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MONTGOMERY COUNTY COURTS
Judge mulls excluding defendant's statements
Attorney says his client's interview with police in August hit and run was not voluntary.
Friday, November 02, 2007
DAYTON — A visiting judge on Thursday delayed ruling on a request from the attorney for Rickey L. Risden II to exclude from a case statements his client made to law enforcement officials.
Risden, 30, of the 2100 block of Tracey Drive, was arrested after a fatal hit-and-run accident Aug. 5 at Greenhill Road and Philadelphia Drive.
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Risden was indicted in August on charges of tampering with evidence, failure to stop after an accident, aggravated vehicular assault and reckless vehicular assault after Montgomery County sheriff's deputies said he was responsible for the accident that killed Steven Adrian Smith, 19.
Smith was struck by a car as he walked home from work. His family had him removed from life support Sept. 19.
In the motion dated Sept. 17, defense attorney Carl Goraleski claimed Risden's rights were violated because the statements he made about the accident were not voluntary and made without benefit of counsel.
Judge William McCracken's decision to delay was announced during a hearing Thursday in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.
Smith's family and friends packed the courtroom as they listened to Deputy Joshua Evers testify about his tape-recorded interview with Risden on Aug. 7.
McCracken, of Wilmington, granted Goraleski's request to review the interview after the attorney said he was not aware it had been taped.
"This guy has walked and walked and walked and it's time that they stop letting him walk," Smith's mother, Tyria Stone, said of Risden.
According to court records, Risen has a history, going back to 1999, of misdemeanor convictions and fines for traffic violations as well as felony convictions for robbery, burglary and assault.
He was being sought by deputies in the hit and run when he came to them on Aug. 7.
