Dec. 10—LIMA — A jury trial for a Lima man that was set to begin this week in the Allen County Common Pleas Court has been pushed to March 11 because the man plans to establish an alibi in his case dealing with aggravated vehicular assault.
“At a client meeting today, defendant revealed, for the first time, witnesses that he claims establish an alibi that defendant was not the driver of the motor vehicle,” Anthony Hardesty Jr.’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Stephen Chamberlain, wrote in a continuance motion filed Dec. 3.
According to the crash report from the incident that occurred on June 29 around 2 a.m., the vehicle in question was registered to Kylie Fyffe, of Lima. No other people were listed as occupants of the vehicle.
The trial has been rescheduled a few times for motions filed by the public defender’s office, including a suppression motion which was overruled by Judge Jeffrey Reed in October.
“Absent a catastrophic event, impassable weather storm, life threatening illness or another case that has a speedier trial deadline than this one, there will be no further continuances,” Reed wrote in an entry announcing the new trial date.
Hardesty, 24, was indicted on a second-degree felony charge of aggravated vehicular assault; a fourth-degree felony charge of failure to stop after a crash; and two misdemeanors of operating a motor vehicle while impaired and driving under suspension.
On June 29 on North Nixon Avenue, court documents said police responded to a man who received serious injuries to his lower extremities while unloading items from the back of his car when a car hit him then fled the scene. Witnesses provided a physical description of the man who fled to police.
Officers were then dispatched to another crash on West High Street which was around the corner from the first crash. Hardesty was located in a backyard on West Market Street and was allegedly intoxicated. Later Hardesty allegedly admitted to being the driver, the only one in the vehicle and drinking before the incident.
Reach Charlotte Caldwell at 567-242-0451.
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