A Jonesboro truck driver accused of causing a crash that seriously injured comedian Tracy Morgan and killed a passenger in Morgan's limousine wants the criminal charges against him dropped.
Kevin Roper, 35, had allegedly been awake for more than 24 hours when the Walmart tractor-trailer he was driving collided with Morgan’s limousine on June 7, 2014, in Middlesex County, N.J.
He was charged with one count of death by auto and four counts of assault by auto, and has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
According to New York television station WABC, Roper wants the criminal charges against him dropped because of fears he won't get a fair trial.
Walmart has settled two civil suits stemming from the crash. Those settlements, along with a recently released NTSB report that stated Roper had been awake for more than 28 hours before the crash, were the reasons cited in attorney David Jay Glassman’s claim that his client has no chance of getting an impartial jury, according to WABC-TV.
Glassman told the station both of the civil suits, which involved Morgan and the family of James McNair, the man killed in the crash, should have been postponed until after Roper’s criminal case was settled.
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