July Ruling Expected On Reckless-Conduct Charge Against Kelley

GEORGIA — A Georgia state representative should know by early July whether a reckless-conduct charge against him connected to another person’s fatal hit-and-run accident will be thrown out.

An attorney for Republican House Majority Whip Trey Kelley argued in Cedartown Friday that not only was the misdemeanor charge against Kelley constitutionally vague, it shouldn’t be applied because Kelley didn’t cause the accident.

Kelley’s reckless-conduct charge stems from an accident almost two years ago in which Ralph “Ryan” Dover III, a friend and client of Kelley’s, is alleged to have struck a bicyclist in Cedartown without stopping. The incident was first widely reported by WXIA-TV in Atlanta.

According to court documents, Dover drove almost a mile down the road before calling Kelley. Instead of responding by calling 911, Kelley in turn called the Cedartown police chief at his home. Nearly an hour passed before a Cedartown police officer arrived at the scene of the accident, where he found Eric Keais in a ditch. Keais died about 45 minutes later.

Dover, who drove the vehicle alleged to have hit Keais’s bicycle, was charged with hit and run causing serious injury or death, a felony. Kelley, who was not at the scene of the accident when it happened, is charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct, essentially for not calling 911 as soon as he understood what had happened.

According to Polk Today, Judge Stephen Schuster asked both sides to submit potential orders by July 8 related to the charge against Kelley. If Schuster sides with Kelley’s defense and quashes his first reckless-conduct indictment, the prosecution is expected to restructure the indictment and try again.

Read the story on the WXIA-TV website.

Read the story from Polk Today.

RELATED: GA House Whip Aims To Quash Reckless Conduct Charge In Bike Death