Here's why trial was postponed for woman charged in crash that killed 3 Topeka Girl Scouts
A Shawnee County District Court judge Friday postponed the trial set to begin Monday for Amber Peery, charged with crimes linked to the deaths of three Topeka Girl Scouts in an October 2022 crash on the Kansas Turnpike.
Judge Jessica Heinen postponed the trial until Aug. 12 at a hearing she had initially scheduled to consider the prosecution's request that she allow another driver involved in the crash to testify by Zoom at Peery's trial.
That driver, Robert Russell, 72, of Huntsville, Alabama, testified Nov. 30 by Zoom during the preliminary hearing in the case for Peery, who faces charges that include three counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Russell isn't able to travel and wouldn't be able to testify at next week's trial because he suffers from prostate cancer, which has metastasized to his bones, he said while appearing by Zoom at Friday's hearing.
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Thomas Bath Jr., representing Peery, said Friday that Russell being allowed to testify by Zoom would violate part of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights that says defendants at trial must be able to confront witnesses "face to face."
If Heinen granted the prosecution's request, Bath said, her court would be the "first court in the State of Kansas to allow somebody to testify like this."
Bath added that prosecutors had chosen not to exercise their option of instead meeting that requirement by arranging for Russell to appear at a deposition, in which out-of-court witness testimony is recorded as part of the discovery process and may be used later in court.
Heinen agreed and forbade Russell from appearing by Zoom as a witness for the prosecution. Deputy District Attorney Lauren Amrein responded that she didn't intend to bring Russell here to testify in person at Peery's trial.
Bath then said he and Peery's other attorney, Vanessa Riebli, wanted to exercise their option of having a deposition taken from Russell in Alabama. He asked Heinen to postpone the trial to give them time to do that.
Heinen granted that continuance, over objections from Amrein.
Bath said he planned to next submit written notice of his intent to take a deposition from Russell.
How were the Girl Scouts involved in triple fatality accident?
Peery and Russell were involved in an October 2022 crash that authorities said killed Laila El Azri and Kylie Lunn, both 9, and Brooklyn Peery 8, as they rode to a Girl Scout event in a van driven by Amber Perry, Brooklyn's mother.
Amber Peery and her two other passengers — her daughter, Carrington Peery, then 5, and Gabriella Ponomarez, then 9 — suffered injuries but survived, the Kansas Highway Patrol said.
Peery's five passengers were part of Topeka's Daisy Troop 5567. They had been going to an event in Tonganoxie.
The crash occurred near an opening in a Turnpike barrier wall between its northbound and southbound lanes, which is used to turn around by law enforcement officers, emergency workers and Kansas Turnpike Authority employees.
Peery's van was part of a caravan of three vehicles going to the Tonganoxie event, according to testimony given at her preliminary hearing.
Two of the other drivers testified at Peery's preliminary hearing that they were southbound when they realized they were going the wrong way on the Kansas Turnpike, then turned around and went north on that highway.
One of the other drivers said they “must have” used an opening in the barrier wall between the northbound and southbound lanes. No off-ramps exist between the Turnpike's South Topeka interchange and Admire interchange, 30 miles to the southwest. She said she then called Peery and told her she needed to find a place to turn around.
Video shown at Peery's preliminary hearing showed she tried to make a U-turn from the right southbound lane through the southbound Turnpike's left lane to go through an opening in the barrier wall.
Peery's vehicle was then struck on its driver's side rear quarter panel area by a semi-trailer driven by Russell, who was southbound in the left lane, a highway patrol accident report said.
What has happened with the civil suit filed regarding the crash?
Attorney L.J. Leatherman, of Topeka's Palmer Law Group, on April 17 filed a motion in 2nd District Court in Pottawatomie County saying a confidential settlement agreement had been reached by all plaintiffs and defendants in a civil suit linked to the Turnpike crash.
Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri is among defendants in the suit, for which the petition gave updated full names of Laila El Azri Ennassari and Gabriella Casas.
Leatherman's motion asked for the scheduling of a hearing at which a judge would approve the settlement agreement spelling out distribution of proceeds and attorney's fees.
A court document filed May 7 said Elder would consider approving the agreement June 18.
The Capital-Journal then noticed late last month that all records regarding the case had been removed from the Kansas District Court website.
Jeff Elder, chief judge for the state's 2nd Judicial District, which includes Pottawatomie County, had sealed the file for that case, The Capital-Journal was told July 1 by Pottawatomie County District Court Clerk McKenna Smith.
Max Kautsch, a Lawrence attorney and former president of the Kansas Coalition for Open Government, contended Elder acted unconstitutionally in sealing the case file entirely.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Trial postponed for Topekan charged in crash that killed 3 Girl Scouts
