At the time of Spark's plea, Jones ordered a sentencing-assessment report be completed by Probation and Parole and set sentencing for 11 a.m. Oct. 20.
According to earlier reports, Sparks 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.