A Lubbock County judge this morning postponed the trial of Justin McKinney until next week after McKinney's attorney failed to comply with a court order.
McKinney is on trial for driving while intoxicated.
He was arrested after being involved in a head-on collision that killed a Sheriff's deputy in 2009.
An accident reconstructionist was scheduled to testify this morning, but Bill Wischkaemper, McKinney's attorney, failed to provide prosecutors with required materials related to the witnesses expert testimony.
The law requires defense attorneys to provide prosecutors with evidence relied upon by a witness sought to be designated as an "expert" to render his opinion.
Wischkaemper did not provide that data.
"Absolutely the defendant is entitled to a fair trial. Absolutely the state is entitled to a fair trial," Judge Rusty Ladd said. "We don't practice 'gotcha litigation' in this county and certainly not in this courtroom."
The trial will likely be reset for Wednesday of next week.
For more on this story, read Thursday's Avalanche-Journal.
Comments (3)
Add commentSo, is Mr. Wischkaemper gonna
So, is Mr. Wischkaemper gonna sit in jail until next week for failing to comply with the court order and wasting the court's time or what?
Sheriff's department subpoena
Unmentioned in this story -- but prominent in KCBD's coverage -- is that the Sheriff's department was unable to serve a subpoena to one of its own deputies, and thus delayed the trial. Also, the expert witness, who apparently caught the prosecution off guard, said that the driver-side airbag wouldn't necessarily cause the wounds on McKinney's hands. (Question: When you're holding the steering wheel, doesn't the airbag come out of the center of the wheel? Wouldn't that hit your arms rather than your hands?)
Anybody have a plunger and some drain-o?
It's getting hard to get all this money to go down the drain. Standby with the next wheel barrow full of taxpayer money to waste on prosecuting a non felony. Who was driving? Who cares, someone has to pay, lets just prosecute someone.